recovery log (severely torn quadriceps)

[wizim]

so i tore my left quadriceps pretty good at a powerlifting meet three saturdays ago (9/29).


watch the left knee at the bottom of the lift.
torn quadriceps at occupy strength 2012 - YouTube

heres how it looked sunday afternoon.
**broken link removed**



my three squat attempts were 395,405(pr) and 415 would have been a new pr.

here is a shot of my 405 lift
**broken link removed**

i had 2 calls saturday night from girlfriends from the gym offering me first thing monday morning appointments with the orthopedic surgeons they work for. the one i accepted was easy. he is widely known as the best sports orthopedic in the county. he also is the orthopedic surgeon for the Florida Marlins. i was stocked to know i was seeing him as his first patient on monday!!

with x-ray he diagnosed what he thought was a "torn muscle, no surgery required" what a relief!! a whole day on the internet watching videos i was convinced i ruptured my tendon and was going to get cut open. this scared the shit out of me.
this is the video that convinced me as all of the signs/symptoms were the same. its actually a great and very informative video with a good laugh at the end.

Quadriceps Tendon Rupture - Everything You Need To Know - Nabil Ebraheim - YouTube

so the doc orders an MRI. says go to xxximaging. they will deal with your insurance and get you in, in 2-3 days. right! my wife works in the radiology dept at the hospital. she called and had me in the MRI in 2 hours. by 3:30 pm monday the dr had my MRI in his hands. we sork fast!!

MRI report was scary!!
"severe partial tear of the vastus lateralis muscle with partial tears of the vastus intermedius and medialus muscles as well as the rectus femoris
musculotendonous junction.
left knee joint effusion with fluid hematocrit level. contusion of the distal femur."

i read ll of that and thought SHIT! i am going to need surgery! Meet with the doc 2 day later and he says "no surgery" we dont sew muscles and the tendon is partial and will heal itself" can you RELIEF!!

 

[wizim]

at the time of injury i was taking 4iu rips 5days/week,test e125/5days, eq 125/5day, anavar 75mg/day and (halo 40mg/day for a total of 4 days)
i immediatly stopped everything except test e and hgh. i upped the hgh to 6iu injected directly into the injured muscle.
its been 20 days. i am able to get around pretty good (as long as there are no steps involved). i still cant even do an air squat. i have been good about getting on the bike to keep blood going to the site. my last visit with the ortho (two weeks from injury) he was impressed with the progress. i will see him again in 3 weeks.
i am also doing what i call "water squats" in my pool. as you know in the water we are weightless (mostly). so i will continue to do this. as i get stronger i will move into shallower water which in turn will add more weight.
i was very depressed for the first 10 days or so until i saw a new story of a lady who lost both arms and legs from "booty injections". yes, in miami and other places i assume they are injecting all kinds of shit (including cement and super glue) into their ass in an attempt to get a bigger butt. (dont ask me) but this made me feel; good about my injury.

 

[wizim]

heres a small compilation of my team at the meet.
Gardens Crossfit Athletes at Crossfit Football Miami - YouTube


i did still finish in 8th place. squat was the second platform of the 4 lift meet. once i tore my quad my head was out of the game. i tried to dead lift a plain 45lb bar and it wasnt happening. i couldnt do anything that involved bending the knee or i would fall out. i wanted to stop but my buddies convinced me to at least get on the bench because we were going for the strongest gym award.
i got on the bench first lift 295,2nd lift 305 FAIL then i said fuck it! im done! i expecte a minimum of 315lb bench.
after i walked off the platfor leaving my 295 on the board i decided to see if i could do a straight leg DL. guess what? i could! 1st lift 375, 2nd lift 415 it was so fucking easy! i was going to go 430 for the 3rd lift. loaded the bar,did the lift and the judge says "good lift,315lbs" im like what?!? my dumb ass miscalculated the weight!!

i still managed to finish 8th out of 16. if i would have got my 315 bench and a ~500ish dead lift i would have finished 1st!! oh well. below is a link to the final results.

we still took
1st in mens lightweight
1st in mens heavyweight
1st im womens middleweight
strongest gym

if i had entered middleweight 187-220 i would have placed 3rd with my total. i weighed in at 175.0. yesterday i weighed 187.4. no cardio for 3 weeks is (so far) is killing me!i told my wife im on my way to 200 if i dont get better FAST! (for the record...i dont want to be 200lbs!) i prefer to be 170 actually.
but at 190ish i stll have an 8 pack,obliques and the same waiste size. i dont feel like im gaining fat just that my muscles are much fuller. it makes me wonder if i was undernourished at 175lbs.

winner of mens middleweight is my old training partner. i had a fall out at the gym he is from. good guy, very strong. we trained together for 3 years until the owner of the gym and i had problem and i moved on.

**broken link removed**

 

[wizim]

i can feel the increase from 4iu to 6iu in my hands. i sure hope its helping with healing.

i had my wife scan (ultrasound) my quads (both side to compare) yesterday and its crazy how you can see the muscle tears. it loooks like a slice right down the middle. freaky!

 

[wizim]

as of yesterday the resting pain is/was pretty much non-existent.

today i was doing some sit ups and i got up quick and felt my muscle tear some. it freaked me out. i came home and iced it and then wrapped it. im nervous to know if i set myself back and how it might look in the morning.

its been less than 4 weeks since the injury. i cannot even do an air squat. any weight on the left leg with a bent knee and i go down.

 

[wizim]

i did start the eq back up this week. i will do low dose 150mg/5 days. the thought of extra red blood cells just seems to make sense for rehab, no?

what about var? i have plenty. i was running it at the time of injury and stoped the dy after. however, anavar is used to treat burn victims. will it help with muscle repair.

this is serious shit for me. ive been squatting as long as i can remember. imagine not being able to do an air squat...

good news, i can to do cardio and im getting very full but keeping the 8 pack. i weighed in to the meet at 175. sitting at 185 lean and full.

opinions please.

 

[wizim]

4 weeks later. still some swelling and atrophy. i did re-tear it again earlier this week getting up off the floor from sit ups. i heard/felt the tearing. sucks!!

**broken link removed**

 

[wizim]

quad muscles are feeling pretty fucking good !im able to flex the quads without pain, i still cannot do an air squat though. i have knee pain and swelling. i assume this is the tear at the musclotendonous junction still healing. this was his main concern.

i will see the doc next thursday. hoping he will prescribe pt soon. i need to do work! not being able to do cardio is killing me. the weight is stacking up on me!

 

[monopoly]

Sorry to hear about the injury.

Your quad tear is the reason I hate that style of squatting, esp without wraps. Good news is your don't need surgery.

Have you been doing any hot/cold therapy? Have you worked at all with a compression band? ART? The more active you can be with it the quicker you can recover. Will be interesting to see if the growth helps!

Seeing you are in the crossfit community, how much drug usage are you seeing? Just curious?

 

[wizim]

Sorry to hear about the injury.

Your quad tear is the reason I hate that style of squatting, esp without wraps. Good news is your don't need surgery.

Have you been doing any hot/cold therapy? Have you worked at all with a compression band? ART? The more active you can be with it the quicker you can recover. Will be interesting to see if the growth helps!

Seeing you are in the crossfit community, how much drug usage are you seeing? Just curious?

I AM RIDING MY SPINNING BIKE 2X'S/DAY (SORRY FOR CAPS). I HAVE NOT DONE ANY OTHER WORK ON THE QUADS. I MEET THE DOC AGAIN ON MONDAY. IM HOPING HE IS GOING TO PRESCRIBE PHYSICAL THERAPY SOON. (DAMN I THOUGHT I TOOK CAPS OFF)
there is drug use in crossfit. im mum with my use except for about 2-3 guys in my circle. ive never been questioned until recently. it was a good freind so i told him what i do. i also reminded him that he,myself and my wife were the only people who know my business so if word got around i would know it was him. i really dont give a shit if people know though. im 41 yrs old. im on trt. what can i say? im old!

 

[wizim]

good news at my 5 week visit with the orthpedic surgeon! i can start squatting...sorta. 1/4 depth air squats.
he said to start adding resistance to the bike and its ok to ad 1 exercise per week. going to do the squats for a week then try some light running net week.

it was nice to ad some tension to the spinning bike last night. worked up a sweat for the first time in 5 weeks!

i still have some swelling in my knee so he gave me a script for anti inflammatory for that and an open ended next visit. hopefully i wont need to go back!

RIPS !

 

[wizim]

anti-inflammatory worked FAST! swelling is pretty much gone! i did 2 air squats this weekend. lol!
im on my way!

 

[wizim]

hit the bike hard last night before training biceps and again this morning before breakfast.
i wanted to hit the spinning bike hard with good resistance to make sure i wasnt going to have pain and swelling return. feeling really good today. i plan to try to hit the treadmill for a light run late this week.
next week i will get on the leg extension machine to see how that feels. easing my way back in! ill get that 415# squat back!!!

rips ftmfw!!!

 

[wizim]

as of today...

still unable to do any weighted work on a bent knee. just been hitting upper body,straightleg dead lifts 1x/week and spinning on my bike to rehab the quad.

**broken link removed**

**broken link removed**

the shadow/cut on my left leg (side with watch) is one of the tears. it looks freaky. im dying to get back to squatting/olympic lifting!

 

[wizim]

1st weighted squats in 89 weeks!!
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

 

[wizim]

cleans and front squats tonight. worked up to 155. thats more than double what i squatted last week. feelsgoodman!

 

[feen]

Nice congrats on the good recovery

 

[bigm1]

Damn that must have been painful!!!

 

[wizim]

worken on cleans last night. worked my way up to 205 and stopped there. ill take it!

 

[BIG-D123]

1st weighted squats in 89 weeks!!
**broken link removed**
**broken link removed**

Been following this recovery+Rip log, got my own injury going on. Congrats on being able to squat again.

I am lost on the math.......

Injury 9/29/12? 12 weeks total from injury to squat?

Listed as 89 weeks 1st squat. Did you mean days?

IF 89 days, that rip helped speed things up for sure!