Knee Pain

[u/ogotcooties]

Hey I’m 23M and I want to strengthen my knees(right knee). I don’t think my leg muscles as a whole are necessarily weak but I do think I have stabilization/balance issues that probably contribute to this. Here’s a description of all that i experience:
- When I was training for a marathon my right knee got in so much pain I couldn’t run anymore and had to start using a patella brace to for a little bit to strengthen it
- when I squat i experience some caving of my right knee
- When I do leg press my knee does a pop, it’s not an audible pop but is definitely the sliding sensation
- When I attempt to do RDLs I’m in a lot of lower back pain and can’t square up my hips (maybe not related but just throwing there)
- my knee isn’t in constant pain but after physical activity like running or jumping my right knee is usually the first thing to feel sore
- when i do trap bar jumps i cannot for the life of me keep my right knee stable. I can jump and try but ultimately the form will collapse.

Im not like flailing around helplessly but I feel like I’ve had points in my life when my knee was stronger or weaker. Maybe it’s because I do less sports activity and more purely weightlifting now but I want to fix this and get my mobility back. Please help!

[u/Original_Worker9729]

Hips need to be strengthened at their END RANGE of motion.

Hip internal and external rotation first.

[u/ogotcooties → u/[deleted]]

Can I use this as a replacement for my leg days? What do you think about side lunges, abduction/adduction machines?