[APannone]

Hey guys I just joined the boards and would first like to introduce myself, Im Albert Pannone from Western Maryland. This is going to be a long explanation so yea....

I have been bboying on and off for about a year and about three months ago I started into it hard. Im also a martial artist and have self taught myself as much gymnastics as I could since there are no classes for about 100 miles from me =( and Im a freerunner/traceur

So about a month and a half ago I tore the meniscus in my left knee pretty badly when I twisted my knee in my martial arts class and had surgery to repair it two weeks ago. Im in a knee immobalizer that when Im active I lock out strait and when Im resting I can move 30 degrees.

The only physical therapy I was told to do were leg lifts and I know with being in this brace for 2-3 months that will not keep me in shape. I can do anything with any other part of my body and as long as my brace is locked I can do anything which involves slowly moving my hipand the weight on my left food coming strait down and any pike stretches.I would really like to practice anything for bboying I can but it seems like most things are just out of the question.

I have been working on my L-seat/hanging leg raises for flares and have been stretching my right leg so hopefully I can keep lotus position by putting my right foot in the joint of my left hip, putting my shirt over it to hold it and relaxing my knee to the ground. As for bboying stuff I am just practicing holding strait leg turtles and one armed handglide freezes for as long as possible.

Anyone have any ideas of anything else I could practice I would be up for it but it looks like footwork and toprocks would be out of the question. I would be wary to try anything where I would crash or fall on my leg or where I need to move around alot. So... for the sake of anyone reading this im going to stop typing lol... any ideas are more than welcome!

[MaDD]

I believe AlphaTrion recently had a similar surgery. You may want to ask him what he thinks is doable.

I'd take advantage of the time to build your strength in freezes and freeze transitions... having a locked leg will force you to think creatively and thinking outside the box is always a plus.

Anywho good luck to you man, hope you get well soon,
Best wishes and peace

[APannone]

So I just wanted to update this thread with my progress and I guess im going to start keeping it as a recovery journal for anyone else who needs to have this or a similar procedure done.

I have found what I have been able to practice and so far its just Handglide freezes, turtle freezes, baby freezes, and Air babys. I injured my left leg and I stab on my right so im not sure what would be different if it were on the same side.

I have been practicing the transitions between left and right handglides and hopefully this will be a good foundation for crickets/darkhammers for when i am able to start those.

I have been also practicing my baby freeze and transitioning from it to handglide and turtle and vise-versa

As for Airbabys I am able to hold one for about 10-12 seconds now and im starting to practice one handed. I have been going into an airbaby and just using two fingers and a thumb to balance on my left hand. Strength does seem to be part of the issue because I can support y wight on one hand but I can not reliably do so and use that hand to balance. Also my elbow hurts lol.

As for outside exersiezes I am doing my perscribed leg raises as well as Working my Lseat hard for some foundation for flares when I can try those. that plus pushups, hanging leg raises, dips and pullups are about all I can do

For stretching I have been doing pike stretches and stretching my shoulders against a wall for inverts. have also been stretching my right leg for lotus.

Ill keep this updated and as im able to start new things, or if I find anything else out Ill post it =)

[k3V1n]

If you keep that up, you're gonna know a hella amount of power and freezes at the end of your recovery....

Then all you need to work on is toprock and footwork

Props to u for workin so hard haha

[APannone]

Hehe I sure hope so, Im out of school now so Im pretty bored, at least this gives me something to do. I figured even if I can only do 5 or so things, im gunna be damn good at em by the end lol.

[Bboy Phenom]

I like your last name... haha... it like rolls off my tongue... Pannonenenene

Its like the food panini, except with o's and e's

[APannone]

Haha thank you =P Its a REALLY italian name and I have blonde hair and blue eyes, something doesn't fit lol.

So just to update i have been working on my regular stuff along with the newest edition which are turtles. I figured these are relatively safe to do since they are slow, the only problem is that I have to do them with both legs completely strait which makes them harder to hold and balance.

I have also been working on elbow levers/hanglide position with a left stab and im going to start trying left stab baby freezes probably tommorow. These will be hard because the leg I have to stab the oposite elbow with is weak/immoble at 180 degrees/less flexible than my right....so a good challenge lol.

I am also just filling my head with ideas from practicing and watching videos, not being able to do alot of this stuff has made me really hungry to try it all so that is never a bad thing.

[JKL]

Elbow levers? Just try and do planches.

[APannone]

Hehe I think there is something in between the progression from elbow levers to planches I cant do...like all of it =P I had been working on a tuck planche but of course now I cant really tuck. Straddles would be impossible without doing tucks I think.

Also...I need to train myself to call em Handglides and Turtles, im so used used to elbow levers =P

[JKL]

I understand. I also had some really bad legs in the past. Thats probally cuz where I come from, they have bad legs, but a good, strong upperbody. You dont need to do tucked planche pushups. Thats just the long way. Handstand pushups will help you because they workout the shoulder muscles a lot, and also the triceps, but not the chest. So if you can work on doing some handstand pushups, and then start to have 1 leg down to add some more intensity to your shoulders/triceps, then you should be able to get them down in about, 3-4 months, or so.

[APannone]

Hmm....never thought of that...I was going to start stretching for inverts and doing handstand pushups here soon anyway when i am a little more confident in my leg so ill have to add that.

I figure in a week and a half or two weeks ill be doing handstand work, my only fear is if I need to fall out of it to that side. Im just not sure now the piroette would work or if it would at all but I never had problems doing HSPU before so It shouldn't be a problem, and any other way I fall out of it (or even standing up out of it) I would just catch with my good leg.

That would probably also help with the strength needed for flares wouldn't it?

Thank you for that Idea and +respect for the help JKL

Also if bboy.org has an injury/jounal board where this would be more appropriate I would be happy to have it moved there after the thread has evolved to this. A name change would be cool too.

[JKL]

np. But I also had a fear of handstands/handstand pushups that I will fall down or something like thing. And when you do fall down, you just have to twist your body so that you can land on your full underleg, which doesnt hurt that much down over there. You can also stab yourself with your elbow and start practicing bboying like that and going into handstands like Junior and Physicx do. idk how I can explain it in words, but you just have to be fast to twist your body, or you can just land on your feet. But before you do this, just get some stronger triceps and shoulders first, cuz you will just fall straight down, and wont have enough speed/strength to push/twist yourself. Pseudo pushups will be good enough to help you get some more strength first and fast so that your shoulders will be strong enough to help you stay up for a little bit before you fall down. Or you can just get a lot of pillows and spread them all around you and when you do fall or wanna get out of it ( handstands ) then you can just have a good, safe, fall.

I did help out a lot/a few ppl with their pushup routines so this advice should be enough... for now....

And ty for the respect.

EDIT: And for the flares, it wouldnt take so much strength for flares, but if you get enough speed, then you wont need to use a lot of strength.

[AlphaTrion]

I had a similar surgery back in november...ACL reconstruction (Patellar tendon graft) and Meniscectomy on the medial meniscus (60% of cartilage removed). At about six months I'm just now able to practice b-boying and went through a pretty long process of rehab. Your upper body work sounds fine. With the handstands be careful, and i mean extremely careful. I wouldn't suggest doing full hand stand push-ups just yet because at this point your knee is still very tender and the slightest thing could undo the purpose of the surgery. If/when you do it, use a wall for support to minimize the chances of falling on your bad leg.

As for leg exercises...there's a good bit you can do and you should be doing it. It's very easy to lose A LOT of muscle mass in your thigh in a very short amount of time. A majority of my rehab has been getting my quads back to normal and at six months i'm still at probably only around 75-80%. Leg lefts are probably the best...when you do them concentrate on flexing the quads and holding the leg up for 20-30 seconds then rest for five and repeat. Do that about 10-20 times. Also hip abductions and adductions...lie on your both sides and left the injured leg similar to the leg lifts. Also, just flexing your glutes (your ass) for about 20-30 seconds several times is also effective. And finally, stretch often. Don't push yourself too far, just get to where you feel a little bit of a stretch and hold it.

Best of luck on the recovery, I know it can be a tough road but in the end if you're anything like me you'll find a much better appreciation of the dance and a renewed love for it.

[JKL]

I didnt go to the hospital for my leg/foot injury. I just used ice. And then, it went away. I was doing some swimming at that time, so maybe swimming helped me with my leg/foot injury.

[APannone]

Yea, i think im actually going to hold off on going to hold off on handstands for a few more weeks. Im just worried that Ill count on instinct and try to put that leg down like im used to and then mess it up again.

I know what you mean about losing muscle =( I have lost about 2 inches around my left leg and thats not including the swelling. It sucks because I have pretty powerful legs from martial arts and that is going to be huge to get my kicks back
=( I have been doing leg lifts but not abductions/adductions. Those will really help with getting that muscle back. My parents are working on getting our pool open but I probably wont swim. I see the doctor on the 17th but I will probably just use it to walk around with less impact until then.

Also I have been working on turtles but I have found it really hard to do them with my legs completely strait. I think its doable but it sucks that I cant practice them with my legs bent and tucked in a little first. Any Ideas other than practicing my turtle freeze and keeping at it? I have been working on my left stabbed handglide and it is coming along pretty well although I cant hold it one handed like my right.

Airbabys are slowly getting one handed but it really doesn't have anything to do with my leg =P I want to try to transition my airbaby but I think the only ones I can try safely is Airbaby>handglide or Airbaby>baby. Im afraid to try to kick up from a hanglide to an airbaby or drop from a headstand because of the chance of dropping my leg hard.

Im still looking for other stuff to practice so if anyone has any ideas Im up for it!