Major quad injury

[dagfin]

Coach,

I tore my left quad muscle in a work related accident and had to have it surgically repaired. It'll be many weeks before I can even think about working out. The doctors tell me I'm in for a long, slow rehab.

Am I going to be able to squat again? What's been you experience with quad tears\ruptures?

If anybody has any advice I could use a liitle encouragement.


Thanks

[Mark Rippetoe]

Tell me about the tear as specifically as possible.

[dagfin]

I fell straight down with my left leg bent underneath me, so my full bodyweight slammed down on the leg. The quad muscle tore completely off above the left knee. In the ER, you could see the bottom of the quad was 2"-3" above the knee in a lump.

The surgeon told me he drilled four holes in the kneecap and used some kind of cord to "lasso" the muscle, pull it back down and anchor it to the kneecap, then used a couple of more cords horizontally to reinforce the whole thing.

I'm sure this is a very simplified explaination, as I was in great pain and full of a lot of drugs when he tried to tell me what he had done.

If this doesn't sound right, I will try to get a more detailed description from him when I go in to get checked out next week.

He also told me I'm looking at 3-4 months of recovery time.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Yes, a more detailed description would be useful. But the bottom line is that everything heals. A good friend of mine ruptured his quadriceps tendon right above the kneecap, had it repaired, and squatted 315 x 5 5 months later. It can be done.