Hamstring Avulsion (complete tear from pelvis)

[roedel]

Scott martin did a rotator cuff on me recentley. He is my "wait & see" doc. I see suzanne miller tomorrow. Though i am athletic, i think my age is a barrier to surgery. Will you choose from one of these 2 doctors? Scott says he does 10 - 14 of these surgeries a year. Haven't asked suzanne yet. In other parts of the world (where there is more competitive watersking) the orthos see much more of this injury. I suggested to my husband that we spend our winter in australia!

Yes, I am leaning to Scott Martin, mainly because his office seemed less chaotic, he seemed more conservative in his approach and he did not downplay the difficulty of the operation. Suzanne seems a bit more loose, but really competent. I think either one would be good choices, and it really comes down to your feeling about the person and how you relate to them. Australia sounds like fun! Maybe in January when I am up and about again.....

[iammyself]

I had my surgery two years ago in August 2009 from a wonderful surgeon, Dr Steven Cohen from the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia. Surgery was two weeks after my injury at Riddle Hospital. I am doing well--back to all my activities.
Dr Cohen worked with Dr Bradley from Pittsburgh where they co-authored a paper about hamstring avulsion repair. The research is ongoing about the best way to recover from the surgery. I did have a hip brace which I wore for 6 weeks with only toe touch weight bearing.
Good luck to all you new members--you can recover fully. Listen to your body and of course your MD and PT.

[Jackie E]

Hi Renee,

I am just catchig up on the forum and found your message. I have wondered about you and how you were doing. You are so right in saying that about walking. I say that everyday to myself now.

I never left my house because it was too difficult only for the first doctor visit on August 15 and then the next time was September 13. My surgery was August 3. On the visit Sept 13 doctor said I was coming out of brace but would be on the walker or crutches for 6 to 8 more weeks. The brace was removed by PT on the 15 and the leg would't straighten out after being braced for six weeks at 50 degrees.
I am going today for my third PT session. I am walking on walker and am at about 50 weight on the leg. Doctor said thereapy until 8 weeks would not touch hamstring only stretching leg back out and getting me able to walk on again. My leg is much bigger than the other one and skin is red compared to the other one. I had a lot of new swelling in my ankle yesterday and had to keep ice on and off of both ankle and knee. Therapy is painful for me.

My recovery may be different from others because the doctor said I had a lot of scar tissue that made the surgery more difficult. So what is your next step?

Jackie

[dccoffman]

Hi Jackie,

Isn't it wonderful to not be keeping up with this site daily? To all the folks here who are newly injured or contemplating surgery, it does get better. Much better!

I saw my Dr. 6 days post surgery and I will go again next week on the 29th. I really think that the brace must stiffen your leg, as Paul mentioned the same lack of bending straightening ability. I have had no brace and can fully straighten and bend my knee w/o pain. On the other hand, your brace has given you total protection and you have not had any fear of "undoing" your surgery. Most of the time I feel like I have had so much leg freedom that it will be a long time until I can trust that I have not damaged my newly repaired leg. I just cannot bear that leg brace though. It almost gives me a "claustrophobic" feeling. I've never head of anyone saying that before. I just cannot stand the thing!

Thanks for the update and I'll let you know how my Dr. apt. goes!

Renee

[dccoffman]

Laurie,

I'm SO, SO sorry that this happened to you! I am sure you are devastated. And the pain you are in is only making it all that much worse.

Question- why does he not want you to bear wt. on it now? That seems like an unnecessary burden on you. I mean you've already had the injury, so why not walk on it? I was walking on my leg 2 days after my fall and walked all over the plance on it for 7 1/2 weeks before my surgery. Then at surgery they rolled the muscle/tendon right back up my leg and reattached.

Also, I cannot imagine why you had thirty holes in your abdomen? I've never heard of that before. I'd like to know if your surgeon had done this surgery before.

What did the doctor say when you talked to him. I know that there was someone on here a few weeks to a few months ago who lived in Phoenix, I'll do some research for you. Hang in there, I know that this must be a terrible and very discouraging blow to you, but there IS someone out there who will be able to help you. I'll post to you again as soon as I can find the Phoenix Dr. for you.

Take care and let us hear from you.

Renee

[roedel]

Update from Boston:
Chose Dr. Scott Martin for the surgery - 6 weeks hip brace and he is prepping me for 6 more weeks of work to get a more normal range of motion, not to say anything about strength returning. I have surgery scheduled for Thursday Sept 29, and have already been told there will be an audience of students.

I picked up a grabber and a sloped toilet seat, and get my hip brace fitted monday, so I can wear it for a minimum of 2 hours a day before the operation to get used to it.

A puzzlement: We live in an old brownstone in downtown boston with the bedroom on the 3rd floor. The surgery is day surgery (in and out) and he says I should be able to walk up the steps (about 50 of them) with crutches right after surgery. I think he is nuts. Is there a transportation method that I can take back to the house with a couple of people to help me up the stairs and into bed? Or can I really walk up 3 flights of stairs after this surgery?

[dccoffman]

Hi roedel,

I had injury on July 9 and my surgery on Aug. 31.

From personal experience, there would have been NO WAY I could have managed 50 stairs right after surgery. I still find stairs stressful on my leg. I wonder if your doctor would order a hospital bed for you that would allow you to stay downstairs. If he orders it, there is probably a good chance that your insurance will pay for it. So far insurance has paid for everything that my Dr. ordered.

Here's a thought- I'd have felt very isolated and "out of it" on the third floor for 6 weeks. You may want to locate yourself in a more central location in the house, if that's possible. I'm downstairs and I love still feeling in the middle of it all, even though I cannot get around much. Also, all your visitors won't be traipsing up to your bedroom AND, and this is big, the person helping you won't have to run up and down sitars constantly. You'll need a lot of help at first.

I too was supposed to be in the hip and knee brace for 6 weeks, but my surgeon called three days before surgery and said that he'd talked to his colleagues and done some reading and decided against the hip brace. I think that this is pretty unusual, but it's worked for me. I ended up not even having the knee brace, so I was really lucky. Obviously, there are all different protocols on here for recovery, but your surgeon's method is proven and it does get results.

Some people have used a knee-scooter or a wheel about and that has worked well for them. My insurance paid for it, so I got one and I do use it, as it saves my arms some, but it's a pain to try and turn around in. We have a long hall from my bedroom to the kitchen. I use it to go back and forth, other than that, it stays put. In a brownstone I'm not sure that it would be any use to you at all, but wanted to mention it to you just in case.

You are wise to be planning and picking up what you need now. Don't forget to pick up a few good books! : )

Renee

[roedel]

Renee
Thanks for the suggestions. Our condo is on the 2nd and 3rd floor, so it one or the other. I'll figure it out between now and Thursday. The idea of a hospital bed is an interesting one, and i'll see what I can do. I agree that it is kinder to the person helping me (my wife) to be downstairs (on the 2nd floor) but it also impinges on her space. I'll see what I can do.....

Richard

[roedel]

Day one
Surgery was yesterday - done as day surgery, then backhome about 8pm. The MRI had originally showed a 4cm retractio n, but it was really more like 7cm when they got in there. Dr Scott Martin did the surgery, did a great job, but really provided almost no written information about post surgery restrictions or what to avoid. I got most of that from Bradley & Cohen's 2007 paper and this wonderful website.

After calling around, it turns out the ambulance company here in Boston does a "Carry up service" where they arrive at your home and either carry you up from the street to your room or visa versa. $100. Generally they use a chair or a backboard, but after talking about it, I elected to climb the 52 stairs on crutches, and they just spotted me and supported me as I needed. It gave me a lot of confidence with two people to catch me if I faltered. Not a problem, since i still had a lot of the painkillers from surgery in my system. Just took it one step at a time

The first thing I realized - you can't drink from a cup while lying down!!!!! Add bendy straws to the list of post-operation needs.

I'm already looking forward to the 6 week date when I can throw the brace in the trash. Spending most of the day in bad, flat on my back. Getting up every hour or two to keep from getting stiff.

[dccoffman]

Richard,

So glad to hear that things went so well for you!

Renee