Ruptured Patellar Tendon Surgery

[benjiackin]

Week 4 today since the surgery.  Surgeon set my brace to 40 degrees at 2.5 weeks and can now comfortably hit that, expect him to extend it further on Monday when I am back.  Still not started physio but have been doing various exercises he told me to do.

Just having some movement back in the leg makes life so much easier in terms of getting dressed, getting in and out of vehicles etc. 

Can walk about no problem now inside or out, although if I am on my feet or do a lot the leg does swell up by the end of the day.

Also returned to the gym this week and did some upper body lifting which felt great.  Anxious to start driving again but anticipate this will still be a few weeks off!

Injury was to my left leg so I am interested to know peoples experience with driving, even months/years down the line?  Considering changing from manual gear box- to automatic.  Do you have any pain/discomfort when using the clutch? 

[John42]

Hi Ben

You are on track - I changed my car to automatic - Also sold my house and now have a ground floor flat ( avoids stairs ).  As and when you commence driving, place the car seat right back.
Keep posting - you are doing great.
JohnK/ Manchester UK

[Lairy75]

I am almost 12 weeks post op.   I had a straight leg brace for 6 weeks.   Was desperate to get it off but I think that time not bending really allowed my leg to heal.  Last 6 weeks I have made so much progress but I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.   

Best exercises for me have been heel slides on a skateboard and rowing machine.   

I've now joined a leg group where I did much more exercises including squats for first time.  Stairs are getting easier and I was driving after 8 weeks.   I've found the clutch ok but it's harder in my wife's newer car.   I think long term I might switch to an automatic.

I still have a lot of swelling but got at least 130 ROM.  I think I had a great surgeon.  Take johns advice not to push it too much.   My footy days are defs over but im in the gym most days and looking forward to getting out on my bike in the spring.

[Bascat]

Back driving after 6 months once surgeon gave clearance. Found it a little scary at first tbh but no problems now. No need to do anything you don't feel comfortable with. Going down stairs difficult even a yr and half nearly on but it's good exercise. Keep going, don't push too hard some days are better than others but it does get easier with time

[benjiackin]

5 weeks post operation was unable to leg lift, surgeon sent me for MRI and ultrasound both of which showed another tear and a stretched tendon, so was booked in today for further surgery (approx 6 weeks since the first). Surgeon opened me up and hasn't done anything said there is. I tear??? The reason on the MRI scans and ultrasound was the stitches and ther things they used in original surgery. Really not sure why they wouldn't know this and now have probably two week set back whilst my new wound (which is 3inch longer than the original one) heals.

Surgeon is now concerned that the nerve blocker in my first operation has damaged my nerve and is causing complications with my quad.

Quote a frustrating and confusing day!!

[benjiackin]

Should say isn't a tear once they opened me up on the operating table.

[Peatear_Gryphon]

Hi Everybody,

So back on September 1st I was playing tennis and while running towards the net I stopped myself and heard the infamous pop. I took a few steps then I went down. Couldn't bend or put any weight on it at all for 2 days. Went to the doctors a week or so later, got an x-ray, and a physical exam. I was told if I were to tear my ACL or anything I wouldn't be able to walk around right now like I was without any crutches etc. I was told it was a sprained knee and to rest it for two weeks. I thought that a pop and pain like that wouldn't cause just a sprain so went to a second doctor. The second doctor at least ordered an MRI and was thinking that my ACL was torn and to call a few days after the MRI for the results. I called them and was told to come in to discuss it and was told that my patellar tendon ruptured. I have surgery scheduled for next Friday and rather nervous for this one. I have had numerous surgeries including 5 shoulder surgeries but nothing I feel will compare to this one coming up with it being my first ever leg surgery. I just wanted to throw my two cents into this forum which I'm glad is here because it is rather hard to find anything with this type of injury. I especially like all the different suggestions and things people did to better the recovery. The knee seems to be very complicated especially when it comes to figuring out what is wrong with all the symptoms being similar and the different tolerances people have with pain.

[Joe Dublin Ireland]

Well Folks,

6 weeks today since the surgery to fix my ruptured Patella tendon and everything seems to be going as planned.

Seen my OS yesterday and he is happy for me to start physio on tuesday.

The swelling is still there but gets less and less everyday and my bad knee is starting to look a bit like my good one.

Just a small word of advice, be careful if you jump out of bed in the morning and try and put your sock on your straight leg while standing. Its hard on your hamstring!!!

Hope everyone getting through this ok

Joe

[John42]

Hi Joe
Welcome to this exclusive club - you will have realised that you have sustained a very serious and rare injury with a long rehab and lots of patience.

Suggest that you start reading as many of the previous posts on this thread - ask questions - lots of buddies in a similar situation.
Suggest you sleep with a pillow/cushion between your legs - not sexy, but it takes the pain away from the injured leg.   JohnK/ Manchester UK

[timfear]

So, I'm just shy of 20 weeks since surgery. I'm amazed at how quickly things sort of healed up and how much progress I made during PT. Every appointment I had with either the surgeon or PT I was told I was doing great, 99th percentile, the whole thing. Just worked real hard and am thankful everything has worked well.

But there's good news/bad news. About a month ago I had a follow up with the surgeon and he just gushed at how well I was doing and said he wasn't going to re-write prescription for physical therapy. He said "you don't need it, just keep doing what you're doing." So I have. But now I feel like I've come to a complete halt. I don't think I've progressed a bit since I left his office.

I can walk great. I ride exercise bike almost every day and started doing elliptical machine. All good. But I don't think I'm anywhere close to being able to run. My knee still buckles all the time while I'm walking and I just have horrible quad strength. I do leg extensions and can add in a fair bit of weight, but again, I don't feel any progress.

I guess I'm just venting/ranting. Anybody have any thoughts on what I can be doing to continue to improve? I'd really like to get back to at least jogging, jumping rope, that kind of thing. Maybe even a box jump one day.

One other thing, my knee is still pretty swollen. Everyone says that's normal, but really? No pain at all - in fact my "good" knee hurts much worse, all the time - but knee is quite swollen and warm. 20 weeks.

Thanks and good luck to everyone.

[John42]

Hi Tim

Welcome to the RPT thread on KneeGuru -   Patience is the keyword for this very serious injury with a long rehab, perhaps up to 12 moths or even more.

You would do well to read a number of the previous posts on this thread - ASK questions, lots of buddies on this thread to help you on this long road to recovery.   What range of movement ROM do you have at this moment of time???    How did you sustain this injury?   Where do you live?
Suggest you sleep with a pillow/cushion  between our knees.  Do not attempt to drive until you have clearance from your OS.
Keep posting
JohnK/ Manchester UK

[madvillain]

So, I'm just shy of 20 weeks since surgery. I'm amazed at how quickly things sort of healed up and how much progress I made during PT. Every appointment I had with either the surgeon or PT I was told I was doing great, 99th percentile, the whole thing. Just worked real hard and am thankful everything has worked well.

But there's good news/bad news. About a month ago I had a follow up with the surgeon and he just gushed at how well I was doing and said he wasn't going to re-write prescription for physical therapy. He said "you don't need it, just keep doing what you're doing." So I have. But now I feel like I've come to a complete halt. I don't think I've progressed a bit since I left his office.

I can walk great. I ride exercise bike almost every day and started doing elliptical machine. All good. But I don't think I'm anywhere close to being able to run. My knee still buckles all the time while I'm walking and I just have horrible quad strength. I do leg extensions and can add in a fair bit of weight, but again, I don't feel any progress.

I guess I'm just venting/ranting. Anybody have any thoughts on what I can be doing to continue to improve? I'd really like to get back to at least jogging, jumping rope, that kind of thing. Maybe even a box jump one day.

One other thing, my knee is still pretty swollen. Everyone says that's normal, but really? No pain at all - in fact my "good" knee hurts much worse, all the time - but knee is quite swollen and warm. 20 weeks.

Thanks and good luck to everyone.

Start taking creatine and cissus and you need to be doing VMO specific exercises at this point.  It will be at least another 6 months before you can squat to parallel and the leg extension is a "open chain" lift -- not good for your recovery.

At this point I'd recommend you do as much hiking on uneven terrain as possible (safely works ROM and helps you regain gait) and doing weighted step ups and VMO specific training.  Just google "VMO exercises" you'll find quite a few.  One I do that I still do is squeeze a medicine ball between my knees while doing a wall squat.  Another one involves flexing the knee while tied to a anchor with a bungee cord around the back of the knee.

Do unweighted squats as far down as you can.  You should still be doing the "knee cap dance" and you should be doing patella manipulation (break up scar tissue) as well. 

I've said it before but months 4-18 progress is not linear.  Months 3-10 especially are tough as you are making progress with ROM but have tremendous muscle atrophy.  That's why your knee is buckling, that's why can't jump or cut or stop yourself. 

I'm at almost 35 months now and I was doing 36" box jumps last night no problem.  I can now squat 225 10 times again (I'd have laughed at that prior to the dual ruptures but now I'm happy) and in general I'm as athletic (moreso in some cases, I could not have banged out a 7 minute mile on the treadmill when I was fatter pre injury and in bad cardio shape, but I did one last night for my warmup).

As John says, it's a long ass recovery.  Just keep patient, do some of the things I just listed, and keep working.  Work works.

[John42]

Excellent advice


JohnK/ Manchester UK

[timfear]

So, I'm just shy of 20 weeks since surgery. I'm amazed at how quickly things sort of healed up and how much progress I made during PT. Every appointment I had with either the surgeon or PT I was told I was doing great, 99th percentile, the whole thing. Just worked real hard and am thankful everything has worked well.

But there's good news/bad news. About a month ago I had a follow up with the surgeon and he just gushed at how well I was doing and said he wasn't going to re-write prescription for physical therapy. He said "you don't need it, just keep doing what you're doing." So I have. But now I feel like I've come to a complete halt. I don't think I've progressed a bit since I left his office.

I can walk great. I ride exercise bike almost every day and started doing elliptical machine. All good. But I don't think I'm anywhere close to being able to run. My knee still buckles all the time while I'm walking and I just have horrible quad strength. I do leg extensions and can add in a fair bit of weight, but again, I don't feel any progress.

I guess I'm just venting/ranting. Anybody have any thoughts on what I can be doing to continue to improve? I'd really like to get back to at least jogging, jumping rope, that kind of thing. Maybe even a box jump one day.

One other thing, my knee is still pretty swollen. Everyone says that's normal, but really? No pain at all - in fact my "good" knee hurts much worse, all the time - but knee is quite swollen and warm. 20 weeks.

Thanks and good luck to everyone.

Start taking creatine and cissus and you need to be doing VMO specific exercises at this point.  It will be at least another 6 months before you can squat to parallel and the leg extension is a "open chain" lift -- not good for your recovery.

At this point I'd recommend you do as much hiking on uneven terrain as possible (safely works ROM and helps you regain gait) and doing weighted step ups and VMO specific training.  Just google "VMO exercises" you'll find quite a few.  One I do that I still do is squeeze a medicine ball between my knees while doing a wall squat.  Another one involves flexing the knee while tied to a anchor with a bungee cord around the back of the knee.

Do unweighted squats as far down as you can.  You should still be doing the "knee cap dance" and you should be doing patella manipulation (break up scar tissue) as well. 

I've said it before but months 4-18 progress is not linear.  Months 3-10 especially are tough as you are making progress with ROM but have tremendous muscle atrophy.  That's why your knee is buckling, that's why can't jump or cut or stop yourself. 

I'm at almost 35 months now and I was doing 36" box jumps last night no problem.  I can now squat 225 10 times again (I'd have laughed at that prior to the dual ruptures but now I'm happy) and in general I'm as athletic (moreso in some cases, I could not have banged out a 7 minute mile on the treadmill when I was fatter pre injury and in bad cardio shape, but I did one last night for my warmup).

As John says, it's a long ass recovery.  Just keep patient, do some of the things I just listed, and keep working.  Work works.

Thanks for the advice. I don't know the term VMO so I'll google it next.

I shouldn't' be complaining. I think I'm doing very well. I was squatting very light weights this weekend. I have great range of motion. But I just feel at kind of a standstill.

I was really happy when the surgeon said I didn't need PT any longer. But now I feel kind of lost!

Anyway, thanks again.

[John42]

Hi Tim

As I have mentioned many times = keep asking questions - some good buddies taking care of you, but it`s a miserable slow process.

JohnK/ Manchester UK