Puttering along

[Oldster]

Thanks DV.

John, that is good to know about taking 'care' of a bone spur. I'm not looking forward to the future dealing with them.

I am concerned about my knee feeling better. I am one who pushes a bit harder than I should, hell, who am I kidding, a LOT harder than I should. I'm going to do my absolute best, should I stay pain free when these corticosteroids are all gone, to hold back as long as I can and slowly start squatting/deadlifting. How WILL I know its better?

[John Bono]

I can only tell you what my orthopedist told me when I blew out my Achilles last year. Basically he told me that steroid injections cut down on the swelling, which reduces the pain, but slows the healing at the same time, so you feel better, but the tendon isn't really getting better. I had a partial Achilles rupture right at the heelbone, calcification down near the distal end of the tendon, and two heel spurs, one at the top, the other at the back. I had two options.

First, I could keep my foot booted until enough scar tissue formed around the point of the rupture to allow me to walk again(about 6 weeks). That would allow the tendon to restore a bit of mobility back, but the flexibility issues I had with the foot would still be there, and there was a 30%+ chance that I would have a full rupture sometime in the future.

The option I went with was to go the surgical route. All the calcification was be removed from my Achilles, the tendon was detached, the bones spurs removed, and then anchored back into the heelbone, and the FHL tendon from my big toe was removed at the toe end, and attached into my heelbone to give the Achilles a bit more support. All the flexibility was restored, and then some, but the recovery time was much, much longer. I am still recovering my strength in the calf muscle almost 10mos after surgery, but I have no pain in the ankle at all, and the flexibility is actually better than the good leg.

I'm not sure what an orthopedist would do with the knee, but if you haven't ruptured the tendon, I doubt they'd want go in and do surgery unless you actually had a rupture.

[Tad_T]

I am one who pushes ... a LOT harder than I should.

Imagine that. ;-)

[Carlos Daniel]

Thanks DV.

John, that is good to know about taking 'care' of a bone spur. I'm not looking forward to the future dealing with them.

I am concerned about my knee feeling better. I am one who pushes a bit harder than I should, hell, who am I kidding, a LOT harder than I should. I'm going to do my absolute best, should I stay pain free when these corticosteroids are all gone, to hold back as long as I can and slowly start squatting/deadlifting. How WILL I know its better?

I'd ask Rip for a very good ortho how's used to dealing with lifters.

[DoctorWho]

Thanks DV.

John, that is good to know about taking 'care' of a bone spur. I'm not looking forward to the future dealing with them.

I am concerned about my knee feeling better. I am one who pushes a bit harder than I should, hell, who am I kidding, a LOT harder than I should. I'm going to do my absolute best, should I stay pain free when these corticosteroids are all gone, to hold back as long as I can and slowly start squatting/deadlifting. How WILL I know its better?

A wise person once told me to remember to focus long term, and a short-term cowboy attitude might promote injury, but slow and steady will win the race if it prevents injury (paraphrasing).

[Oldster]

Thanks guys!

A wise person once told me to remember to focus long term, and a short-term cowboy attitude might promote injury, but slow and steady will win the race if it prevents injury (paraphrasing).

My wife remembers everything I say and throws it in my face too.

I'm just gonna call all you guys studs and see if you'll throw THAT in my face! Heh!

edited to mention I ended up having to paint all day again. Had to, it needed to be finished by tomorrow when the workman start installing the kitchen and bathroom. To say I am concerned about how my knee may feel in the morning is an understatement.

[Oldster]

16" Close grip bench
140x15
240x12
250x12
260x3 sets of 12
Dips
BWx25
DB pullover and press
55'sx40

Still very weird just laying my legs out there nice and limp like noodles while benching. But I did and it was a bit better than last week with the balancing. My lifting partner said he saw one twitch of my thigh muscles on one rep that that was it. Today was a heckuva tricep killer.

[Oldster]

Piddled around today. Had to stand by and watch my partner FS 285 and DL 500x1 like they were 135. That was painful to watch. Played around with something different on chins that I haven't done in years.

Chins
BWx1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1
Curls
70x10
100x10
120x5
140x5
150x5

I'm just going to play around with my curls until I figure out a way to make a run at 160x31. For the time being I believe I'll keep the weight easing up and keep the reps low and see what happens.

[jwt708]

That's quite a goal - 160x31! Best of luck.

[Oldster]

I need goals Jack. I NEED them!

I am bummed today. Met with my 3rd Doc that told me to either stop my heavy squatting or severely curtail it. The reason is that there is so little of the tendon connection left on my knee cap. The Doc told me today that if I thought the pain was off the charts with my bout of acute bursitis, a detached tendon was going to rock my world...

Of course my thoughts are always on how to get around an injury. So I started wondering, what about knee wraps? Would that add stress or reduce it? What about one of those trap bars with the raised handles? We have one, but always keep the raised handles facing downward. Would the shortened distance add or reduce stress?

Kinda thinking about the raised handle trapbar. If starting in a higher position reduced my knee stress I could drop front and backsquatting since it is kind of a bastard of both squats and deads.

I HATE the idea of not being able to perform a nice deep front or back squat. My depth is something I've always taken pride in. The strength of my hips and thighs was always something I took pride in. I'm two drinks in and I'm lost....