One way or another, at one time or another, you have to pay your dues...or in this case...a TOLL!
Back when I was playing ball or on the track, other competitors had knee issues and I remember thinking I was blessed with solid knees and in the end, I was. Never had an ACL or MCL tear. However, I learned ten years ago (with my first meniscus tear) that you cannot play impact sports and push crazy weight all your life without beating the shit out of your cartilage. It has a finite life-span....at least mine does.
2013 - Bucket-handle tear of the Right medial meniscus that was not only torn, but displaced resulting in my knee being locked at roughly 150 degree angle. It was an acute injury caused by hyper-flexing a knee in a high-stress situation. Had to hobble a couple miles down a mountain carrying a ton of gear. It was not fun. That was the worst surgery because my knee was locked at 150 degrees for ten days before I could get surgery and I went in with it swollen like a volleyball. Bounced back strong in 3 months.
2017 - Bucket handle tear of my Left medial meniscus. This was degenerative from overuse and impact, but we caught it before it displaced. I am right leg dominant, so this PT sucked and it took a long time to regain my strength, but I bounced back.
2022 - Horizontal tear of my Right lateral meniscus. This time the injury was not exciting or sexy. I was demoing a bathroom floor and popped up too fast (hyper flex) and popped it. Because of my prior experience, I knew exactly what happened at that precise second. I did PT for two months and sure, it strengthened the stabilizers around the knee, but you cannot fix a tear with PT. I have access to a freaking amazing knee surgeon (the same guy that did the two prior), so he did this one as well and this time...I am absolutely amazed.
The two days after surgery were a bitch. The pain sucked and I hate pain meds, but I took them. On day three the pain went from a 6-7 to a 2-3 out of 10 and was able to start exercising it.
Now for those of you who have not had knee surgery, the most important piece of your range of motion to regain as quickly as possible is "FULL extension". After surgery, your hamstring contracts natural and pulls your knee into flex so you have to resist the temptation to put a pillow under your knee AT ALL COSTS! It fucking blows, but you have to elevate your heel on a block or hard pillow and let the weight of your leg pull you into extension. It hurts like a bitch, but it is necessary.
Two other exercises that are a MUST:
Flex
Sit in a chair wearing socks on a smooth floor and drag your heel until you get your knee to flex to 90 degrees
Quad Fire
Your quad shuts down after knee surgery (so do your glutes and the muscles around your hip) and it is important you get the quad to start firing again asap
-put a towel under your knee when you are in full extension and press the towel into the ground and hold it until your quad starts to fire
Compared to what we normally do in the gym, these sound like something a geriatric patient does in a long-term rehab, but this is how everyone's body responds to knee surgery...unless you are the bionic man.
So over the last ten days I worked on everything above and I am now leaps and bounds ahead of where I was after my last two surgeries. Saw the doc today and he removed my stitches. He is thrilled with my range of motion and tomorrow beings physical therapy and I can push myself to but not through pain. The harder I work, the more my knee will swell so I need to take. measured approach to the upcoming weeks and push myself enough, but not too much. I will have to ice my knee at times, which is to be expected.
I suspect my glutes, hips quads and hams will be firing correctly within two weeks and I can resume light to medium training again.
I will keep you up to date with progress and any setbacks, if any!
Praying for continued progress.
I will follow up with the upper body training I am doing. Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday.
Have a great night!
-Mav
Back when I was playing ball or on the track, other competitors had knee issues and I remember thinking I was blessed with solid knees and in the end, I was. Never had an ACL or MCL tear. However, I learned ten years ago (with my first meniscus tear) that you cannot play impact sports and push crazy weight all your life without beating the shit out of your cartilage. It has a finite life-span....at least mine does.
2013 - Bucket-handle tear of the Right medial meniscus that was not only torn, but displaced resulting in my knee being locked at roughly 150 degree angle. It was an acute injury caused by hyper-flexing a knee in a high-stress situation. Had to hobble a couple miles down a mountain carrying a ton of gear. It was not fun. That was the worst surgery because my knee was locked at 150 degrees for ten days before I could get surgery and I went in with it swollen like a volleyball. Bounced back strong in 3 months.
2017 - Bucket handle tear of my Left medial meniscus. This was degenerative from overuse and impact, but we caught it before it displaced. I am right leg dominant, so this PT sucked and it took a long time to regain my strength, but I bounced back.
2022 - Horizontal tear of my Right lateral meniscus. This time the injury was not exciting or sexy. I was demoing a bathroom floor and popped up too fast (hyper flex) and popped it. Because of my prior experience, I knew exactly what happened at that precise second. I did PT for two months and sure, it strengthened the stabilizers around the knee, but you cannot fix a tear with PT. I have access to a freaking amazing knee surgeon (the same guy that did the two prior), so he did this one as well and this time...I am absolutely amazed.
The two days after surgery were a bitch. The pain sucked and I hate pain meds, but I took them. On day three the pain went from a 6-7 to a 2-3 out of 10 and was able to start exercising it.
Now for those of you who have not had knee surgery, the most important piece of your range of motion to regain as quickly as possible is "FULL extension". After surgery, your hamstring contracts natural and pulls your knee into flex so you have to resist the temptation to put a pillow under your knee AT ALL COSTS! It fucking blows, but you have to elevate your heel on a block or hard pillow and let the weight of your leg pull you into extension. It hurts like a bitch, but it is necessary.
Two other exercises that are a MUST:
Flex
Sit in a chair wearing socks on a smooth floor and drag your heel until you get your knee to flex to 90 degrees
Quad Fire
Your quad shuts down after knee surgery (so do your glutes and the muscles around your hip) and it is important you get the quad to start firing again asap
-put a towel under your knee when you are in full extension and press the towel into the ground and hold it until your quad starts to fire
Compared to what we normally do in the gym, these sound like something a geriatric patient does in a long-term rehab, but this is how everyone's body responds to knee surgery...unless you are the bionic man.
So over the last ten days I worked on everything above and I am now leaps and bounds ahead of where I was after my last two surgeries. Saw the doc today and he removed my stitches. He is thrilled with my range of motion and tomorrow beings physical therapy and I can push myself to but not through pain. The harder I work, the more my knee will swell so I need to take. measured approach to the upcoming weeks and push myself enough, but not too much. I will have to ice my knee at times, which is to be expected.
I suspect my glutes, hips quads and hams will be firing correctly within two weeks and I can resume light to medium training again.
I will keep you up to date with progress and any setbacks, if any!
Praying for continued progress.
I will follow up with the upper body training I am doing. Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday.
Have a great night!
-Mav
