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Hi, I just read the whole all-familiar story you wrote. I am happy you are recovered. I do have a question or 2. I had the same double knee injury on Nov 11, 2015. I was forced to recover for 22 days on the Ortho ward in my hospital here. I then got transferred to a rehab medical facility for 5 months, 1 week. I went home and still required a bit of help from a walker, and a commode in my bathroom for 30 days. I live in the basement, so the stairs were my therapy daily. More-so then the facility ever gave me (20-40 mins/daily, 4 days or 5 a week, depending on if the p/t staff had time or didn’t forget me -yes I am serious).
I still have a bit less r.o.m. in my left knee. It also “cracks” like when you crack your knuckles, and aches… does yours? I think my fear of ever falling is the worst, than the initial occurrence. I was also “dropped” onto my busted knees in the E.R. after arriving from my accident, by an incompetent ER doctor after he insisted I was ok to be discharged and given a percocet…I kid you NOT!
My PTSD is taking over my life….ice, rocky terrain, stairs w/ no double railing… does this happen to you?
Thanks for your story, and I hope to talk w/ you more. Take care.
Hi Kerri. I totally believe that you had inadequate therapy in a rehab facility and that the ER doc had no idea what he/she was looking at. Patellar tendon rupture is rare enough. Double is a unicorn (not in the good sense). The day my husband was in the ER (Tuesday), a good friend was in the building. She is the head of rehab and we were trying to get her input on the best surgeon since my husband’s living relies on use of healthy legs (he’s a tennis pro). The guy she was recommending wasn’t available until Thursday for a consult or surgery the following Tuesday. I was horrified that he would be in that much pain for so long and that he would spend a week in the hospital in his current state. She said, they’ll just send him home. We looked at her in horror and she tried to convince us that since he was a strong, slim, fit guy, he could manage with crutches or a walker. So I totally believe your story (luckily we didn’t wait for her surgeon rec and he had surgery the next day).
I understand your fearfulness but my husband is the opposite. Sometimes I don’t think he’s careful enough. He also experiences more stiffness and cracking in his left knee. He still goes to therapy 3 days/week for about 3-4 hours. Luckily this happened at work and worker’s comp pays for everything and will continue until he’s released from therapy by the therapists and his surgeons.
Did you get cadaver tendons? If so, I think you basically have bionic knees that will last longer than you. If they repaired with your own tendon, I still think they’re stronger than before so re-injury-especially if you’re not doing anything super risky like skiing, etc. Can you wear knee braces in situations that are dicey (ice, rough terrain) to give you more confidence and peace of mind? How did you injure your knees?
If you can talk to your surgeon about your fears and prescribing more therapy to improve your range of motion and strength, that might help with your ROM and confidence. If you have access to a pool, that also might help. My husband does exercises on his off-days too so he basically rehabs 7 days a week and still is months away from returning to work. I think you might need more.
Good luck to you. Thanks for reaching out.
Hi, I too had a bilateral patella rupture and enjoyed reading this article. Its hard to find another person who has gone through the same thing. I am an Art teacher, football coach and girls tennis coach and found it interesting that your husband was a tennis pro. I was wondering how he was doing and what or how did he teach tennis with his injury? My injury occurred on December 4, 2016 while playing Volleyball. I would love to talk to him and you about some things.
MIke Morris
Hi Mike, I emailed you.
Hi Beth,
Thanks for your blog on Mark. I have just firmly secured myself a place in this rare Bilateral Patella tendon club!
9th August 2020 I managed to do both at the same time. Sprinting after a football (soccer, I’m in the UK) no one else around me ans they both just exploded on me. I’m 31, female, tree surgeon for a job, a keen rock climber and mountain walker so generally im fairly fit and active prior.
I have been luckier than mark. They operated the very next day. They got me up on a zimmer frame in straight leg splints the day after the operation and again on crutches later that afternoon. I found this very beneficial to immediately take away the fears of not being able to walk. I came home from hospital 2 days later with a bed set up downstairs and a commode I could happily shuffle myself across onto. So I terms of movement I have been very lucky that I’ve been able to get going straight away. It’s now 2 weeks 2 days post operation. Yesterday I had my first check back at the hospital to remove bandages. Unfortunately my left wound looks like it might be at the start of an infection so I’m on antibiotics to get that cleared up and hopefully In a week things will be looking better for it. My right one looks fine, healing nicely. They also gave me the hindged braces. They have given me 20 degrees range if motion with the intention to increase that by a further 20 degrees every 2 weeks until at I’m at 90 degrees. So from what I can work out my rehab plan is very different to Mark’s at the moment with limited movement in terms of ROM and no mention of breaking down the knee cap scar tissue. However, get up and on my feet has been encouraged. I got the exact same experiences you spoke of with the pressure when I first came home, within seconds of standing up the pressure was pretty intense. But day by day it just gotten better and better. Standing for 15 minutes before getting the need to lay back down feels a big achievement so far but it hasn’t taken long to make this progress. I can see this blog was a few years ago now so I would be interested in how Mark’s getting on now and whether he still has much pain and whether he managed to get his full ROM in both knees back? And most importantly has he managed to play tennis since?
Thank you for sharing you experiences with this injury!
Kind regards,
Samantha
Hi Samantha. I’m sorry about your injury and sorry I just saw this. I hope your recovery is going well. To answer your question, Mark has pretty full range of motion, has no residual pain or “itis” in the knees and is back teaching tennis full time (which he was less than a year after the injury). He hasn’t played competitively since a decade before the injury due to his nagging knee pain and fear of risk of injury that would jeopardize his livelihood. He’s 58, so quite a bit older than you and kind of walks like Frankenstein but he might have done that before and I never noticed. Bethanie Mattek Sands is a tennis player who ruptured one patellar tendon at Wimbledon a few years ago and she’s been back competing for a year or so before COVID. Interestingly, I think it launched her color commentary and analysis career which she’s a natural at. Derek Newton is a pro football (US) player who tore both patellar tendons in 2016. He returned in December 2018 and was cut, then resigned by another team 2 weeks later then cut in May 2019. So, he must have recovered well enough to get on the field. You’re so young, I’m sure you’ll get to return to your favorite activities. Good luck and thanks for reaching out.