Injury rehab
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I'm currently in rehab mode and very grumpy about it. I'm pretty good with knowing boundaries. Like Sijomial mentioned above, I had a devastating knee injury around 10 years ago that took me a two years to basically walk again. Knowing pain from pushing/recovery from pain from something is wrong helps tremendously.
I've been rowing four years now, "competitively" three years. This is one of the first times in three years I've been off my training plan. Either a bulging disc or a minor herniated disc. I've had lower back (and neck) issues for 30 years, so this isn't something new. It's just aggravating me that it's not healing quicker. I can only row half my normal volume (recently been able to do that) and have had to replace half the volume on the Assault Bike. No, I'm not having it MRI'd. If I did that every time my back or neck acted up I would have cancer by now from all the MRIs. This is "old hat" for me.
I tried to push it a bit a couple weeks ago and had a set back. I'm not in much pain at all but if I row hard, it rears back up right away, so I'm easing slowly back into a routine and working quite a bit on longer, easy cardio sessions (so at least the cardio progress isn't completely lost). Just missing pushing it a bit. I think two to three more weeks of taking it easier should to the trick but it's been very frustrating.
I am grateful that I do have an Assault style bike (Air Dyne Pro). That has kept my sanity.2 -
MikePfirrman wrote: »I'm currently in rehab mode and very grumpy about it. I'm pretty good with knowing boundaries. Like Sijomial mentioned above, I had a devastating knee injury around 10 years ago that took me a two years to basically walk again. Knowing pain from pushing/recovery from pain from something is wrong helps tremendously.
I've been rowing four years now, "competitively" three years. This is one of the first times in three years I've been off my training plan. Either a bulging disc or a minor herniated disc. I've had lower back (and neck) issues for 30 years, so this isn't something new. It's just aggravating me that it's not healing quicker. I can only row half my normal volume (recently been able to do that) and have had to replace half the volume on the Assault Bike. No, I'm not having it MRI'd. If I did that every time my back or neck acted up I would have cancer by now from all the MRIs. This is "old hat" for me.
I tried to push it a bit a couple weeks ago and had a set back. I'm not in much pain at all but if I row hard, it rears back up right away, so I'm easing slowly back into a routine and working quite a bit on longer, easy cardio sessions (so at least the cardio progress isn't completely lost). Just missing pushing it a bit. I think two to three more weeks of taking it easier should to the trick but it's been very frustrating.
I am grateful that I do have an Assault style bike (Air Dyne Pro). That has kept my sanity.
I'd just like to mention that you might find yoga helpful. Both my husband and I go to "Yogaflex" classes that work especially on back and shoulders. It's been wonderful with all those aches and pains. It helps you do more in training and gives you flexibility.0 -
@MikePfirrman
Hope you get well soon, it's totally miserable being stuck in that cycle of one step forwards and two steps back.0 -
Thanks you two. @ Snowflake - ironic you should mention that. My wife's been on me to try that. Even bought a DVD tape that's like 20 minutes. I've been avoiding doing it but I think that would be wise. @sijomial - yeah, thanks. I used to push through pain and train. That's how I ended up rowing, not running. Developed chronic runner's knee. I'm much smarter (and less stubborn) as I age. If I'm injured I don't push it too hard. Got in a 6K moderately hard row today and it felt OK (at the gym). Had to do 25 minutes more on the Stairmaster, though, not my cup of tea.
I'll give the yoga a try. Thanks!1 -
MikePfirrman wrote: »I'm currently in rehab mode and very grumpy about it. I'm pretty good with knowing boundaries. Like Sijomial mentioned above, I had a devastating knee injury around 10 years ago that took me a two years to basically walk again. Knowing pain from pushing/recovery from pain from something is wrong helps tremendously.
I've been rowing four years now, "competitively" three years. This is one of the first times in three years I've been off my training plan. Either a bulging disc or a minor herniated disc. I've had lower back (and neck) issues for 30 years, so this isn't something new. It's just aggravating me that it's not healing quicker. I can only row half my normal volume (recently been able to do that) and have had to replace half the volume on the Assault Bike. No, I'm not having it MRI'd. If I did that every time my back or neck acted up I would have cancer by now from all the MRIs. This is "old hat" for me.
I tried to push it a bit a couple weeks ago and had a set back. I'm not in much pain at all but if I row hard, it rears back up right away, so I'm easing slowly back into a routine and working quite a bit on longer, easy cardio sessions (so at least the cardio progress isn't completely lost). Just missing pushing it a bit. I think two to three more weeks of taking it easier should to the trick but it's been very frustrating.
I am grateful that I do have an Assault style bike (Air Dyne Pro). That has kept my sanity.
Sending good thoughts your way. I have had four major knee surgeries (like "break, move, and screw back in bone" major) - two per knee. That involved a combined 24 weeks of being non-weight bearing. Needless to say, I am very good at crutches for someone who doesn't have to use them 24/7. I am semi-officially taking a break from rehab because the past nearly two years has been spent focused on rehabbing my knees. I'm phasing PT every six weeks and am not doing any strength training until the Winter because I simply don't have the time and already work out seven times a week (as endorsed by my PT who I ran into today). My PT doesn't think that it'd be smart for me to never do strength training again, but taking a "season" off of it would be ideal right now.
All that said, and this isn't aimed directly at you, I can't say enough how important it is not to push yourself past what your doctors/PT (aka physio) are asking you to do unless you are 99% sure that you're not going to lengthen your recovery by doing so. While I'm not sure that that's what happened in your case (going against the advice of a PT or doctor), but so many people here talk about going back to sport before their doctors have said it's ok so again I'm not aiming that advice solely at you.
I think the reason I'm good at not pushing harder than I should is that the end the worst result would mean more time having to be non-weight bearing which is completely and utterly miserable. Either because I bore weight before I was supposed to (which would cause more stress at the join and hinder healing) or I could fall/crash which would risk shattering my tibia.
Either way, you have my sympathy. Being limited it what you can do is really hard.
Also as an aside you can't get cancer from repeated MRIs (there's no radiation - CT scans carry that risk) but they are very expensive.
edit: I remember I once saw Tejay van Garderen give a talk at the bike fitness center (which catered to cyclists and triathletes) that my then PT was located at after my second knee surgery. During the Q and A I asked him about his experience with injuries and he talked about how important it was to not push through injuries, to be patient, etc. There's no point in doing something to soon and setting yourself back another X weeks.3 -
i have a wrist fracture which will be fixed on the 15th October. And in the same operation a ganglion will be removed from my foot.Also 48,not recovering that fast anymore.I cycle for training and is worried i will be off too long.I do not want to start all over with my fitness.
Currently wearing a wrist brace.
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i have a wrist fracture which will be fixed on the 15th October. And in the same operation a ganglion will be removed from my foot.Also 48,not recovering that fast anymore.I cycle for training and is worried i will be off too long.I do not want to start all over with my fitness.
Currently wearing a wrist brace.
You will lose some fitness but it will come back for you and you'll feel a ton better biking, especially with the foot surgery!
@ Aokoye - thanks and I'm sorry about your long rehab! Knee issues are very tough and take patience. I had a right knee accident years ago that lead (eventually after two years of rehab) to my weight loss. It's so hard and the progress is slow and arduous. I couldn't bench press 20 lbs for nearly a year with that knee/leg. That's an extended rehab you've had. That's hard. I think much harder for someone that's been in peak shape before. I had never been when I had my knee issues, so I was getting in shape while rehabbing. I think it's harder for someone that knows what they were capable of being patient with their current physical state. Hang in there!1 -
So if I read this correctly be patient with your rehab?
I found out last Thursday my shoulder issue is in fact a torn rotator cuff. I see my dr tomorrow to get a referral to a sports medicine clinic where I'll find out my fate.
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Not in PT at the moment but recovered from hip surgery (2013) and knee surgery (2015). Been in your shoes. It does get better...1
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MikePfirrman wrote: »i have a wrist fracture which will be fixed on the 15th October. And in the same operation a ganglion will be removed from my foot.Also 48,not recovering that fast anymore.I cycle for training and is worried i will be off too long.I do not want to start all over with my fitness.
Currently wearing a wrist brace.
You will lose some fitness but it will come back for you and you'll feel a ton better biking, especially with the foot surgery!
@ Aokoye - thanks and I'm sorry about your long rehab! Knee issues are very tough and take patience. I had a right knee accident years ago that lead (eventually after two years of rehab) to my weight loss. It's so hard and the progress is slow and arduous. I couldn't bench press 20 lbs for nearly a year with that knee/leg. That's an extended rehab you've had. That's hard. I think much harder for someone that's been in peak shape before. I had never been when I had my knee issues, so I was getting in shape while rehabbing. I think it's harder for someone that knows what they were capable of being patient with their current physical state. Hang in there!
Thanks for the condolences! I honestly think it's a big reason why I am able to know how much or little to do in terms of rehabbing from things. My most recent (and hopefully final) surgery especially, my PTs (I had three who worked together who I would see depending on what modality I needed) were very trusting of me in terms of allowing me to add in bike stuff once I was allowed to bear weight. There was a separate timeline for riding outside because of the risk of crashing...which I proceeded to do as soon as I could ride outside, but I didn't break my leg! I did fracture my shoulder though, which is fine now - that was much shorter recovery period and I didn't tear anything nor did the bone fragment that needed to be stable go floating off into the abyss that is the area around my shoulder which would have necessitated surgery.
But yeah, all of that should explain my views on physical therapy and injury/surgery. While I probably would have needed at least two knee surgeries because I had patella alta and one of my knees doesn't have a trochlear groove (which my ortho did not go about creating because that would have meant an instant worsening of my very mild arthritis (you can see it on imaging but the arthritis alone doesn't affect me), it would have been so soon had I had PT after I dislocated my knee the first time. My GP didn't mention it and I didn't know better at the time (I was 19 I want to say). It wasn't until I was doing base training before what would have been my first season doing bike racing three or four years after the dislocation when I realized, "oh huh, maybe I should see a sports medicine doctor because it's not normal for your knees to hurt when riding a bike". Two surgeries, months of PT, and three or four years later similar knee pain while cycling brought me back to my ortho. I then sought a second opinion with an ortho who keeps up with research better and has a narrower focus (both doctors have extensive experience with elite and professional - my current one has been a US Olympic team doctor at two Olympics and my old one is the team doctor for our MLS and NWSL teams). The new one is who realized that I had patella alta and also noted that had I had surgery a year or two later the first time around I probably would have had a better outcome due to changes in treatment protocol.
But yeah, it's been a very long and bumpy road (and we're only talking about physical health - lol). I'm doing a lot better now but my glutes, quads, and hamstrings aren't as strong as we would like them to be. They'll get there eventually. One of the things I like about rowing on the water is that it plays to my non athletic strengths - I have very good timing but I've also been a musician for most of my life and I'm very good at reacting to what other people are doing physically and matching that. I can also do almost anything that I want without joint pain now which is a huge deal as this is the first time in my life since I was 13 or so that that's been the case (I have a history of back pain due to tethered cord that was diagnosed very late).
I didn't meant that to be so long but welcome to my posting style
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MikePfirrman wrote: »
You will lose some fitness but it will come back for you and you'll feel a ton better biking, especially with the foot surgery!
Thank you, will try to keep moving at least.1 -
@ Aokoye - rowing is great for bad knees. That's why I chose it (though mine is a niche sport in indoor rowing). Outdoor would be SO much more fun but I just don't have the time and I'm moving next year to Tucson where there essentially is no outdoor options.
I want to ask you sometime about FTP training but not on this thread. That would be a LONG thread because my understanding of it is elementary.0 -
I’ve had to put my knee investigation on hold while I recover from a concussion 😐 I thought not being able to go for long walks was frustrating but this is very limiting. The good thing is that recovery should be faster than my knee.0
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AliNouveau wrote: »So if I read this correctly be patient with your rehab?
I found out last Thursday my shoulder issue is in fact a torn rotator cuff. I see my dr tomorrow to get a referral to a sports medicine clinic where I'll find out my fate.
Been through that twice and my wife has once. Two times it was my own fault (either throwing too hard baseball without warmup or doing pullups like an idiot). I rehabbed mine myself. The wife elected to have rich plasma injections with ozone and minerals, which aren't cheap, but seemed to help her tremendously. Neither of us had surgery. Rotator cuffs take a LOT of patience. Two "tricks" I learned (and you'd want to talk to your PT about these) are using a single arm lat pull machine to assist you in pulling up on your shoulder gently once you're out of a lot of pain. There's been a ton of research lately on "hanging therapy" for rotator cuff injuries. The theory is, essentially, that we are descendants of apes. Apes hang. Hanging from the arms uses muscles and improves imbalances that lead to injuries. Hanging (started very, very gently with just a lat cable machine to assist me) helped me tremendously. Also, many PTs use a BodyBlade. Nifty little device that works the small muscles around the shoulder. I spent around four months rehabbing the last time. It takes diligence to rehab from a rotator cuff injury. Some do require surgery but rarely.0 -
MikePfirrman wrote: »@ Aokoye - rowing is great for bad knees. That's why I chose it (though mine is a niche sport in indoor rowing). Outdoor would be SO much more fun but I just don't have the time and I'm moving next year to Tucson where there essentially is no outdoor options.
I want to ask you sometime about FTP training but not on this thread. That would be a LONG thread because my understanding of it is elementary.
Yeah I think rowing will be really good for me, my PT is also very excited about it. Feel free to PM me about FTP based cycling training. I'm not an expert by any means, but it's the vast majority of what I do when I'm not able to get outside. I also partially credit it with rehabbing from my most recent surgery as quickly as I did.1 -
MikePfirrman wrote: »AliNouveau wrote: »So if I read this correctly be patient with your rehab?
I found out last Thursday my shoulder issue is in fact a torn rotator cuff. I see my dr tomorrow to get a referral to a sports medicine clinic where I'll find out my fate.
Been through that twice and my wife has once. Two times it was my own fault (either throwing too hard baseball without warmup or doing pullups like an idiot). I rehabbed mine myself. The wife elected to have rich plasma injections with ozone and minerals, which aren't cheap, but seemed to help her tremendously. Neither of us had surgery. Rotator cuffs take a LOT of patience. Two "tricks" I learned (and you'd want to talk to your PT about these) are using a single arm lat pull machine to assist you in pulling up on your shoulder gently once you're out of a lot of pain. There's been a ton of research lately on "hanging therapy" for rotator cuff injuries. The theory is, essentially, that we are descendants of apes. Apes hang. Hanging from the arms uses muscles and improves imbalances that lead to injuries. Hanging (started very, very gently with just a lat cable machine to assist me) helped me tremendously. Also, many PTs use a BodyBlade. Nifty little device that works the small muscles around the shoulder. I spent around four months rehabbing the last time. It takes diligence to rehab from a rotator cuff injury. Some do require surgery but rarely.
Hey thanks. This is positive. I've been hearing I should expect a year of rehab. It is really annoying. 1 -
MikePfirrman wrote: »
You will lose some fitness but it will come back for you and you'll feel a ton better biking, especially with the foot surgery!
Thank you, will try to keep moving at least.
Only one week to surgery. Can't wait to get rid of this constant pain.1 -
MikePfirrman wrote: »
You will lose some fitness but it will come back for you and you'll feel a ton better biking, especially with the foot surgery!
Thank you, will try to keep moving at least.
Only one week to surgery. Can't wait to get rid of this constant pain.
Good luck with your surgery.
My husband wants me to get some for my shoulder. I'm getting sick of daily pain. It really doe she annoying1 -
AliNouveau wrote: »0
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Hey all...impatient PITA patient here... Subluxated my patella and tore my ACL in my L knee and apparently I am more prone to injury because my joints are all hyperflexible...<sigh>
Because of the hurricane we had here I didn't actually get in to see an ortho until a month and a half out from the original injury and so it was already trying to heal. Right now I am in a hinge brace and doing PT and in another couple of weeks he wants to do an MRI to see what needs to be fixed surgically. Which I am not sure I even want to do, because that will just be MORE down time!
I am just frustrated because the R knee is relatively healthy and I know how bad the L is in comparison...
Right now he is okay with me doing whatever straight line knee activity (running, cycling, etc) I want as long as go slowly and stop when it hurts.0
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