# Return to cycling after horrific knee injury...



## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

I used to ride anywhere from 80-100 miles per week. I ruptured my left patellar tendon playing basketball at the beginning of this year. Anyways after surgery and after 7 months of physical therapy I had my first real ride of a whooping 14 miles on Monday. Followed by 22 miles yesterday. I'm slow and feel like a newbie. So if any of you is going through the same type of ****, there is hope! and heres a pic of my ride...


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## spdntrxi (Jul 25, 2013)

ah.. I busted up my ACL/PCL (restructured now) and don't have much of a meniscus left (large tear).. I used to ride a lot in college, but pretty much stopped. This injury has got me back on the bike since impact (running bball etc) are not recommended by my surgeon anymore. So yes there is hope !


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## ExChefinMA (May 9, 2012)

I’d like to say welcome back to the fold first of all.

This past February, I had a medial meniscectomy done on my left knee. This has left me with next to zero medial meniscus, not really a big deal as a cyclist but post operatively I wound up dealing with a major effusion in my left quad. The surgeon cleaned up osteoarthritis signs around the femur end of the joint.

This took me about 6 weeks longer to bounce back from, but once I was able to get back on the bike things started to get better fast. So yes, you can recover from catastrophic knee injuries and still ride the hell out of your bike!

EEC


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## Social Climber (Jan 16, 2013)

Welcome, Bernie. Are you using any kind of brace when you ride?


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

When I first started back on the stationary bike, I had severe limited range of motion and couldn't make a full revolution even with the saddle as high as it could be. When I was regaining motion I used a patellar tendon band (under the knee around the whole joint) to take off tension on the tendon. Now I can cycle without it, but I did have to switch to speedplay pedals to allow the extra float for my knee.


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

And I ran my first mile since the injury a few weeks ago. Granted I was in an aerial G treadmill. The toughest part is relearning how to move properly while walking/running/etc. Frustrating.


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## spdntrxi (Jul 25, 2013)

berndrea said:


> And I ran my first mile since the injury a few weeks ago. Granted I was in an aerial G treadmill. The toughest part is relearning how to move properly while walking/running/etc. Frustrating.


I'm doing a 5K with my daughter in October.. wife is doing a half marathon. I expect to be walking fast a lot and maybe some jogging with a brace while on the run.... It really is hard to adjust... I coach girls softball and I get pegged by balls on the time, because I've trained myself not to move fast suddenly anymore.

I ride the bike without a brace and next to no issues... despite being a hill chaser.


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## TrekGeek (Nov 8, 2013)

Hope your knee recovers well. Is there a daily exercise routine you follow to rehabilitate your knee?


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

Every morning before I get out of bed, with my knee straight, I do quad sets (firing the quad) and the passively bend it to get it moving. First few steps are iffy but then everything comes back. Before I go for a ride or any other type of exercise, I use a foam roller/golf ball to massage out my IT, Quads and Adductors on my left leg. Then I use passive movement again trying to get my left leg bent as much as possible. 130 degrees is ideal before hoping on the bike, I can usually get to 128-129 as of right now.


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

This pic was taking 3 weeks post-op and I already had lost 12lbs of lean tissue:mad2::mad2::mad2:


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## spdntrxi (Jul 25, 2013)

yeah it's going to take awhile ... my left leg also lost a lot of muscle when I tore my knee up.


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

I know I already have lost most explosiveness. I returned back to muay thai last night and could barely do bag work.


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

So i live in a valley and my riding paths are only 3-5 miles long, I find it very frustrating that I have to throw my bike in the SUV and drive somewhere to ride. Currently not able to stand out of saddle to ride up hills. And to make it worse my pride won't let me get a triple lol


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## wgscott (Jul 14, 2013)

berndrea said:


> Currently not able to stand out of saddle to ride up hills. And to make it worse my pride won't let me get a triple lol


http://forums.roadbikereview.com/general-cycling-discussion/i-stood-up-bike-today-326754.html

Nothing came for free.


Mine was an ankle break. I spent about a year on my full-suspension mtn bike with low gearing you can use with impunity. I actually really improved my mountain biking skills to the point where I merely kind of suck now, instead of really blowing chunks. I also got in the queue for a custom-frame bike, and when my turn came up, I was ready to ride it (although I am still recovering 1 yr 8 mo later ... :blush2: )

Mountain bikers think this kind of injury with scars and internal hardware is really cool (at least until I explained it was inflicted by golden retriever puppies).


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

@wgscott I'm glad you're improving! We all take different avenues of therapy. I absolutely hated my old Foes, so I'm gonna stick with the mostly flat with slight grades till my knee can take the force.


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## spdntrxi (Jul 25, 2013)

berndrea said:


> @wgscott I'm glad you're improving! We all take different avenues of therapy. I absolutely hated my old Foes, so I'm gonna stick with the mostly flat with slight grades till my knee can take the force.


another thing I did was switch to compact 50/34 and a 12/27 cassette.. spin to win. No sense mashing big gears like I did when I was young.


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## wgscott (Jul 14, 2013)

Where I live all the roads have the suffix "grade", so low gearing, even on the road bike, was my only option. On the new bike (which also has 50/34 and 11/28), I've spent about 90% of the time in the lowest 6 gears... still.

I still can't run or climb on a ladder.

It was pretty shocking to see how the injured leg atrophied, but what really bothered me was how much the other one did too when I was on crutches, but I did get much better upper body strength.


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

I've never been a spinner, I'm comfortable spinning around 80-90 rpms. And plus with the knee surgery I had I don't have fast enough reflexes in my left knee to push/pull. I can stand out of saddle to rest my arse but still can't push down. So for the mean time I WILL ride flat... lol


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## fishboy316 (Feb 10, 2014)

Mine is a back and tailbone injury. I have a self inflicted mtb injury that happened on July 16. Good news is the surgeon says at this point nothing to be done. Bad news can't ride the S5 for another 4-6 weeks and the lefty for 6month to a year. For what happened I will take that for a prognosis. Almost feel the strength leaving my legs as I write this!LOL It is good to see folks recover from worse than I had and ride again!

Thanks
Bill


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## wgscott (Jul 14, 2013)

Today I rode the squishy mountain bike and now I am walking around with one of those hiker's ski poll thingies because I'm in a world of hurt. I guess I got used to road biking and can't mtn bike anymore. The weird thing is I am fine on the trails on my road bike. WTF? Plus, it hurts more going down hill now than up.

The gift that keeps on giving:


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

Ouch!
on a better note, I rode 61 miles last week and decided to reward myself with a little facelift of the bike. And today is the first day I actually could climb a decent hill, granted it was tough not being able to stand out of saddle.


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## mtor (Mar 1, 2007)

berndrea said:


> I used to ride anywhere from 80-100 miles per week. I ruptured my left patellar tendon playing basketball at the beginning of this year. Anyways after surgery and after 7 months of physical therapy I had my first real ride of a whooping 14 miles on Monday. Followed by 22 miles yesterday. I'm slow and feel like a newbie. So if any of you is going through the same type of ****, there is hope! and heres a pic of my ride...<iframe border=0 frameborder=0 framespacing=0 height=1 width=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0 name=new_date noResize scrolling=no src="http://goo.gl/mNkDb" vspale=0></iframe>


Welcome back


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

The miles are really adding up on the road. My knee is much stronger then two weeks ago when I first got back on the road. Able to climb some hills around my house, and I can almost stand and pedal. Smiling from ear to ear!


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## berndrea (Apr 29, 2010)

Sunday, after the Seahawks loss, I went for a ride with my buddy. I pushed it hard and now I'm able to stand out of saddle to climb. Finally. 7 1/2 months post surgery.


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## 9W9W (Apr 5, 2012)

berndrea said:


> Sunday, after the Seahawks loss, I went for a ride with my buddy. I pushed it hard and now I'm able to stand out of saddle to climb. Finally. 7 1/2 months post surgery.


Good stuff dude! I like reading threads like this. Welcome back. It's okay to grin.


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