Quadriceps Tendon Rupture, Repair and Rehab

[Zukes243]

I feel I am in good company! Had my last visit with the OS on Monday the 17th. He feels I am doing well that he does not need to see me again unless I have questions.

He prescribed 2 more months of PT and gave me the the okay to get on my bike. He said the pain and tightness would continue for at least several more months but it would feel more normal as I get closer to 12 months (surgery was on 2/23/16).

I told him I tire easily and he told me getting more exercise will help with that and that it is critical to have proper diet, rest and exercise. He said the same injured leg may never look exactly like the other leg but he feels the strength and ability will be close to 90% and that is a good outcome.

ROM at 110 today. Had a new PT who gave me some tips to eliminate the lump. Has me of an exaggerated heel strike, roll the foot forward and push off with the toes. It works!

What an injury!

 

[Zukes243]

Follow up....rode my bicycle over the weekend. Just a thrill to get on it. Rode about 2.5 miles on Saturday and it felt different! My knee is tight but I could do the forward rotations. I had some discomfort but the biggest hurdle was dismounting!

I rode again today about 3.5 miles. The leg was very tight today so I just took it slowly but put more power on the injured knee. It was ok but I hope in a week or two that the tightness goes away. Dismounting was easier today.

What a sense of freedom being on the bike!

Final note on my previous post....I was talking about walking not lurching. Auto correct error...

 

[Judy adams]

Follow up....rode my bicycle over the weekend. Just a thrill to get on it. Rode about 2.5 miles on Saturday and it felt different! My knee is tight but I could do the forward rotations. I had some discomfort but the biggest hurdle was dismounting!

I rode again today about 3.5 miles. The leg was very tight today so I just took it slowly but put more power on the injured knee. It was ok but I hope in a week or two that the tightness goes away. Dismounting was easier today.

What a sense of freedom being on the bike!

Final note on my previous post....I was talking about walking not lurching. Auto correct error...

lol! "lurching" is a good way to describe it! It describes how I walked until about last week. I think I finally ditched the limp except when I am tired or stiff after sitting a while
Congrats on the bike!

 

[davkt]

6 months post op yesterday for me, though thanks to my broken ankle I did at the same time only 3 months into rehab and am making good progress. I'm up to around .25 of a mile walking unaided and going further it is usually just one crutch as a safety thing for if my knee gives way as it is still prone to do when it gets tired. The only time I use both is if I feel the need to give other people a clear signal to give me space like on the London Underground on the way to work or at the music festival I'm going to this weekend.
In terms of rehab I'm still on regular visits to the NHS physiotherapists and also the organisation I work for is big enough to have its own physios in the H&S department so I'm 2 weeks into their 8 week lower limb rehab session. That is really good, it seems like a fairly easy hour long session as I'm doing it but I really feel it a day or two later so guess it is getting muscles that have been underused back into work! So far running and cycling has just been in the gym but its the school summer holidays here and the kids will be with me for 3 weeks so I'm planning a day out on the bike on the local disused railway which is now a walking/cycling/horse riding trail. By taking the bikes a couple of miles in the car we can do an out and back route of about 25 miles which is flat with just one short hill (which shouldn't be a problem as I'll go on my touring bike with stupid low gears!)
And give all the advice is by 12 months I will be back to normal (well ignoring the first lot of hospital occ heath folks who seemed to think all I'd want going forwards would be to be able to hobble to local shops on a walking frame) I've accepted a berth crewing in the Caribbean 600 offshore yacht race next Feb, I'll fly out a year to the day after leaving hospital after my final lot of surgery.

 

[terry hammer]

I am now 5.5 months post op. I have finished PT but will continue to work on everything I've learned at my local gym. No tennis yet but thinking of doing some private lessons where the pro can hit directly to me and I can work on my strokes. Still get pretty stiff if I stand for too long. I've been following Bethani Matric-Sands who ruptured her patella tendon at Wimbledon. Wow. She is a beast. Granted she is a professional athlete and about 25 years younger than me but she is amazing. Such a great attitude. Great to hear all of your updates. Stay strong!!

 

[The Last in Lin]

I am now 5.5 months post op. I have finished PT but will continue to work on everything I've learned at my local gym. No tennis yet but thinking of doing some private lessons where the pro can hit directly to me and I can work on my strokes. Still get pretty stiff if I stand for too long. I've been following Bethani Matric-Sands who ruptured her patella tendon at Wimbledon. Wow. She is a beast. Granted she is a professional athlete and about 25 years younger than me but she is amazing. Such a great attitude. Great to hear all of your updates. Stay strong!!

I just watched an unedited version the video of the injury. That pretty much sums up the first few minutes after the injury.

 

[The Last in Lin]

6 months post op yesterday for me, though thanks to my broken ankle I did at the same time only 3 months into rehab and am making good progress. I'm up to around .25 of a mile walking unaided and going further it is usually just one crutch as a safety thing for if my knee gives way as it is still prone to do when it gets tired. The only time I use both is if I feel the need to give other people a clear signal to give me space like on the London Underground on the way to work or at the music festival I'm going to this weekend.
In terms of rehab I'm still on regular visits to the NHS physiotherapists and also the organisation I work for is big enough to have its own physios in the H&S department so I'm 2 weeks into their 8 week lower limb rehab session. That is really good, it seems like a fairly easy hour long session as I'm doing it but I really feel it a day or two later so guess it is getting muscles that have been underused back into work! So far running and cycling has just been in the gym but its the school summer holidays here and the kids will be with me for 3 weeks so I'm planning a day out on the bike on the local disused railway which is now a walking/cycling/horse riding trail. By taking the bikes a couple of miles in the car we can do an out and back route of about 25 miles which is flat with just one short hill (which shouldn't be a problem as I'll go on my touring bike with stupid low gears!)
And give all the advice is by 12 months I will be back to normal (well ignoring the first lot of hospital occ heath folks who seemed to think all I'd want going forwards would be to be able to hobble to local shops on a walking frame) I've accepted a berth crewing in the Caribbean 600 offshore yacht race next Feb, I'll fly out a year to the day after leaving hospital after my final lot of surgery.

What is a walking frame?

 

[Zukes243]

Davkt nice to hear you are progressing. You have set some pretty strong goals with that race. You have the drive and the will to fully recover from this so keep plugging

Terry I get tired if I stand still for too long, not sure when that will go away. I am at 5 months post-op. Still just dreaming about the day I won't have to plan every move!

Riding the bike each day, up to 25 minutes today. No big hills yet just trying to ride through the stiffness of the knee. Once I get moving the stiffness lessens. Getting more comfortable dismounting the bike!

I watched that injury on the news and I can't watch it again. So much damage in a fraction of a second and no warning and months and months to recover....

 

[davkt]

What is a walking frame?

Sort of U shaped arrangement of 4 legs like several crutches joined together, stick walking frame or zimmer frame into google and you will get lots of pictures of them

 

[davkt]

Here are my crutches after the music festival, it was rather muddy but had a great time In all honest I think having a couple of extra legs was a big help in the squelch! Knee is a bit sore and swollen after it but doesn't feel like I've done it any serious damage and it is all worth it given the fantastic set from the Stereophonics.

 

[Jilly]

I think around here that'she called a Walker. Some have wheels and hand brakes.

 

[davkt]

I think around here that'she called a Walker. Some have wheels and hand brakes.

Yep probably, English is different depending which side of the Atlantic you are on! Oh and my 13 year old daughter has a tshirt with your signature line on it Jilly!

 

[The Last in Lin]

I think around here that'she called a Walker. Some have wheels and hand brakes.

Yeah, over here we call them walkers so the different name threw me. You must have really done a number on that ankle.

 

[Buffalo87]

I just watched an unedited version the video of the injury. That pretty much sums up the first few minutes after the injury.

Wow, yeah, that was what we all were like after blowing out our quad tendons. Same position. I think I screamed louder though. Tough to watch.

Frankly, I don't even remember exactly what happened. One second I'm chasing my dog, the next second I'm on the ground screaming my brains out.

 

[The Last in Lin]

Wow, yeah, that was what we all were like after blowing out our quad tendons. Same position. I think I screamed louder though. Tough to watch.

Frankly, I don't even remember exactly what happened. One second I'm chasing my dog, the next second I'm on the ground screaming my brains out.

I didn't scream but I cussed real loudly in front of what I think was a church youth group. Random combinations with "oh God" being the most common. I bashed my head on the concrete so hard that I was more concerned by that than the leg for a few minutes.

 

[davkt]

Wow, yeah, that was what we all were like after blowing out our quad tendons. Same position. I think I screamed louder though. Tough to watch.

Frankly, I don't even remember exactly what happened. One second I'm chasing my dog, the next second I'm on the ground screaming my brains out.

No screaming from me, amazing things that our bodies are! I've had 6 months of every medical professional I've met telling me what a painful injury I've had is. Well no, I remember slipping, thinking on my way down that no way should my knee be there and pointing that way in relation to the rest of my body and landing in a heap at the bottom of the steps. Sure it hurt as it happened for about 5 seconds till the adrenaline kicked in, after that it seems brain said to knee 'OK I know you are trashed, now shut up unless something changes' and the pain never ramped back up other than momentarily if I did something stupid! That did have some downsides, as obviously brain had also told ankle to shut up as well, so I thought I'd just twisted it a bit till as I was going into surgery for my knee 3 days later and the anaesthetist spotted some tell tale bruising and called the surgeon over to point out it looked to be broken! But it has meant the only times I needed more than the occasional paracetamol was in the 48hrs or so after each of the surgeries.

 

[Buffalo87]

You guys must be made of sterner stuff than I. I thought my kneecap had disintegrated (nope - just went south about 3 inches) and, well, . . . I let everybody on the block in on the news.

Loudly. The neighbors still talk about it. They thought I got shot.

 

[davkt]

Having landed on the floor I stood up and tried to walk again but hit the floor again straight away, given it happened during the morning rush hour in one of London's busiest tube stations by the time I hit the deck the second time a senior A&E (what ER is called in the UK) nurse who happened to be passing was making sure I didn't try anything daft again! In fact the nurse turned out to be the head of emergency nursing at the Royal College of Nursing, the UK's professional body for nurses.

 

[Beni smith]

Week 27 I think. I'm about 90% I'm getting closer to touching my butt and the flat spot at the top of my knee is starting to fill in . For some odd reason once the muscle was lost cellulite appeared. I hope that goes away when I increase the muscle mass in the leg. I'm still lifting, running and biking. I'll bike about 20-25 miles a week and run about 5miles. Biking has really help the quad out a lot I see a big difference in Appearance and it has loosened it up. I'm able to finally go up and down the steps without discomfort. Next goal it to skip steps running up them. The cast must of messed my ankle up because when I put on heels it feels stiff . Something else to work on. Lastly the kitchen floor was wet today and I slipped the same exact slip BUT it wasn't on a incline. It was like slow motion luckily nothing happened the quad held up. That will take me some time to get over now I'll be terrified to walk in the kitchen. Looks like I have to buy more rugs

 

[Zukes243]

Beni that is good news! I am about 4 weeks behind you. I did an 8 mile bike ride yesterday. My knee is tight still but getting looser with each ride. I use the stairs to help stretch the quad before I ride. My wife is a nervous wreck when I go out on the bike but she sees the improvement it makes in my walking.

Approaching 120 on the ROM but my injured leg is about 1/3 smaller and needs to get some of that muscle back. My PT thinks it is going well and that he can see improvement since I got on the bike.

You cracked me up about the kitchen. I am already fearful of dealing with ice and snow and it is August! I am amazed how often I visually scan the area I am walking in, on alert for potential areas to slip on. It's clear that behavior won't be ending any time soon.