Ok to walk without crutches two weeks after patellar tendon rupture surgery?

[miaheatfan]

I ruptured my the patellar tendon in my left leg on 7/11 and had surgery to repair it on 7/13.  For the first week after surgery, I kept weight bearing on my left leg to a minimum, but the past couple of days I have started walking without crutches and going up and down stairs while my leg is in the immobilization brace.  I am surprised that I able to bear 100% weight on my left leg this soon after surgery without any pain at all.  Is this normal?  Should I be experiencing pain and I am running the risk of re-injuring my leg by walking around on it this early?


Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[griz]

I am only a few weeks ahead of you so let me tell you what I am going through.  10 days after surgery I was told I could walk with the aid of crutches so long as it did not hurt.  I do occasionally take 4-5 steps without crutches but my leg is unstable so I know I don't want to do it for too long.  I am now at 4 weeks post surgery and I still use my crutches to aid walking.  I was told that the most important thing with this injury is to not stress the muscle again but allow it to heal first.  Yours and my recovery appears to be much different from others as most of the people I've spoken too did not do anything for 6 weeks. 

Just a little over 10 minutes ago I had my wife help me bend my knee for the first real time.  I've been able to go 45 degree's with no problems at all for a few weeks.  However, tonight I was able to go virtually all the way to 90 with no pain.  I do have the titanium wire repair which is not going to allow my knee to bend beyond that but I am ecstatic that I can hit 90 this early!

I would lay off the walking without crutches until such time that you know the muscle has had time to heal.  The last thing you want to do is injure it again.  Good luck to you and don't expect much on this forum.  There's good information here but it's not a very active forum.

Bob

[subail]

don't expect much on this forum.  There's good information here but it's not a very active forum.

That's because you're on the wrong link....there is an abundance of help if you go here:

http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/index.php?topic=8389.2235

If you read through these posts you will discover a lot of answers....

Be careful with what you do. This is not an injury that is rushed.