Recovering from knee surgery /getting back to running.

DLove9321
DLove9321 Posts: 67 Member
edited November 13 in Fitness and Exercise
Hey all.

In October I tore My patellar Tendon from one week of over training for a Half Marathon, then playing indoor football. I am kicking myself because i should have know better. I had knee surgery, and Its been a rough couple of months for me.

I am now 12 weeks post surgery and My recovery is going great. I finally am able to start slowly add cardio. Right now its just elliptical, bike, and walking on a treadmill with a high incline. Hopefully in 4 weeks i can start slowly jogging and work my way back up to running again.

If anyone has any advice or tips on bouncing back from a Knee injury please feel free to let me know. Or add me as a friend. Its going to be a long road to recovery, but i am trying to stay motivated.

Replies

  • dreilingda
    dreilingda Posts: 122 Member
    Hang in there. I've had 2 major injuries in my running career. One was a torn meniscus in my knee, and the other was a far worse torn hip labrum. Both required surgery. My best advice is to follow PT protocol exactly as prescribed and strengthen all of our your supportive muscles religiously. Also, make sure to not set any goals until you have a few months of base building so that you can easily listen to your body and take time off if needed. If you try to set your eyes on a race before you're ready, you can end up running through pain and end up injured again.

    Good luck to you and play it smart!
  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    my advice is dont rush it. i had acl surgery and my dr didn't release me to run until after 8 months , and he gave me a program to ease into it. My best advice is just slow things down and enjoy rehab for what it is and you will come back stronger mentally and physically when the time is right. You hurt yourself originally from overtraining, learn from that mistake and learn your physical limitations. You'll be better off in the long run.
  • Aed0416
    Aed0416 Posts: 101 Member
    I had a lateral release of my it band and some cartilidge cleaned out in July and didn't start running until October. While I recovered my quad got very weak. My running ability was only able to progress as quickly as my quad did. I would not have been successful without the help of a good PT. take it slow and listen to the doctors and your body.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    As others have said--take it slow and keep up with your rehab. It will take a good 6-8 wks for your soft tissue to adapt to the pounding of running--your "heart" will be capable of doing much more than your joints can handle, so it can be challenging to restrain yourself. I would also start off on softer surfaces at first rather than pavement - but only if footing is secure.
  • DLove9321
    DLove9321 Posts: 67 Member
    Yes. I have been doing well with taking it slow. Which is usually not something I am good at. Today i felt i could have gone a lot longer on the eliptical, but i just went 5 mins longer than last week and stopped there. Want to make sure i dont overdue it. I was just happy to be able to work up a sweat doing cardio. Even if it wasnt running
  • luluinca
    luluinca Posts: 2,899 Member
    Injuries are so tough to work through and at my age (65) even worse. I'm working on my 4th injury in 2.5 years and the main thing I've learned is give it the time it needs to heal and in the meantime there are other things you can do if you're both creative and determined.

    I'm a swimmer for cardio and a weight lifter for strength. Right now I have shoulder injury so I just became a runner for cardio and a circuit trainer for strength...........it's the best I can do!!
  • DLove9321
    DLove9321 Posts: 67 Member
    Doing good. Using pain as my guide and everything is going well. able to last longer and longer on the eliptical and treadmills. 20 mins on each, and cycling. I do plan on running races again. I have one in mind for august. by that time i will be 9 months out from surgery
  • jeremywm1977
    jeremywm1977 Posts: 657 Member
    I just had a knee arthroscopy back in April and went back in last month to remove another loose piece and have a bone spur shaved down.......nothing as intense as what you had done, but I think the recovery can be similar.

    What my doctor told me, and what I was planning to do in the first place, is let your knee tell you when it's too much. Listen to your body. If it hurts too much in the joint or if you experience too a lot of inflamation and swelling afterwards, then you went too far and might need to scale back.

    Like you, I went for walks, took the stairs whenever possible, and added in the treadmill with incline within my first few weeks post-op. Now, I'm slowly starting to add in the medium intensity workouts with the higher to follow when I'm comfortable to do so.
  • DLove9321
    DLove9321 Posts: 67 Member
    Hey all, just an update on my post. I am doing much better. Ran a half marathon in summer of 2017. Knee still needs to get stronger but I am still going strong. Got a 10K and another half race i am planning on running this summer!
  • busyPK
    busyPK Posts: 3,788 Member
    Great update!
  • pomegranatecloud
    pomegranatecloud Posts: 812 Member
    That’s awesome!!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories