Quadriceps Tear Recovery

[CRK]

I am five months past surgery that reattached my right quadriceps to my right kneecap. I tore the quadriceps during twisting fall while running. Before I fell, I was running for about 90 minutes daily and, after running, rowing on my C2 for 30 minutes. About a month ago, I started rowing again. I started tentatively, but I am now rowing 60 minutes daily. I row vigorously, although not insanely so. This seems to be strengthening and stretching my right quadriceps. And apart from occasional soreness in my right quadriceps, I suffer only from buttocks pain, which intensifies after 30 minutes and becomes intolerable at 60 minutes. I have ordered cushions to replace the towels I put on the seat because the towels are certainly not working well. I would welcome hearing from anyone else who is using a C2 to recover from a detached quadriceps. Your guidance, tips, and the like would be great. Also, I have been rowing on C2s for over ten years, but I rarely rowed more than 30 minutes. Thus, the intense buttocks pain is new to me. I am thin, so my buttocks do not give me any advantages for avoiding this pain. Am I doing something wrong? Or is this but one variety of an overuse "injury"? After a detached quadriceps injury, I am not eager for any more injuries.

[lindsayh]

I am five months past surgery that reattached my right quadriceps to my right kneecap. I tore the quadriceps during twisting fall while running. Before I fell, I was running for about 90 minutes daily and, after running, rowing on my C2 for 30 minutes. About a month ago, I started rowing again. I started tentatively, but I am now rowing 60 minutes daily. I row vigorously, although not insanely so. This seems to be strengthening and stretching my right quadriceps. And apart from occasional soreness in my right quadriceps, I suffer only from buttocks pain, which intensifies after 30 minutes and becomes intolerable at 60 minutes. I have ordered cushions to replace the towels I put on the seat because the towels are certainly not working well. I would welcome hearing from anyone else who is using a C2 to recover from a detached quadriceps. Your guidance, tips, and the like would be great. Also, I have been rowing on C2s for over ten years, but I rarely rowed more than 30 minutes. Thus, the intense buttocks pain is new to me. I am thin, so my buttocks do not give me any advantages for avoiding this pain. Am I doing something wrong? Or is this but one variety of an overuse "injury"? After a detached quadriceps injury, I am not eager for any more injuries.

there has been a thread previously here that may help
Sports physician may help
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=13606

best of luck - a nasty injury

[Eric308]

CRK...I also am a "survivor" of a total quad rupture. I posted awhile back as seen above. I'll be four years post surgery in February, and am doing fine. I started rowing about the same time after surgery as you. It's the only cardio I've ever done for the last 20 years as I've had a knee replacement on the other leg as well. By the way, the recovery from this quad tear was far tougher than the knee replacement rehab. I was pretty much back to normal in 6 months, which is faster than most. Never had any buttock pain or discomfort...I'm limited, though, as I have only about 110 ROM in both knees. I can only do about a 3/4 slide, but gets the job done. Good luck as you recover...it is indeed a very nasty injury. Check out the below link for a fantastic site to aid in your recovery. It really helped me a lot.
http://www.epicski.com/t/66016/quadrice ... -and-rehab

[Oldcolonial]

I had the same injury about 4 years ago now. Hurt it while running as well. I was pretty well adapted to running, and not much else before the injury. I found rowing to be a good rehab exercise as well and have since stuck with it as part of a more balanced / diversified exercise regime (running, rowing, swimming, cycling, calisthenics and resistance training). I have found this to be relatively helpful to staying healthy.

I have also noticed the butt ache, particularly on the injured side. I rarely go past 30 minutes of rowing and if I do its generally broken out multiple pieces so it has never developed beyond a significant ache. It also usually subsides fairly quickly after the workout. There may not be much more to it than having built up too quickly.

Also, 60 minutes of rowing daily strikes me as a tremendous amount of volume, especially 5 months after that injury. Do you have specific competitive goals in mind that are driving this? Aside from elite or near elite level athletes i don't know of any people out there benefiting from that kind of volume. You may just be trying to come back too fast.

[Gammmmo]

I am five months past surgery that reattached my right quadriceps to my right kneecap. I tore the quadriceps during twisting fall while running. Before I fell, I was running for about 90 minutes daily and, after running, rowing on my C2 for 30 minutes. About a month ago, I started rowing again. I started tentatively, but I am now rowing 60 minutes daily. I row vigorously, although not insanely so. This seems to be strengthening and stretching my right quadriceps. And apart from occasional soreness in my right quadriceps, I suffer only from buttocks pain, which intensifies after 30 minutes and becomes intolerable at 60 minutes. I have ordered cushions to replace the towels I put on the seat because the towels are certainly not working well. I would welcome hearing from anyone else who is using a C2 to recover from a detached quadriceps. Your guidance, tips, and the like would be great. Also, I have been rowing on C2s for over ten years, but I rarely rowed more than 30 minutes. Thus, the intense buttocks pain is new to me. I am thin, so my buttocks do not give me any advantages for avoiding this pain. Am I doing something wrong? Or is this but one variety of an overuse "injury"? After a detached quadriceps injury, I am not eager for any more injuries.

I have never torn my quadriceps BUT I am skinny having come over to erging from cycling/running. Last year when I was competing I was 65kg at 5'11" with no attempt to eat for light weight. When I started erging I did indeed get sore buttock but that is fairly normal for a beginner so I just did the usual trick of a folded towel for longer sessions. In time, though I found I didn't need the towel. Infact I felt more connected to the erg when not using it and didn't get any buttock pain to the point where it was an issue up to HM distances. Now, in that time I have put on 6-7kg so whether it's a weight issue and/or simply the body adapting I don't know. Give it time....

[Parky]

I'm almost double Gammo's weight and don't run at all but have a lot of weight on my r-send. I have had trouble with the buttock pain until I discovered that a very small adjustment to my position solved the problem. Don't just plonk yourself on the seat, but move your weight from side to side while bending forward. That may work for you. Good luck with the recovery.