RUPTURED PATELLAR TENDON

[FINFAN3DP]

I fell down three steps and ruptured my patellar tendon. My injury occurred 12/14/06, my surgery was 12/18/06 and they discharged me from the hospital on 12/19/06. 1/3/07 at the docs he said to do quad flex's 30 times twice a day and 10 heel toe points every hour. Next appointment on 1/18/07 I get the x-ray like usual then go into the exam room. He comes in, takes off my brace, throws it on the counter and then tells me to lay down. (i truly think he told me to lay down so I couldn't punch him when he did what he did next.) Next he grabs my knee cap and starts yanking it side to side and massaging my knee very roughly. He tells my wife she has to do this twice a day, ten to fifteen times and then pick up my knee so it bends a little 3 to 5 times. He then told me I couldn't have my brace back and sent us home with a script for Physical Therapy. I guess my question is, it has only been 4.5 weeks since my surgery and now i can't have the brace? Fast forward to today 1/31, only 6 weeks since surgery.  Doc had me put my leg off the edge of the table then proceeded to push down on it little by little until I was literally crying.  I'm a 39 year old big guy that doesn't cry. I'm really concerned that this guy is too agressive and he is going to rerupture it.  I'm a 350lb guy and I really don't want to have to go this surgery again.  Should I start looking for another doc?

[swamitime3]

Well I am at almost two years since that dreadful day.  I still feel at about 90% and will never be the same.  I do everything except running as I just don't feel comfortable doing that.  For you newbies you can read my experience above.  I was pretty much a normal case study for this type of injury.  It will take 6 months minimum to feel some what normal. Yes, if you do the PT you will be able to walk and do fairly normal things, but you will not be 100% and you will always have this injury in the back of your mind.  I ride bikes, golf, swim, exercise regularly.  I took the injury as a challenge and went from 242 pounds to 208 to get the extra weight off the knee.  That alone has been a very positive plus.  Time and doing the PT is the key to this injury.  The one thing that surprised me was just how fast your quad atrophies along with your cafl muscle.  They both were shot to nothing.  Building that Quad muscle back is the key as it makes things go.  So, don't fret things will get better for all who have this injury....

Mike

[fatfat12]

I had my patellar surgery on 12/19/11. i was able to walk without crouches in 4 days. no soft brace needed within 3 weeks.started to do light exercise in two weeks. Doctor did not prescribe hard brace. I decided to loss 8 lbs while
recoverying. The lighter you are the less impact your knees see when recoverying. Ate healthy all while recoverying.
Why? cause you are less active while recoverying so there is a possibilty you could gain weight which is not what you want. Pushed myself as hard as i could whithout re-injurying myself. Doctor said i have made a very speedy recovery. it is now just six week after surgery and already have the go ahead to play light basketball(my favorite sport). I did non-impact exercises swimming, biking, ect. all are great for recovery.

[fazerroy]

I too snapped my Patella tendon, slipping on wet grass on a slight hill. This happened on the 12th November 2011. I was operated on two day's later, on the14th November. I had my leg, from ankle to groin, encased in a cast.I was told to come back in four weeks to have the staples removed from the wound and have a new cast fitted. The hospital screwed up the appointment meaning it was six weeks till the stiches were removed, 13th December. Again I was told to return in four weeks, on the 10th January 2012 now eight weeks since the accident. I attended the appointment. The cast was removed and my knee was x-rayed and MRI scanned. It was decided that a velcro brace with stays running up the back of the leg to stop any movement.
I am to return on the 8th February, thirteen weeks since the surgery. The Doctors have said all along that they are very happy with progress and that physio will start in February. Then I've been promised the knee brace to allow limited movement then a bit more and so on.
I was given no excersises to do post op or given any advice other than "If you can keep the weight on the straight knee to 50% for the first month, 75% for the next month and full weight on a straight leg weight from then on. I realise that everyone of us will require very personal requirements regarding the various stages of recovery, but mine seems to have been very long and drawn out compared to all of yours.
I also suffered blood clots in my lungs six weeks after the surgery resulting in Hospitalisation over Christmas and Warfarin being prescribed to help with this.
I'll let you all know how it's going
Take care
Roy

[knysnakate]

Hi all,

I live in Australia, but this appears to be the only forum of this kind. My injury is slightly different to all the rest of yours, I just can't seem to find a forum for people who went through glass doors and severed their patella tendons! This is what happened to me. Not a sports injury so not a ruptured or torn tendon, was 100% severed.

This happened on the 5th January 2012, late at night. I waited in hospital for the whole night, and was taken in for surgery the following morning. They didn't know what was wrong with me but were concerned as they kept asking me to lift my leg straight up from off the bed but I was unable to do so. Anyway, they found that I had severed the tendon so they presumably stitched it back together and put in a wire to attach my kneecap to the tendon. I was discharged on the 9th Jan in a fully locked leg brace.

I was told by the nurses that I would be in the brace for about 6 weeks. I was supposed to go back in two weeks time for what I thought was another small operation to have the wire removed from my knee, then be in the brace for about another month after that. The way it has worked out (I think due to the fact that the surgeon is away on leave) is that I am only going back 3 weeks after the initial surgery, on the 27th Jan. Not only this, but I called the hospital today to find out if it would be day surgery or overnight, and was told I am not actually booked in for surgery this Friday, but just for a review with the doctor. This has me slightly concerned as A) my stitches will have been in for 3 weeks, and I feel that this is pretty long and B) I feel that every week the wire removal surgery is pushed back is another week I will have to be on the brace/crutches. Not sure if this is actually correct but just want to start physio as soon as possible to get back to normality as soon as possible!

I am in parts hopeful and distressed after reading all these posts. People make it sound like this is a terrible accident and that the recovery is a long, slow and very painful process. On the other hand it sounds like I will probably be driving in about a month, thank goodness, as there is not much I can do at the moment without being able to drive (such as work, etc).

My real question is: Does anyone know if my injury is the same as what you all are talking about? I ask mainly because I've been doing research on exercises to do to strengthen my quad - I'm pretty sure it has atrophied quite badly, just in the last couple of days has turned into flab! And a lot of the stuff I'm reading involves leg lifts, which I am still quite unable to do. I try my best, and when someone helps me lift my leg I can help them, a BIT, with a lot of strain, but it is quite scary to not be able to lift my leg at all. I hope that this also has something to do with the fact that the leg brace is pretty heavy.

Anyway, any comments and feedback would be helpful.
Thanks

[dennygrif]

I suffered a dislocated pattelar and ruptured tendons about 4 wks ago and was reffered to and orthopedic surgeon and braced. The problem is I live on a small caribbean island with 1 MRI machine and it broke down with no idea as to how soon it will be up and running. Two orthopedic surgeons have suggested surgery and one noted that the muscles have tightened to the point that the leg cannot bend at all and after 4wks of injury I'm in pain and have localised swelling. Please give me some feed back as I'm concerned about what may be happening and considering my present experience should I fear post surgery/recovery.

Denny

[TheFirstEdition]

I'm a 22 year old woman who has dislocated my patella for the 5th time 27/12/11. I was given a brace for 2 weeks the trouble is no matter how tight I strap the brace it always falls down my leg and isn't doing very much good at all.. I was wondering if I needed the brace I can put my weight on my knee I have already started heel toe and leg lift excercises I still use a crutch because there is quite a bit of swelling. And I can't quite bend my leg just yet