8-Months Post Patellar Tendon Rupture

[mw]

I ruptured my patellar tendon in late December 2012 playing football and had surgery on January 1st 2013. I am now 8 months post-surgery and still working at gaining my quad muscle back on my injured leg. ( I was in a straight brace for several weeks after surgery and my right leg atrophied quite a bit) I do a variety of leg workouts including weighted squats in the smith machine, leg press, and lunges. My leg is slowly gaining strength but it doesn’t seem to be gaining any size. My questions is for all those who have had this injury: did you gain back full strength/size/mobility in your injured leg? If so how long did it take? Any training/workout suggestions? I am huge into outdoor sports and have recently started mountain biking again and it feels great however, I would like to get my leg strong enough to start running/snowboarding/jumping again. Thanks in advance for the help!

[John42]

Hi MW   

Welcome to the RPT web page.

The key to your question is PATIENCE - You have sustained a very serious and rare injury which can take months to regain enough ROM to reach a normal life.   It can take up to twelve months to reach normality, although very few RPT reach 100% ROM.

Have you had your good leg measured which should be in the region of 130/140ROM, and what is the ROM of your injured knee.  Anything over 120ROM is passable and you should be able to lead a good normal life - however, listen and respect your knee.

Suggest that you click onto the undermentioned webpage, which contains a number documents which I have compiled together with KneeGuru - and read some of the previous posts on this thread.

ASK questions - lots of buddies on this thread to give you advice.   

Where do you live???

Take care
JohnK/ Manchester UK
https://www.facebook.com/QuadricepsPatellarTendonRupture

[SellaVee]

I've read a lot of the posts on the 328 page ruptured patellar tendon thread and I've seen people ask this question before, particularly about the size of the quads.

Can I suggest you look at some of those pages and try and find someone like yourself, similar age and activity level.  Then read all their posts (click on their name and then click on read posts) to find out how they got on.

My daughter-in-law had cruciate ligament surgery some years ago and although I've never noticed it she says her thighs are no longer the same size.

I have the impression that it takes a long time, but size isn't something I'm worried about.  I'm concerned about re-gaining function and people do achieve that, but many give up contact sports if that's what caused their injury.  Some do go back to sports.  It depends on the person.

[carkeltom]

mw, I am only about six weeks post op of a double patellar tendon rupture, but I have read the entire thread almost, 327 pages of it and there are some people who have tremendous success recovering from their injury.  Most people seen to work more on getting their mobility first and then focus on strength and regaining size.  As someone who used to do a lot of working out, strength exercises.  higher weights with lower reps builds size/mass.  There are lots of people who go back to pre-injury activity.  I know that I will be looking at at least a 12-14 month recovery/rehab period due to my injury.  Glad to see that you are doing good though and nice to meet you.  I will copy and post this on your other thread, but this is the place to be.