Knee strengthening and injury protection

Does anyone have advice to share about building and maintaining strong legs for injury prevention? Your training regimen, personal trainer, smartphone app, physical therapist? How to recover from torn meniscus repair and minimize potential for future injury? Thanks!

just like you i ski alot so when not busting the knee i rest.
codeine and coffee work too.
bF

Ski more, oh wait, that's not possible.

General quad strengthening exercises, squats, lunges, etc along with balance exercise for stabilizers, I use trail running for that.

I spoke with a skier who had acl repair. He said primary method of strengthening was stationary bike.

I worked with Brandon Bennett at NW Sport Medicine in Olympia.

My regimen is complex but includes as major components use of Thera bands for monster walks and wall sits (40/day), wall sits with a inflated ball between the knees (20/day), knee exercises with resistance tubing (40/leg/day), foam roller for iliotibilal band stretching (as needed) OPTP therapy supplies , deep squats (60/day), tri-plane stretching for quads, hamstrings, and calves, and conventional stretching. YMMV

Of importance is achieving the correct balance between quads and hamstrings and paying attention to some of the smaller muscles with stability exercises. The big emphasis now is on assessing and ensuring you are moving correctly and if there are anomalies in that using orthotics, exercises, or practice to correct them. For example correct alignment of hip, knee, and foot is important in both biking and skiing.

Sorry to hear you are having knee troubles. I tore my ACL and MCL while wrestling when I was 20 in 1980. The surgical repairs in those days were not all that good, so I had a second surgery in 1989 to re-repair it. That did well until I tore some cartilage in 2004 and had that scoped. I have skied all my life and still backcountry and skate ski hard to this day. I do not ski with a brace. The key for me in keeping the knee strong and flexible is without question biking. It's the first thing you can do after surgery and it seems to cause the least amount of wear and tear on the joint for the maximum benefit. I road bike and mountain bike. Both are good, although I prefer mountain biking. Work on spinning and using an efficient peddling motion. I walk/hike at least two miles every day with my dog on a trail or off trail. I also swim a mile three times a week as a way to keep my fitness up without stressing my knee. Be wary of this: My knee injury and the various rehab periods I've gone thru changed my gait at times so that my healthy leg and foot take more of the strain. I've developed some issues in the foot on my healthy side because of the change in my gait. So, the lesson there I think is to work really hard on achieving and maintaining the balance of strength/flexibility in both legs. The other lesson I think I've learned over the 32 years I've been dealing with my knee is to use it. Use it sensibly, but use it. Motion and activity is better than no motion and activity. Good luck with your knee and I look forward to more or your great reports.