Quadriceps Tendon Rupture, Repair and Rehab

[peter826]

Just an update. 9 weeks after surgery. I am at 120 degrees ROM (active). I'm having a little trouble keeping the leg straight during a leg lift -- dropping about 6 degrees. It was 12 degrees drop a week ago, so it's coming along. I straighten my good leg by tightening my calf, that doesn't seem to work quite right with the bad leg.

Brace is open to 120 degrees. I'm walking a bit without it, but only around the house. I don't have much strength yet. Stood on piece of wood about 1.5" high and bent bad knee, trying to lower the good leg down. Knee buckled right away, had to catch myself. Lots of work to do...

 

[Rich716]

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Rich716]

Rich, welcome to the club no one wants to be in. I hope your surgery goes well tomorrow. Things that made my recovery better included getting a nerve block before surgery (keeps pain at bay for ~24 hours). I was also given a "pain ball" that had lidocaine (or something similar) in it that slowly dripped out over the first 4-5 days. I didn't have much pain, but maybe one bad night. I went pretty heavy on the tylenol and didn't need much in the way of narcotics.

Probably a good idea to pick up some crutches if don't already, and a raised toilet seat with handles comes in really handy. I got one at Walgreens. It was really overpriced but a godsend.

It's a long process but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I'm 9 weeks post surgery and can walk a bit without my brace. Knee is still very weak, but I can feel it getting stronger every day. It just takes time, and persistence with the exercises they'll give you.

Thanks, I got the nerve block and got through the night ok. Hurts quite a bit this morning, icing and elevating.

 

[peter826]

How's it going, Rich? Hopefully you're past the worst of the surgery pain at this point.

 

[Andy53]

Tomorrow will be 2 months since my repeat R quad tendon complete re-rupture repair. I’m coming along. 135 degrees ROM at PT today. Started bike and lightweight leg presses. My pool opened back up so I’ve been swimming. Been out of the brace for 2 weeks. Walking the dog everyday. Doing wall squats throughout the day. Mentally I’m better, things were pretty low for me when I re-tore the tendon, plus the pandemic, work was slow, etc.. anyway, better now. Praying for Rich and everyone. Praying for peace. Andy.

 

[peter826]

Andy, you must be an incredibly fast healer. I'm at 10 weeks and just now hitting 125 degrees. I'm still in the brace, bur about ready to be rid of it. Being out of it at 6 weeks, wow!

 

[Rich716]

Tomorrow will be 2 months since my repeat R quad tendon complete re-rupture repair. I’m coming along. 135 degrees ROM at PT today. Started bike and lightweight leg presses. My pool opened back up so I’ve been swimming. Been out of the brace for 2 weeks. Walking the dog everyday. Doing wall squats throughout the day. Mentally I’m better, things were pretty low for me when I re-tore the tendon, plus the pandemic, work was slow, etc.. anyway, better now. Praying for Rich and everyone. Praying for peace. Andy.

I’m confused. My surgery was 10 days ago and I just had the staples removed today. I was told absolutely no movement or weight bearing for another 41/2 weeks. At that time I’ll start pt. I keep hearing things like “our goal is to get you to walk again”. “Maybe you’ll be able to play golf next year but tennis is out“. It was a full tear but the surgery was textbook. Am I being unrealistic thinking I’ll get back to somewhere close to where I was???

 

[peter826]

Rich, if you read all the past posts one thing that becomes apparent is that different doctors have really varied plans for their patients. I could bear weight on the repair within a week of surgery and was bending my knee in physical therapy in week three. I'm not sure why there is so much variation, must just be different approaches for different docs. If you want to see what my plan looks like, it is here:

Ortho Indy Quadriceps Tendon Repair Protocol

My doc told me he expected six months recovery time. I didn't ask about sports, I just want to walk normally.

 

[Rich716]

Rich, if you read all the past posts one thing that becomes apparent is that different doctors have really varied plans for their patients. I could bear weight on the repair within a week of surgery and was bending my knee in physical therapy in week three. I'm not sure why there is so much variation, must just be different approaches for different docs. If you want to see what my plan looks like, it is here:

Ortho Indy Quadriceps Tendon Repair Protocol

My doc told me he expected six months recovery time. I didn't ask about sports, I just want to walk normally.

Thanks Peter

 

[Andy53]

You can totally recover from this devastating injury and surgery. My L quad tendon tear repair was 1/3/11 at age 44 and in July of that year I did an Olympic triathlon and ran a half marathon in August, and I’ve done those every year since. Since 2011 I’ve played a lot of tennis and every sport. Tons of snowmobiling and dirt biking. I’m in the National Guard and had a combat deployment to Afghanistan in 2012 just over a year after surgery, no problem. This time, with the R knee at age 53, now 54, I was recovering well and had just started old man jogging at about 10-11 weeks post-op, but then came the freak slip on the icy steps and I re-tore it at 12 weeks. It really was a freak accident, caused deep knee bend and hard rapid contraction and it tore. Anyway, now at 2 months it’s coming along again. Walked the dog 1.5 miles tonight at a rapid clip, walking well. I can go up stairs well now, both legs equal, though I hold onto the rail, just trying not to fall. I do formal PT once a week, and home PT every morning. Lots of quad contractions, wall slides, stair master and bike, slowly adding leg press, also jogging in place. My favorite thing is the pool, buoyancy is amazing for the post-op knee. My thoughts. Main thing is be careful and don’t fall. If I had had the brace on at 3 months when I slipped on April 2nd maybe it would have saved me? I expect a full recovery for this R knee for me and your knees for all of you too. Stay safe, Andy.

 

[Rich716]

Thanks Andy, it sounds like you were in much better shape than I was when you were injured. But, my goal is to get back to where I was pre accident.

 

[Rich716]

How's it going, Rich? Hopefully you're past the worst of the surgery pain at this point.

The day after surgery when the nerve block wore off was brutal. Doing much better now, controlling the pain with Advil and ice. Looking forward to the PT phase.

 

[peter826]

I'm nearing 12 weeks from surgery. I'm at around 125 degrees active range of motion. I think I can pull it past 130 with the strap, but we're not measuring it that way. I ditched the brace three days ago. Walked for 30 minutes the last two days. My gait is pretty messed up and my leg is weak, weak, weak. The knee does buckle every once in awhile but I can catch it (so far). I need to be careful.

Still frustrated with straight leg lifts. If I sit on the floor with my legs straight in front of me, contracting the quad of my good leg will also flex my calf and pop my foot off the floor. Bad leg, contracting the quad seems to do nothing to the calf. Not sure if this is normal. I have a 12 week followup on Weds and am curious about that. I appear to be 1-2 weeks behind their schedule, but when I read past posts on this forum, I seem to be doing OK. I have a week's trip to Michigan planned in another month, hoping to be good enough then to get around ok. So I'll be doing a lot of walking between now and then.

Rich, Andy, hope your recovery is going well.

 

[nighthiker]

Rich, welcome to our exclusive club! This is a very long journey but you will play golf again, most likely this year. Tennis....maybe. Next year you definitely will. Stay strong, go to PT and do the home exercises/stretches.

I'm an avid hiker/backpacker and I am just starting to hike short distances. Tore right quad tendon on 12/29/2019. Surgery 1/3/2020. Leg locked straight for 6 weeks. No exercises until PT started on 2/17/2020. I have 2 more PT sessions left. Measured at 124 degrees. My good leg measured at an easy 140. Still a long way to go, but I've been told expect 90% flex, strength, and size from the good leg. Hopefully as time goes by I will get closer to all of those things. It does get better. It takes a long time. Like inching your way through a marathon.

Andy, you must be a resilient dude. 135 degrees is awesome at 8 weeks. The strength will come. You sound like a tough guy so I have no doubt you'll get back to almost full strength. Blessings to all of you guys!

 

[Rich716]

Rich, welcome to our exclusive club! This is a very long journey but you will play golf again, most likely this year. Tennis....maybe. Next year you definitely will. Stay strong, go to PT and do the home exercises/stretches.

I'm an avid hiker/backpacker and I am just starting to hike short distances. Tore right quad tendon on 12/29/2019. Surgery 1/3/2020. Leg locked straight for 6 weeks. No exercises until PT started on 2/17/2020. I have 2 more PT sessions left. Measured at 124 degrees. My good leg measured at an easy 140. Still a long way to go, but I've been told expect 90% flex, strength, and size from the good leg. Hopefully as time goes by I will get closer to all of those things. It does get better. It takes a long time. Like inching your way through a marathon.

Andy, you must be a resilient dude. 135 degrees is awesome at 8 weeks. The strength will come. You sound like a tough guy so I have no doubt you'll get back to almost full strength. Blessings to all of you guys!

Thanks, I’m actually feeling a lot better. Although I know I’m not supposed to, ive been able to put weight on my bad leg with the immobilizer on without any pain. Leg lifts seem to be no problem as well. I’m certainly getting around the house better and regaining some independence (just in time for the 4th of July). I’m really looking forward to getting cleared for PT and really getting on the path.

 

[peter826]

An update. I'm now 15 weeks post surgery. I am walking well with a little stiffness. I try and walk about 45 minutes per night. My gait is getting back to normal. My active ROM is past 130 degrees, my physical therapist stopped measuring it. I'm going to keep working trying to get to the point where I can sit on the floor and pull both knees up to my chest. I'm almost there. Knee is still weak, sometimes buckles out of nowhere. I can't climb stairs without serious issues. That's my next challenge. Wish I had access to a gym to do some leg presses, as that seems to be a good way to build strength.

Hope everyone else is recovering well, let's hear some updates..

 

[François Pugh]

......I'm not sure why there is so much variation, must just be different approaches for different docs. If you want to see what my plan looks like, i........

I can certainly see different approaches for different patients, just using my before and after body's difference in healing ability with the only difference being a couple of years of undiagnosed diabetes.

 

[Andy53]

Hello, Andy here, 14 weeks today after repeat R quad tendon rupture repair. Slowly getting better. Walking well. Jogging a little bit during nightly walks. Riding both mountain and road bikes well, albeit carefully. Going upstairs ok still holding on, can’t go down yet with bad leg supporting weight. Leg press 80 lbs with bad leg. ROM full when I’m loosened up, can touch heal to glut. Knee stiffens up throughout day, especially if standing a lot. Still very nervous on uneven ground and so worried about trips, slips and falls, luckily no snow or ice for a few more months. Taking meloxicam about 4-5 days a week, no other meds. Formal PT every Friday morning. Pool every Thursday morning. Everything else at home. Starting to shoot baskets, want to golf but think I need a couple more weeks, tennis unlikely until next spring. Good luck with your recoveries, Stay well, Andy.

 

[The Last in Lin]

Hello, Andy here, 14 weeks today after repeat R quad tendon rupture repair. Slowly getting better. Walking well. Jogging a little bit during nightly walks. Riding both mountain and road bikes well, albeit carefully. Going upstairs ok still holding on, can’t go down yet with bad leg supporting weight. Leg press 80 lbs with bad leg. ROM full when I’m loosened up, can touch heal to glut. Knee stiffens up throughout day, especially if standing a lot. Still very nervous on uneven ground and so worried about trips, slips and falls, luckily no snow or ice for a few more months. Taking meloxicam about 4-5 days a week, no other meds. Formal PT every Friday morning. Pool every Thursday morning. Everything else at home. Starting to shoot baskets, want to golf but think I need a couple more weeks, tennis unlikely until next spring. Good luck with your recoveries, Stay well, Andy.

At some point you may consider light agility and plyometric exercises to get the spring back in the quad for sports. Nothing major but perhaps side straddles, jumping up onto a curb front hops etc. My quad felt like a flat basketball when I ran if that makes sense.

 

[Rich716]

Hello, Andy here, 14 weeks today after repeat R quad tendon rupture repair. Slowly getting better. Walking well. Jogging a little bit during nightly walks. Riding both mountain and road bikes well, albeit carefully. Going upstairs ok still holding on, can’t go down yet with bad leg supporting weight. Leg press 80 lbs with bad leg. ROM full when I’m loosened up, can touch heal to glut. Knee stiffens up throughout day, especially if standing a lot. Still very nervous on uneven ground and so worried about trips, slips and falls, luckily no snow or ice for a few more months. Taking meloxicam about 4-5 days a week, no other meds. Formal PT every Friday morning. Pool every Thursday morning. Everything else at home. Starting to shoot baskets, want to golf but think I need a couple more weeks, tennis unlikely until next spring. Good luck with your recoveries, Stay well, Andy.

Sounds like you’re really progressing. I’m seeing the dr tomorrow and hope to be cleared for pt. I’ve been full weight bearing with my immobilizer on for about the last 20 days and have been leg legging around the house.