Quad tear, patellar tear, triceps tear…not the trifecta I was going for this year!

[Aikman56]

I completely ruptured my right quad tendon along with my mcl and lcl on February 28th of this year. I did some outside of the box rehab and was working on it one week after surgery. I am a big believer in maintaining blood flow, and keeping the joint moving as much as I was able.
To give you an idea of what I was able to do here's a short version
I was supposed to be on crutches for 5-6 weeks, walked into my two week post op without them
I was supposed to be in the brace for 8-10 weeks, it was in the closet at five weeks
They wanted my rom at 90 degrees at 6 weeks, I was at 115, now it's 135, my other leg is only 130. LOL
Last week my therapist had me start doing some plyo work. My strength is getting there, I'm not limping at all, the only thing still a bit challenging is walking down stairs. Up is no problem. And my knee is constantly numb as the nerves recover.
I used KLOW and additional BPC-157, guzzled EAA's, avoided ice and used heat as much as possible, and stayed moving.
Concentric strength is coming back great, eccentric strength is taking a bit longer.
I would be happy to share more about what I did to recover quick compared to their generic timeline if you're interested. It was really simple, nothing crazy, just consistent and often and me not being afraid to experience the level of "discomfort" that is necessary for true recovery.
Plus I'm 62 years of age.

Thank you for sharing, that’s a lot of great info!
Even among people that use peptides, I’ve been advised to wait until I’m out of the immobilizer to start using them. What are your thoughts? I wonder how much less aggressive I should be since it’s a patellar tendon and a quadriceps tendon?
I definitely want to get my range of motion back as quickly as possible, but shouldn’t there be some amount of time that you remain immobilized in order to allow the sutures to do their job?

 

[Aikman56]

damn bro i am sorry that this happened


FWIW, my buddy broke his ankle so badly by being an idiot - that they thought that his foot might actually fall off

i got him a few kits of growth hormone, and his doctor said that - in his 30 years of practicing medicine, he had never seen someone heal so quickly. full recovery.



on a semi-related note, im pretty sure you're the only guy who has ever torn his tricep while squatting... so you're now a living legend.

Yes… This torn triceps is now my cling to fame!

 

[Aikman56]

Thanks for all the replies and good thoughts... I feel like I have a pretty good protocol set up, but now it’s a waiting game for the surgery.


In the meantime, I'm continuing to diet along with my wife as she prepares for North Americans, and still training right side of my body, my left deltoid, and my left glute! HALF of me is still on point!


As you can see, The initial bruising is starting to spread out and subside. I should be feeling pretty good just in time for them to cut me later this week and have the bruising and swelling start all over again!


Joking aside, it's just another speed bump to get through, and I know I'll be better for it on the other side.


God is good, all the time!

 

[IMPERIUM]

Thanks for all the replies and good thoughts... I feel like I have a pretty good protocol set up, but now it’s a waiting game for the surgery.


In the meantime, I'm continuing to diet along with my wife as she prepares for North Americans, and still training right side of my body, my left deltoid, and my left glute! HALF of me is still on point!


As you can see, The initial bruising is starting to spread out and subside. I should be feeling pretty good just in time for them to cut me later this week and have the bruising and swelling start all over again!


Joking aside, it's just another speed bump to get through, and I know I'll be better for it on the other side.


God is good, all the time!

We wish you a very quick and smooth recovery. As lifters ourselves, we’ve dealt with injuries, surgeries, and the long road back. You seem to be in good spirits and clearly have the mindset to get through this. Your work ethic speaks for itself, and we have no doubt you’ll attack your recovery with the same determination.

Full transparency before the board, we’d be happy to help support your recovery with anything we carry that may be of benefit. We’re not looking for anything in return, it’s simply a gesture of goodwill. This can happen to any one of us, and your story hit home.

We’re a family business, and this is simply how we choose to operate. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s anything we can do on our end.

Wishing you nothing but the very best and look forward to seeing you back doing what you love.

IMPERIUM

 

[Dens228]

Thank you for sharing, that’s a lot of great info!
Even among people that use peptides, I’ve been advised to wait until I’m out of the immobilizer to start using them. What are your thoughts? I wonder how much less aggressive I should be since it’s a patellar tendon and a quadriceps tendon?
I definitely want to get my range of motion back as quickly as possible, but shouldn’t there be some amount of time that you remain immobilized in order to allow the sutures to do their job?

I started the peps about three days after surgery. Mainly because that's when the wrap came off. I was out of the brace in five weeks, at least a month ahead of schedule. I doubt I'd have been there if I didn't use the peps. While I believe they were just a part of the recovery equation since I went all in from every angle, they were a big part. I'd start them asap.

 

[hawkmoon]

Thank you for sharing, that’s a lot of great info!
Even among people that use peptides, I’ve been advised to wait until I’m out of the immobilizer to start using them. What are your thoughts? I wonder how much less aggressive I should be since it’s a patellar tendon and a quadriceps tendon?
I definitely want to get my range of motion back as quickly as possible, but shouldn’t there be some amount of time that you remain immobilized in order to allow the sutures to do their job?

Chiming in here because I was curious myself.

My surgeon explicitly told me the anchors and sutures would not come out easily. He said I'd need a traumatic dynamic event, like a hard fall to risk that.

I was doing knee flexion therapy In my hospital bed before discharge. Light weight braces on when at rest, or initial walking.

The surgeon is pretty elite and takes care of the Japan national rugby team. You can find his name on several papers.

His protocol for me was the same as for the rugby guys. Literally the same. The goal was full restoration of function and "return to sport" in six months.

 

[Dens228]

Chiming in here because I was curious myself.

My surgeon explicitly told me the anchors and sutures would not come out easily. He said I'd need a traumatic dynamic event, like a hard fall to risk that.

I was doing knee flexion therapy In my hospital bed before discharge. Light weight braces on when at rest, or initial walking.

The surgeon is pretty elite and takes care of the Japan national rugby team. You can find his name on several papers.

His protocol for me was the same as for the rugby guys. Literally the same. The goal was full restoration of function and "return to sport" in six months.

I was told the same thing by my surgeon. If you have the post op notes at your disposal this is what mine had in it.......
the knee was bent to 90 degrees to check flexion prior to closing my leg back up. They apparently held then. I was doing exercises within 72 hours at home. Light, painful, slow, and weak, but exercises. The biggest thing I heard during PT from other clients was, "but it hurts" Well no shit!

 

[hawkmoon]

I was told the same thing by my surgeon. If you have the post op notes at your disposal this is what mine had in it.......
the knee was bent to 90 degrees to check flexion prior to closing my leg back up. They apparently held then. I was doing exercises within 72 hours at home. Light, painful, slow, and weak, but exercises. The biggest thing I heard during PT from other clients was, "but it hurts" Well no shit!

I have here the notes extracted from a photo I took of the instructions to the PT.
Some more details if anyone is curious as well. It has been just 4 years now this July.

Somehow I never had remarkable pain, but the weakness was demoralizing.
Starting with one plate on the leg extension...

---

Rehabilitation Protocol Breakdown

Timeline	Orthotic Status	Activity & Exercise Restrictions	Mobility Aids
Week 2 (2W)	Knee brace locked in full extension	Assistive ROM exercises; isometric muscle exercises	2 Crutches (non-weight bearing / protected)
Week 4 (4W)	Knee brace unlocked (allows movement)	Passive ROM exercises	Discontinue crutches (Crt. Off)
Week 6 (6W)	Discontinue brace completely	Transition out of the knee brace	Fully mobile without brace
Week 8 (8W)	No brace	Stationary bicycle; Closed Kinetic Chain exercises (CKCex)	None
Week 12 (12W)	No brace	Open Kinetic Chain exercises (OKC ex)	None
Week 16 (16W)	No brace	Straight-line jogging permitted	None
Week 20 (20W)	No brace	Plyometric exercises (explosive training)	None
Week 24 (24W)	No brace	Full return to competitive or high-impact sports	None

---

You can also see how minimal the braces were here.


3x 2.9mm anchors per knee

 

[Dens228]

I have here the notes extracted from a photo I took of the instructions to the PT.
Some more details if anyone is curious as well. It has been just 4 years now this July.

Somehow I never had remarkable pain, but the weakness was demoralizing.
Starting with one plate on the leg extension...

---

Rehabilitation Protocol Breakdown

Timeline	Orthotic Status	Activity & Exercise Restrictions	Mobility Aids
Week 2 (2W)	Knee brace locked in full extension	Assistive ROM exercises; isometric muscle exercises	2 Crutches (non-weight bearing / protected)
Week 4 (4W)	Knee brace unlocked (allows movement)	Passive ROM exercises	Discontinue crutches (Crt. Off)
Week 6 (6W)	Discontinue brace completely	Transition out of the knee brace	Fully mobile without brace
Week 8 (8W)	No brace	Stationary bicycle; Closed Kinetic Chain exercises (CKCex)	None
Week 12 (12W)	No brace	Open Kinetic Chain exercises (OKC ex)	None
Week 16 (16W)	No brace	Straight-line jogging permitted	None
Week 20 (20W)	No brace	Plyometric exercises (explosive training)	None
Week 24 (24W)	No brace	Full return to competitive or high-impact sports	None

---

You can also see how minimal the braces were here.
View attachment 257376

3x 2.9mm anchors per knee
View attachment 257377

Yes, the weakness......ugh. My eccentric strength is not coming back nearly as fast as to be expected. Plus I come to a large flight of stairs I have to walk down and still say, "Fuck me....." LOL
I am doing light ply work at PT now, but mostly lateral and balance work as the mcl and lcl are taking the longest.

 

[hawkmoon]

Yes, the weakness......ugh. My eccentric strength is not coming back nearly as fast as to be expected. Plus I come to a large flight of stairs I have to walk down and still say, "Fuck me....." LOL
I am doing light ply work at PT now, but mostly lateral and balance work as the mcl and lcl are taking the longest.

Eccentric is a bitch. This is where proprioception deficits raise their ugly head.

 

[AllLoadedUp]

As many of you on here who know me are aware, I generally don’t post very much more than intermittently until I get well into a contest prep.
Work this year has been especially challenging. So with a mind toward more things career, I’ve been on social media even less than usual.
My target was the Ifbb Pro Masters world September up in Pittsburgh, as it has been the last couple of years.

Everything was going great, I was on pace to be in better condition and about 8 to 12 pounds heavier than last year this time around.
Last year presented a set of difficulties around some skin cancer issues that really negatively impacted my training, caused me to lose a lot of muscle at the end of my prep.

This year, my doctor found another melanoma, but we adjusted my training and nutrition so that it did not seem to be impacting me at all.

Then last week happened…

I had an accident with the belt squat. Without getting into too much unnecessary detail, I did not have the safety catch engaged and when I went to rest the weight, there was nowhere to rest it, and it pulled me and the 12 plates a further 8 to 10 inches deep deeper than I had intended to go. As it slammed me into the bottom, I hyper-flexed my knee. Additionally, my hand was pinned where my hip folds, as I was holding onto the belt, and I hyper-flexed my elbow.

Ultrasound revealed a ruptured patellar tendon as well as a ruptured quadriceps tendon on the left side. Additionally, I tore the long head of my tricep down near the elbow.

They want me in surgery ASAP, but we have to get an MRI to see how severe the damage is. My MRI is scheduled for tomorrow, after that I should know good deal more.

I put together pretty extensive supplement/peptide/recovery regiment after the surgery. Mentally, I had my tearful outburst and my five minute one-man pity-party. Now I’m just ready to get better.

I’m interested to hear from anyone that’s had similar injuries and to hear about your experience and what you did to speed recovery, or even any mistakes that you might have made and being two oversells to speed recovery.

I’m continuing to train everything right side of my body. I can do laterals for my deltoid on the left side and flyes for my pec. I can also do hip movement and some hip & glute movement on the side with the torn quad.

So chime in and, tell me your stories, and help keep me encouraged and entertained during the time that I have to be on my butt!

Damn man I'll pray for your recovery. I'm looking at a possible 3rd surgery in 3 yrs. I thought this sucked. You got me beat. Just stay positive, easy for me to say. You know I think guys like us are just tougher. We all know the risk, especially as we get older. You take risk and sometimes it doesn't work out the way we want. That is life. Definitely keep doing what you can. Worse thing is to stop training. Guys like us its just in our DNA. If Ronnie Coleman can keep training after all he's been through. Then hell any of us can with far less to deal with than him. Keep us updated on how you're doing. If you start to get down in the dumps come on here and reach out. Surely somebody will have a story worse than yours to help make you feel a little better.

 

[IronHeadz2346]

omfg. That's terrible. I started to have a similar accident with something a few weeks ago where I thought it was racked and wasn't but luckily wasn't gased enough etc to just drop it. Hope you can get fixed up quick.

 

[Bio]

Hey Aikman, I'm really sorry to hear about the misfortune! Time for a good post-op rest and re-evaluation of current training practices!! Be careful continuing the diet going into surgery. Make sure there's plenty of nutrients, good fats, etc. You want your healing to be the priority. I wish you the best recovery!!

I just had my 8th spine surgery last week. The gym awaits....on with the show!

 

[Aikman56]

We wish you a very quick and smooth recovery. As lifters ourselves, we’ve dealt with injuries, surgeries, and the long road back. You seem to be in good spirits and clearly have the mindset to get through this. Your work ethic speaks for itself, and we have no doubt you’ll attack your recovery with the same determination.

Full transparency before the board, we’d be happy to help support your recovery with anything we carry that may be of benefit. We’re not looking for anything in return, it’s simply a gesture of goodwill. This can happen to any one of us, and your story hit home.

We’re a family business, and this is simply how we choose to operate. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s anything we can do on our end.

Wishing you nothing but the very best and look forward to seeing you back doing what you love.

IMPERIUM

Wow… I honestly do not know what to say. Thank you! I’ll reach out to you on DM.
I am humbled by your caring generosity. Thank you so much!

 

[Aikman56]

Chiming in here because I was curious myself.

My surgeon explicitly told me the anchors and sutures would not come out easily. He said I'd need a traumatic dynamic event, like a hard fall to risk that.

I was doing knee flexion therapy In my hospital bed before discharge. Light weight braces on when at rest, or initial walking.

The surgeon is pretty elite and takes care of the Japan national rugby team. You can find his name on several papers.

His protocol for me was the same as for the rugby guys. Literally the same. The goal was full restoration of function and "return to sport" in six months.

This seems to fall in line with a lot of the books that I’ve talked to that are athletes that have had full recoveries.

 

[Aikman56]

So today’s the big day. Sorry I have taken so long to respond to me with you. I’ve been continuing to work and try to let this have minimal impact on my life. The problem is that everything takes twice as long as it used to, simple, active, putting on Schwartz underwear and a pair of socks to come this exhausting procedure kicks my butt every single day!

I’m headed into the surgery center here in just a few minutes. Pre-op isscheduled for 1030.

I’m excited to finally get this done, now I can start healing!

 

[specter]

So today’s the big day. Sorry I have taken so long to respond to me with you. I’ve been continuing to work and try to let this have minimal impact on my life. The problem is that everything takes twice as long as it used to, simple, active, putting on Schwartz underwear and a pair of socks to come this exhausting procedure kicks my butt every single day!

I’m headed into the surgery center here in just a few minutes. Pre-op isscheduled for 1030.

I’m excited to finally get this done, now I can start healing!

Gl man !

 

[IMPERIUM]

Wow… I honestly do not know what to say. Thank you! I’ll reach out to you on DM.
I am humbled by your caring generosity. Thank you so much!

You will do great today! Plenty of time to talk afterwards. Main thing today is get home, rest and look forward to quick and smooth recovery. You have a lot of support here from what I can see. Positive energy always.

-IMPERIUM

 

[e95932]

That's brutal. Quad and patellar tendon rupture on the same side is serious. The triceps tear on top is adding insult to injury. Focus on the surgery and follow the rehab protocol strictly. Don't rush back. I've seen guys try to come back too fast and re-tear. Take it slow. The muscle will come back, but the tendon needs time.

 

[astral_essence]

Just a lil feedback in terms of a peptide protocol from my experience.
Tore my left quad completely off the bone at the knee as well as the right triceps due to a snowboarding accident few years back.

Started BPC157/TB500 at 1 mg of each twice per day for 8 weeks straight right after the surgery. Dropped it down to 1mg of each once a day five times a week thereafter.
Also had Class IV laser therapy on both areas 5 days a week. To get an idea of what I am talking about, here is just a general link: https://healioslasertherapy.com/blog/how-to-speed-up-recovery-after-a-sports-related-muscle-tear/

The specialist was blown away by the speed of the recovery.

Had I known what I know now and had access to it then, I would have added KPV @ 500mcg twice a day to reduce the inflammation and SS31 & Mots-C @ 1mg each daily.

I applied ice/cold pack directly at the knee after any training to counter/reduce the inflammation and heat as someone stated above, hours later or through the day to aid in blood flow, aid in angiogenesis, etc.

Wishing you a quick and speedy recovery back to full strength!
AE