December News - "The Road Back"

These young fans didn't mind that I was in a wheelchair!

Happy Holidays! The close of this year marks a unique period in my life - one during which I underwent a tremendous personal learning experience - both physically and psychologically. On September 20, I sustained my first significant career injury. I completely ruptured my biceps femoris (hamstring) tendon from its insertion.

I was fortunate to have the best care at the University of California, San Diego Med Center, operated on by the Chief of Sports Medicine, Dr. Robert Pedowitz. However, neither the greatest medical care and nor the best professionals will change the reality of the significant physical impact injury and surgery have on one's body and the huge rehab process that follows. All I can say is that while it may have been bodybuilding that caused the injury, I'm grateful for my years' of bodybuilding training and the psychological make-up of a successful athlete. Without the physical knowledge of training, the muscle maturity from 16 years' of training and the will that drives a bodybuilder like myself to constantly desire to get better, I would not be on the road back that I am right now and certainly not with the positive attitude that I've been able to develop.

A fellow wheelchair pal at the Olympia! These motorized wheelchairs where the only way to get around the Mandalay Bay - no way on crutches...

I had two months of life on crutches, which thankfully ended the week before Thanksgiving. For those of you that saw me at the Olympia, I was forced to get myself around the Mandalay Bay to and from the Expo on a motorized wheelchair - not the way I'd like for my fans to see me! However, after living the life of a temporarily disabled athlete I'm up and have begun my road back to the stage. Nothing in all my years of training will be as challenging as preparing myself mentally and physically to get back in the shape I was in prior to injury. Being injured has given me a new appreciation for all those things we take for granted, such as simply walking - basic tasks like preparing food and getting dressed became the biggest challenges of the day, never mind thinking about how I would train.

During my confinement to the couch in my home office, I spent a lot of time contemplating my injury and just about everything under the sun. First, I had to learn to accept that I was injured - this took several weeks. I recall before surgery the doctor telling me about the procedure and what was going to take place. In the back of my mind I was saying, "I'll be fine. Sure, no problem. Cut me open and start stitching," concurrently thinking that I'd be through this in no time. I'd be in the gym shortly, I thought, and able to go on with my appearance schedule. Ha! Little did I know how in-depth this procedure was. I was in for a bit of a surprise.

My doctor told me I would have some discomfort after surgery. Once again, the athlete's ego takes over, "No problem. I'll be fine. I can take the pain or 'discomfort' as he put it." Not quite. A few hours after surgery, pain, as I have never experienced in my life kicked in. I was totally unprepared. I've never been one for pain pills; yet, I found myself watching the clock, begging for the next hour when I could take another dose. This is when Mr. Negativity creeps up. When the body is in such pain all one can think of is getting rid of it and concurrently a negative outlook takes over: When will I walk again? When can I take care of my house? And most of all, will I be able to train again? Fortunately, for me, these thoughts lasted a week or until the pain subsided from surgery.

A lot of time to think when you are stuck on a couch!

After 10 days, I was able to get the 40lb thigh to ankle cast off my leg, which had kept my leg immobolized. When the doctor removed the cast, I looked down at what was once a muscular, powerful quad, to see a pitiful, atrophied pile of flesh and bone that clearly did not belong to me. I was in complete shock. There were days when I couldn't bear to look at it. In fact, while it might have been worth the "before and after" documentation, I couldn't bring myself to have a photo taken of my pathetic, weak leg. Meanwhile, I was trying to get better at crutches, having finally accepted that this wouldn't be a two or three week thing, but rather that I was really and truly injured and had a long road ahead.

October 27 - Stuck on crutches the entire Olympia Weekend!

Just as I was starting to deal with looking at my leg and even begin some slight isotension work, I experienced a setback. I developed an infection in the incision that wasn't healing and in order to prevent any damage to the repaired tendon, I had to go back under anesthesia to have the entire incision re-opened to clear out the infection, such that it could heal from the inside out via an open wound. Without getting graphic, taking a look at this wound was the most sobering part of my rehab - I finally got the picture of the significance of the surgery. It seemed like only words when the surgery was discussed until this point when I saw my own flesh. "Oh, that's what goes on. They actually cut you open. No wonder this is taking so long!"

In the big picture, it wasn't that much of a set back. However, I was still on crutches for several more weeks with no weight bearing. Now mind you, one might say, "well, you can still train your upper body, right?" Sure. But, think for a moment about what's involved in the gym when you train your upper body. You have to pick up the weights and move them to the position before you perform whatever exercise for your upper body. Well, you can't very well do that when you're on crutches! I was totally dependant upon my wife or anyone else I could get to help me maneuver around the gym and figure out how to "gerry-rig" some upper-body work for myself. This, at least, kept me sane. I also started training my un-injured leg, thanks to some good advice by Weider Publisher Tom Deters, who told me about the importance of the neurological connections between each leg - i.e. training the un-injured leg would prevent more atrophying of the injured one.

September 4 - My legs 2 1/2 week before injury	November 26 - My legs after 4 days of walking

Finally the day came at the 8-week mark when I was given to okay to bear weight on the weak, atrophied leg. It felt completely foreign to stand on this leg - it shook like a baby. At this point, the mental and physical benefits of being an athlete were my savior. My docs told me that I would have 2 more weeks of walking supported with crutches and another week after that, walking with one crutch. Now, I had been very diligent up to this point to not stray from doctors' orders. However, given the go-ahead to put my body weight on my weak leg, I took an bodybuilder's approach of progressive resistance and each day, rather than walk with crutches, I took baby steps at improving my own ability to walk. I returned to physical therapy the next week walking with no crutches and barely a limp! They were quite surprised, to say the least.

So, as of December 1, I have been on the road back. I have included a photo above that shows what my leg looked like after 4 days of walking on it. No, it's not pretty, especially when you see what I looked like a few weeks before the injury. But it's a world of difference from how atrophied it was before I could put weight on it. And, now I am in the gym rehabbing quite effectively. I train my legs every other day, and each time I do, the injured one gets stronger and starts looking more and more like the leg I once knew! (And, a lot better than that picture.)

I know that it is my years' of training that makes this recovery a doable feat. It's my training knowledge and positive mental attitude, to which I owe bodybuilding (and the Marine Corps) that keep me going into the gym each day to make progress. The first day back I couldn't do a 10-lb leg curl or extension. But, after a few weeks, I cranked 80lbs. I expect to get a release at the end of January to do what the doctors call "aggressive training." Now that's a doctor's order I can listen to! All this should point me on the road back to the competitive stage in 2003 as well as several guest appearances. Many thanks to all my friends, family and fans who have sent me so many well-wishes. Believe me, it has helped me staying positive and focused.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday with friends and family and Happy New Year!

-Garrett
Garrett Downing, IFBB Pro Bodybuilder