Dont be afraid to isolate after traumatic injury

Most of the time, isolation exercises totally suck, especially if strength and or performance are your primary goals. However, in a rehabilitation setting the rules can, and need, to change.Following my knee scope, I started back into training with basic proprioceptive exercises, working on regaining mobility, and then progressing back into single-leg exercises. Problem was, my quads were flat-out weak. Just like any other time one muscle is weak, another one is forced to compensate. So by not isolating my quads, I was reinforcing another muscle imbalance.So I begrudgingly got on the leg extension machine and watched myself struggle with 40 pounds. Seriously, Id rather have a bullet in my head than be seen struggling with 40 pounds on the leg extension, but its what I needed to get my strength back.If nothing else, remember this motto A muscle thats weak in isolation will be weak in integration. Do what it takes to get the strength back, even if it means resorting to machines for a short time. The end-goal is to increase tissue tolerance and get to a point where we can perform single-leg exercises without compensation.