Workout Question for Recovering Bilateral Quadriceps Tendon Tear

besmith11

Good Evening, Everyone:

I normally don't post in this forum but thought I may be able to get some good ideas from everyone. I am 5 foot 2 inches tall, female, and my current weight is approximately 260 pounds. I am getting back into my way of eating and am focusing on losing some of the extra weight.

Here is a little backstory. On December 23, 2019, I suffered a bilateral (both legs) quadriceps tendon tear which required surgery on December 26, 2019 to reattach as it was fully unattached. I went through rehabilitation and physical therapy and just had my final doctor's appointment last week. My doctor finally cleared me and I have no restrictions other than what I am capable of doing. For an example of what I am capable of doing: I can walk up to about 5,000 steps a day before my legs give out.

I am very nervous about getting back into exercising and wanted to know 1.) has anyone else gone through this and 2.) are there some exercises that you couldn't do right off the bat? What would be some good exercises to slowly move me forward? I do need to focus on strengthening my quadricep muscles so any suggestions for that in particular would be helpful.

I do not have a gym membership, nor do I have any weights at home. I also do not have the extra funds, right at this very moment, to hire a personal trainer. I have not tried getting on the floor--mainly because I am afraid to--and have not tried to jump, run, etc.

TLDR: Recovered from a bilateral quadriceps tendon repair/surgery, afraid to do too much too fast, and want some exercises that would build up the quadriceps muscles. Need to go slow.

ETA: Already asked my surgeon and physician about different exercises and their response was less than helpful. Just told me to work on my quadriceps muscles.

nooshi713

I’m assuming you did physical therapy for this. Did your PT guide you at all? Can you do some similar exercises as in PT? I would very cautious about anything beyond that....

besmith11

@nooshi713 - Yes, I went to both rehabilitation and physical therapy. While the rehab program was to help with activities of daily living with two leg immobilizers, the physical therapy focused more on making sure my knees were able to bend, I could walk straight, and didn't really focus a lot on strength. However, it definitely might be worthwhile to shoot the physical therapist an email to see if she has any recommendations since she knows my history.

Though my physician and surgeon have cleared me and said "no restrictions", I am also psyching myself out a little bit. I am very weary of trying anything on my own because I don't want to reinjure myself. This was my first surgery and I'm going to say I don't wish this recovery on anyone.

DancingMoosie

I would definitely talk to a PT about some strength training. Other than that, can you walk, bike, or swim? Swimming would be great, but not sure if you have access. Whatever exercise you choose, do it in small increments and build slowly.

Cherimoose

besmith11 wrote: »

What would be some good exercises to slowly move me forward? I do need to focus on strengthening my quadricep muscles so any suggestions for that in particular would be helpful.

Split squats are good to start with. Start with a few slow repetitions and see how you feel the next day. If they're too hard, put your front foot on a step. As you get stronger, hold on to a soup can to keep it challenging. Eventually include weighted stair climbs and goblet squats in your training. Let us know how it goes.

How did you tear them both - were you skiing?

besmith11

@Cherimoose - I am really, really talented. I was not skiing. I was taking out the trash! Which is now why my nickname is Trash Panda or Rocket. However, I missed a step when I was going outside and landed on both of almost in a praying position, and it was on concrete. Scared me so badly because I was trying to get up and just could not. It could have been a lot worse; I could have shattered my kneecaps as well.

besmith11

DancingMoosie wrote: »

I would definitely talk to a PT about some strength training. Other than that, can you walk, bike, or swim? Swimming would be great, but not sure if you have access. Whatever exercise you choose, do it in small increments and build slowly.

I did reach out to my PT today and I'm sure it will take a couple of days to get back with me. I agree that whatever exercise I choose I need to do it slowly. Like I said, I think I am really pysching myself out about this and am just nervous to do anything let alone stuff on my own without supervision. My head knows I should be okay to do so but the other part of my brain is going...nope, don't do it!

Chieflrg

If you're cleared with no restrictions, then just start with declaring a long term goal and plan your training and short term goals around that.

Use appropriate load, ROM, volume, intensity to start that allows enough recovery for your next session.

Perhaps if you list your goal, equipment you have access to, and slots of days it will be easier to answer your post.

Using proper load management will help regulate the useful stress applied and help with recovery.

If money is a issue, you might have luck going with a experienced online trainer as we are usually very inexpensive compared to personal one on one.

besmith11

@Chieflrg I guess my biggest problem is I don't know what my long term and short term training goals are. I would like to get back to the way I was before where I was walking up to 3-5 miles a day without leg fatigue and my legs giving out. Or be able to do my stretches on the floor (which I can't quite do because I can't get up off the floor). I was also able to walk up and down the stairs with no issues and actually did stairs at work for some exercise. I want to be able to go on hikes with my husband and not fear leg injury. Perhaps this is what you are talking about.

As far as equipment, I have myself, two ankle weights from physical therapy, and some tension bands they used. No other equipment. Slots of Days? I need to start off slow so maybe 2-3 days a week.

Money is definitely an issue but I will have to do some research into online trainers.

besmith11

Update: Decided to conquer my fear of not being able to physically get up from the floor. I lowered myself on the floor by sliding down on the couch. I can't quite bend my knees far enough to actually be able to sit down without the use of furniture. I was able to get up though, very awkwardly, but able to get up nonetheless! That means I could possibly do some of my stretches and a little bit of floor work from PT--I was always on a table doing these at PT.

Physical therapist provided a few exercises that would not only help with quadriceps strength building but also hip strength. My in-laws are also looking to see if they have an extra bike. If they do, they said I could have it so that's a win! My goal is to increase my steps by 200 each week so starting on Monday, I want to see if I can walk 5200 steps instead of 5000.

@Cherimoose - Thank you for the squats idea. I can't quite do the split squat yet but that's going to be a goal of mine at some point.

Thank you everyone for your assistance. I truly appreciate it. This is why I love this community. Now let's see if I can get over this "fear of falling" or "fear of re-injury" mindset. Yesterday was a big step in the right direction.

Chieflrg

598lb

besmith11 wrote: »

@Chieflrg I guess my biggest problem is I don't know what my long term and short term training goals are. I would like to get back to the way I was before where I was walking up to 3-5 miles a day without leg fatigue and my legs giving out. Or be able to do my stretches on the floor (which I can't quite do because I can't get up off the floor). I was also able to walk up and down the stairs with no issues and actually did stairs at work for some exercise. I want to be able to go on hikes with my husband and not fear leg injury. Perhaps this is what you are talking about.

As far as equipment, I have myself, two ankle weights from physical therapy, and some tension bands they used. No other equipment. Slots of Days? I need to start off slow so maybe 2-3 days a week.

Money is definitely an issue but I will have to do some research into online trainers.

I would choose a long term goal first.

Something like I want to walk 25miles a week.

Then we look at what you can do now without issue for a short term goal. This week it might be I want to walk 1/4 miles. So we walk and don't press distance and see if we can walk 1/4 mile.

If it is easy and didn't fatigue you, then maybe try 2-3 days of 1/4 mile. Bumping up 10% weekly distance by 10%(.825 mile). How you achieve that might be one longer day and two 1/4 mile days. Really doesn't matter as long as you are progressing and recovering enough for next session.

Long term goal: I want to be strong enough to not only get off floor but pick #50 off floor.

I imagine you might have a back pack you can load with weight and perform a squat. Or a suitcase, milk carton, etc... Do the range of motion you can that is challenging but not near failure. Maybe you gave to start just body weight and a chair or deck railing. Start a short term goal with direction toward long term.

Long term goal: I want to hike up a mountain 2 miles.

Shart term: Start walking up stairs with body weight using hand rails if needed. Eventually add more sets of upstairs and downstairs or load your back pack with heavier weight that you can perform the task.

It all come down to you as a individual and where your starting and end point of your goal.

besmith11

@Chieflrg - Thank you for all of your assistance. I truly appreciate it.

besmith11

Update 7/1/2020: I have been able to increase my steps to about 6,000 per day. There was one day I did 11,000 ( because of work) but that did not bode well. So far, so good.

I am able to walk up the stairs 3-4 times with a bookbag that weighs about 10 lbs. I am still having trouble going downstairs however, there is a slight decline at work I have been using to help with that a little bit. It's gotten better.

While I am able to slide myself down the furniture to get on the floor, I am not yet comfortable doing floor exercises. Stretching seems to be okay but any body weight exercises are iffy at best.

DancingMoosie

I'm just want to share these YouTube channels/viseos with you in hopes that something will appeal to you:
Classical stretch- https://www.youtube.com/user/ClassicalStretchTET
Chair cardio- https://www.youtube.com/embed/videoseries?list=PLDh6UAgf3aBGMlloOzFKWEjQia913w-1f
1 mile walks-
If the walking one scares you, I was thinking you might hold the back of a chair? Good luck

besmith11

@DancingMoosie Thank you for thinking of me! I appreciate it.