Scared of squats, can I do leg press?

Scared of squats, can I do leg press?2 1/2 years ago I had ACL reconstruction (it was literally gone) and repair on my patella and meniscus. It was pretty rough, it was 3 weeks before I was allowed to be on my feet. My fitness routine wasn't very developed before, I mostly ran because I was getting into 5ks. I quit after my surgery on my doctor's recommendation; there was potential for too much stress hindering my recovery, and it caused knee pain. I've developed a more stable workout regiment since then, but I can't seem to bring myself to do squats. I'll admit that this is purely psychological. For the first year after my surgery (I was told this was an average full recovery for the amount of repair I had), I was acutely aware of my knee. If anything I was doing started to cause pain, I immediately stopped that particular activity. I was also neurotic about falling and twisting my knee and tearing my acl again. I don't have the best ballence, so when I attempted squats for the first time, the ballence thing was rough, which immediately triggered the falling fear. I should mention also that I've got hypermobility (double jointed) in my knees, so locking up and falling awkwardly is a legit possiblity. The few times I did give it a shot I was immediately filled with anxiety. Anyway, I DID find that I enjoyed doing leg presses; I felt more secure because there was no possibility of falling. I also recently started straight leg deadlifts (a trainer friend of mine recommended those rather than traditional due to my squatting fear). I'm ok with those too. So... My question is can leg press and deadlifts equally substitute for squats? And if not, is there anyway to squat "safely" (I. E., removing the possible falling)? Any advice is welcome, thanks. submitted by /u/jamlet81 [link] [comments]

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