Hamstring tendon surgery

[ckn]

Right... my doctor (specialist sports injury doctor) has told me I need to have surgery to repair where one of the tendons from the hamstring has split completely from my pelvis.

Does anyone have any history of this, what recovery and rehab is likely to be like and how long before I can get back into "normal" training?

For info, this was caused by over-striding while running at full speed on a very cold day trying to avoid something on the ground.

[ckn]

Just back from holiday and going in for this surgery in the next two weeks, I guess no-one here has any info on this then

[JarheadRI]

Originally Posted by ckn

Just back from holiday and going in for this surgery in the next two weeks, I guess no-one here has any info on this then

Ok I personally don't know anyone who has had this but a couple of American Football players have had this done. Here is an article on one.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,7693307.story

If you google Tommie Harris or Ray Lewis with hamstring surgery you might come up with some more info.

According to the article this is more common among water skiers than anything else. I am guessing it is pretty rare in the UK since I don't think water skining is that big over there. Could be wrong though. Good luck anyway man. Does not sound fun but I am sure you will be fine.

[ckn]

Originally Posted by JarheadRI

Ok I personally don't know anyone who has had this but a couple of American Football players have had this done. Here is an article on one.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports...,7693307.story

If you google Tommie Harris or Ray Lewis with hamstring surgery you might come up with some more info.

According to the article this is more common among water skiers than anything else. I am guessing it is pretty rare in the UK since I don't think water skining is that big over there. Could be wrong though. Good luck anyway man. Does not sound fun but I am sure you will be fine.

Thanks for that. My doctor has me briefed to expect 2 weeks of bed-rest (no sitting) followed by 6-8 weeks crutches or cane followed by 1-2 months of no exercise and a further 2 months of light jogging at best. Best estimate is 12 months before I get back to where I was physically (85% chance), 10% chance of minor permanent degradation of top fitness and a 5% chance of moderate to heavy degradation.

I've already decided to completely retire from playing rugby and fully intend to go into doing refereeing every weekend when I recover. Age creeping up on me and too many niggles affecting my game to get back to a good level.

Ah well. It also means that I need to cut my diet heavily as I used to have a high calorie diet that I burned through easily keeping my weight down to a lean 200lbs. Problem is that I really enjoy my food and have never had to worry about calorie limiting before...

[JarheadRI]

Originally Posted by ckn

Thanks for that. My doctor has me briefed to expect 2 weeks of bed-rest (no sitting) followed by 6-8 weeks crutches or cane followed by 1-2 months of no exercise and a further 2 months of light jogging at best. Best estimate is 12 months before I get back to where I was physically (85% chance), 10% chance of minor permanent degradation of top fitness and a 5% chance of moderate to heavy degradation.

I've already decided to completely retire from playing rugby and fully intend to go into doing refereeing every weekend when I recover. Age creeping up on me and too many niggles affecting my game to get back to a good level.

Ah well. It also means that I need to cut my diet heavily as I used to have a high calorie diet that I burned through easily keeping my weight down to a lean 200lbs. Problem is that I really enjoy my food and have never had to worry about calorie limiting before...

Take care brother! All I can say is it sucks to get old! Hell I pulled out my shoulder carrying my 40 pound son and a back pack on my back. When I was 22 and in the Marines I used to carry twice that for about 20 miles and not even be winded. Hang in there.

[ckn]

Originally Posted by JarheadRI

Take care brother! All I can say is it sucks to get old! Hell I pulled out my shoulder carrying my 40 pound son and a back pack on my back. When I was 22 and in the Marines I used to carry twice that for about 20 miles and not even be winded. Hang in there.

As artillery forward observation, I had to have the fitness to keep up with the best infantry who were in stripped down battle order while I still had to have my pack with all my kit, two radios (HF and VHF), batteries AND it was unofficial policy that if the infantry were finally puffing, we were supposed to be able to show that we could do it all again. I think my standard pack was 120lbs with extended exercise packs of up to 140lbs... no wonder I have shot knees!

I was much happier when I got promoted and I was allowed to go solo on my motorbike

[ckn]

Posting this more as a mile-stone than a general post. Finally got the all-clear from my surgeon to remove the last restrictions on my exercising, I can now get back to full-load gym work again. It was officially classed as a Grade III Proximal Hamstring Avulsion.

Lovely long 8 inch scar down the back of my leg now... perfect for war-stories among the other older rugby players

Essentially, this is exactly the same as what I did to my hamstring

Four weeks in a hip-splint was not fun for me or the wife who was essentially my carer. Then eight weeks with a crutch and another four with a cane.

It has been a slow nine months of recovery, my normal full-fitness weight is around 200lbs, I peaked at 220lbs about 8 weeks after surgery as I still was not able to do any exercise. Also, I've never had to be a careful eater before as I usually do so much exercise that it burns off quickly, that was a learning experience in itself seeing the unwanted extra pounds pile on.

I'm back to 195lbs and a lot leaner with a lot less muscle mass than in many years. Conservatively, I estimate it'll take me until around Christmas to get back to what I want with my body.

My hamstring flexibility is now greater than pre-surgery, partly this is down to how the surgeon repaired it, mainly though down to some great physiotherapy.

Three people deserve credit:

- an outstanding surgeon who spotted this rare injury very quickly and was able to get me in, get it fixed and do such a good job that I am in the top 5% bracket of outcomes for that surgery. Only the top 5% are graded as "complete success", the next 15% will still go back to the same sporting level and level of fitness but will always have a little niggle or lack of flexibility.

- a fantastically tolerant physiotherapist, or should I say physioterrorist for the amount of much needed pushing she gave me. My entire body is now more supple than at any time I can ever recall. My hamstring suppleness is now about the same as a typical 25 year old athlete rather than someone in their late 30s.

- my wife for putting up with such a miserable, grumpy, awkward person for all the time when I was housebound and also acting as my taxi driver for the three months that I was unable to drive.

[cujo-1]

in no way suggesting but since you live in europe and have easy access to roids you do know you can get enhanced healing almost cutting recovery time in half with the usage dont you?

[ckn]

Originally Posted by cujo-1

in no way suggesting but since you live in europe and have easy access to roids you do know you can get enhanced healing almost cutting recovery time in half with the usage dont you?

I have no intention of starting off the wrong sort of debate here or insulting anyone's choices but I would only ever take roids for the most medically critical situations. I would never take them for recovery or other purposes; to me, it's simply wrong.

Simply put, to use roids to come back more quickly would have most likely been at the cost of my long-term leg stability. The risk of having a permanent impairment was too high.

One of my hamstring tendons had completely severed from the bone, it had to be stretched out and re-pinned to my pelvis, it was made abundantly clear to me by my surgeon that every single patient in the bottom 50% of the post-surgery outcomes was there because they either rushed back or didn't follow the rehab schedule.

I'm very, very certain that taking it slowly and following every instruction of my top quality surgeon and physioterrorist was the main reason I am in the top 5% of surgical outcomes and have a hamstring that is as good as new, if not better.

The new rugby season starts at the end of this month, this rehab has meant that I'm up for playing again and am physically and mentally in better shape than any time since my early 20s, a bit lightweight but that'll sort itself soon enough. Before the surgery, I'd all bar given up playing again, now I'm ready to start mashing people backwards again!

Rushing back from a major sporting injury is a mug's game.