Getting back to 100% after accident/surgery

[Yoehahn]

Im at a bit of a loss as to what I can do now, and figured that some people here may have gone through a similar experience and hey the community here is great, so I figured I have got nothing to lose.

In January 2012, I had a severe skiing accident. I tore (obliterated) my ACL, Severely bruised my bones in my left leg (from the thigh down), partially tore 3 ligaments in my right knee, and I have two moderate to severe herniated disks (L4-L5 and T11-T12) and its been a year and a month and my right knee is 75% healed, my left knee still gives out and hurts due to a slightly botched surgery and PT, and nothing has been done about my back.

At any rate, most of the personal trainers I have talked to have no idea what to do/tell me at this point. Im 20 years old, and need a cane to walk for the most part at this point and its real tiring and frustrating, and now Im just turning to whatever outlets I can to see if anyone has suggestions. I have lots of time and a good gym membership, and I'm certainly motivated but still have no idea where to start so If anyone has any suggestions please send em my way!

 

[cwbullet]

After major surgery, it took me over 3 years of PT to recover 90%. I still have relapses 7 years later and need to re start my PT. Keep at it.

I am not sure what you mean by botched surgery, but another visit to an orthopod might be worth it.

 

[Tronman]

I know this doesn't look like much, but if you can put equal weight on both feet, the standing exercise in this video can strengthen the muscles and tendons around your knees and relax your shoulders and lower back. This is a basic exercise in the Chinese martial art of Taijiquan. You can start with a short time and increase it to as much as an hour. You can also change the hand position so that one hand is over the other at a spot a few inches below your navel. Personally, I like that better. I would avoid the other exercises in this video until your knees are stronger, unless you feel up to it.

[video=youtube;y07FauHYlmg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=y07FauHYlmg#![/video]

At some point, maybe some yoga stretching would be helpful.

 

[bobkrech]

I thnik Bernie has a good idea.

After you have some strength in your knees and back, start walking. It will continue to strengthen your knees and back. It keeps everything flexible and doesn't stress anything. I blew the cartilage in my knees in college. Back then knee repair was major surgery and a 6-9 month recovery. A hockey playing friend advised me to not have surgery unless I had to. He said to through away the crutches, and walk. If I didn't fall flat on my face, keep walking. 41 years later I'm still walking, although not the 5 miles a day I did 5 months after my injuries. Also keep the weight down to avail overloading the suspension....

I find Ibuprofen is really good for joint pain. If I'm tired or sore, 600 mg in the morning when I get up, and if necessary once again in the late afternoon is all I need, but I don't take it daily.

My daughter has a bad disk, but not like yours. Swimming in a heated pool is great to keep it loose, and massage also helps. A good seat cushion also helps. Just make sure you don't do any heavy lifitng.

Good luck.

Bob

 

[cwbullet]

A hockey playing friend advised me to not have surgery unless I had to.

This is 100% true. Surgery is not a panacea. I wish many times I had never had surgery. Unfortunately, you have. Go get the second opinion or a follow up and see what can be done.

 

[Peartree]

I had a herniated disk twenty years ago. My best advice is to see a good orthopedic surgeon. My insurance required 8 weeks of PT before it would approve an MRI to confirm the original diagnosis (herniated disk), so I did the PT and the pain got worse. Had the MRI and "discovered" that the doctor knew what he was doing after all, and I had... a herniated disk. I was scheduled for surgery and in the meantime, the pain got worse. Had surgery, a microdiscectomy (just a piece of protruding disk removed instead of the entire disk) and woke up from surgery in less pain that I went in. Have been good ever since. My only regret is that I didn't completely follow the doctors orders post surgery (although I did fairly well, no lifting for five weeks is difficult).

I'll second the suggestion of finding a good orthopedic doc for a second or third opinion. Any kind of exercise regimen with herniated disks could end badly if not properly supervised.

Keep at it and you can come back. Maybe not to 100 percent, but then again, maybe you can come back better than before. If you need motivation, try to find a copy of "The Rocky Bleier Story." I'm not a Steelers fan (I worked in Cleveland too long for that) but it's a great inspirational story about a man who came back when even the doctors told him he couldn't.



Oh, and when I hurt my knee some years ago, it was three to five years before I really trusted it 100 percent again.

Hang in there. Don't give up, but be patient.

 

[Yoehahn]

I am not sure what you mean by botched surgery, but another visit to an orthopod might be worth it.

During the surgery, my IV somehow broke and I lost over half of my blood (so much I was restrained to lying down for a week or two because every time I sat up I got so lightheaded I would fall back over, and they seemed to have nicked a couple of things while they were in there (micro-lacerations on other ligaments and areas of the knee, and the PT guys said I should go get a second opinion from another doctor just to check that he didn't mess up) And while they were there, the severed the nerve endings so I can't feel the area around my knee (on the skin) just inside the knee itself and they told me I will probably not regain feeling there.


And thanks for all the suggestions guys! Ill be sure to try some. What I have been doing recently is playing some golf, there is a course not 5 minutes from my house, its $10 to play, only 3,500 yards long and its a nice walk, so I find it helps to stretch out my back and knees pretty well, but I want to be doing other things proactively as well as that.

 

[goldlizard]

Unfortunately no doctors want to due back surgery, they like to push pills. Due the exercise to prolong arthritis, which will most definitely will occur with age. I have been fighting pain with crushed vertebrae from a car accident over 20 years ago. I have been told that the surgery would either paralyze me or kill me, I said fine as long as I don't have pain, wrong answer.
I wish you all the best of luck and a speedy recovery!

 

[JPVegh]

You may have to accept the idea that you will never be back to 100% again. I know that is a bit of a poison pill for someone as young as you to swallow. I had a motorcycle accident in my early 20s and while my injuries were not as severe as yours I messed up my back pretty bad. It was difficult for me to realize that I was not going to be able to do a lot of things that I used to do and I've lived with pain everyday since then. Just do the best you can to get back as much mobility as you can and be prepared to adjust your lifestyle.

There are many talented health care professionals out there, get as many opinions as is practical and keep the faith. Your life is not over, don't give in to the frustration and don't give up hope.

Being able to play a round of golf is pretty darn good, that means you can launch and recover rockets.:wink: