Long recovery - ffion james
Considering I’ve been mountain biking, climbing, scrambling, road cycling (insert more extreme sports) my whole life, I’ve been very lucky to not suffer from any serious injuries before. I underestimated how hard the recovery process would be.
On a June evening this year, I was climbing with some friends at our local crag - outdoor climbing being a new hobby for me which I was doing on a weekly basis. An awkward fall whilst lead climbing resulted in my left knee taking a big hit on the wall. I didn’t actually feel much pain; I was just frustrated at myself for not completing the climb and making a careless mistake.
A small cut on my knee stopped the climbing for the evening, as I watched my two friends continue without me. Long story short, things escalated from here.
A trip to minor injuries for potential stitches in my knee lead to an x-ray determining that my patella was broken into two. An open fracture meant surgery the next day and then returning home the next evening. A 48hr blur of pain and emotions and I was home, with a lot of time on my hands to think about what came next.
In the hospital waiting room, I’m expecting stitches at most at this point.
Confirmed fractured patella. 1am and waiting to hear what’s next…
Stage 1 of the recovery process was finding ways to cope with the pain - painkillers, ice, sleep and distractions were used here.
Stage 2 was boredom. Pain was down but I was so limited on what I could do. The next few weeks involved slowly increasing my mobility, hobbling around on crutches. There’s only so many books and TV series I can cope with. Teaching myself to crochet bucket hats passed the time nicely!
Stage 3 was the hard bit. By this point, my leg had so little stimulation for so many weeks that my quad muscle had completely wasted away and my leg didn’t want to bend. Physio and pain resulted in progress followed by setbacks. Mentally, this was extremely tough to cope with. Doing too much too soon was the theme for the month!
In the gym wearing my brace, trying to keep the rest of my body fit and strong!
From being a high-level athlete and coping with extreme stress on my body and hours of training a week, I was now down to a couple of hundred steps a day and straight leg raises in the gym. Overdoing it was as simple as too much walking or too many calf raises. It was a balance between making progress and set backs; a balance I was really struggling to achieve.
Muscle wastage and swelling 3 weeks post-surgery.
Back on the bike 4.5 weeks post-surgery. Every pedal stroke hurt but it still felt good.
I am now 4 and a half months down the line and the process is still ongoing. I am in a much better state both mentally and physically than I was a month or two ago! Working with a private sports physio made a huge difference to me, some of the best money I’ve ever spent. I am back on the bike and climbing now, and I have no trouble walking and standing around all day.
However, the pain is constant and the muscle rebuild is an extremely slow process. I’m focussing on gym 3x a week, performing single leg exercises such as step ups, Bulgarians and hip thrusts. I am also climbing 1x a week and bike 1-2x, plus walking and keeping active as often as I can. The more I do the more my body will progress and adapt, a process very familiar to me from my years of training and racing.
10 weeks post-surgery, working on my physio. Muscle wastage still obvious.
This was a good moment – first time riding outside with friends at 14 weeks.
What’s holding me back more than anything is the pain. Apparently, it’s common with the particular surgery performed that the wires holding my patella together cause trouble and often have to be taken out. I believe this is the case for me, and so I’m currently waiting on a second surgery with no idea of the time scale of when this will be. In the meantime, I will keep the consistent rehab going as I know I am making progress, even if it’s not obvious from one week to the next.
The consultant has said 1-2 years is needed for a full recovery, but my aim is to be back Mountain Biking by Christmas! And when the clocks change and the weather turns next year I want to be back living my usual life of adventuring and exploring, without my knee holding me back. Hopefully it continues to be an upward trend from here!
Words & Pictures: Ffion James