Hi All,


I was unfortunate enough to fracture my patella (knee cap) in a fall from height onto a road 4.5 weeks ago. The fracture was comminuted (bone was in 3 pieces) and had to be surgically wired back together.

I was placed in a leg splint (to keep my leg straight) and told to keep it on for 6 weeks so to let the bone heal. Before the injury and since i was 18 i have been a recreational trainer.

In order to recover from this injury completely and speedily i researched supplements that enhance bone and ligament repair (I am a R&D scientist for a biotech company so i take my science pretty seriously!). Anyways whilst searching through the scientific journals i noticed a indian herb called cissus quadrangularis that had shown significant increases in healing times (up to 55%) on fractures.


I have since purchased USPlabs supercissusRX and I am dosing at 2x caps 10mins bofore breakfast and 2x caps 10 mins before last meal of the day.

I will log my experience with the supplement along with x rays of the bone at various stages as well as feedback from my orthopaedic surgeon and throughout my long physio.

As i cant bend my leg for a long time and my quad has stopped firing and getting strength back in that muscle as well as the damaged ligaments around the knee joint will be the most important aspects of my recovery besides getting the fracture healed back to full strength

anyways being the skeptical scientist that I am i have read only good things about cissus on here and the other boards.

My diet will be high in protein and I also take 15g of fish oil, 1.5g of glucosamine and 3gof calcium carbonate per day.

I will get my pre and 2 weeks post x rays posted on here in the next few days and am scheduled to have another x ray monday of next week.

I have been on the cissus for 11 days now

cheers

you'll have to keep us posted. I had a friend whose son double spiral-fractured his lower leg bones in a soccer game and made sure to immediately put him on cissus. I will report as well how he is doing...was a couple/few weeks ago.

good luck, too bad about your heinous fall.

here's to a quick recovery!

ouch, i fell for him and wish him a speedy recovery! keep us updated on his progress.

thanks for the support!

ok, still dosing 2x AM and 2xPM, swelling has definitely reduced around the knee and I am now able to walk using one crutch with no pain in the joint, I still can not bed my leg as this will put tension through my patella and re open the fracture.

The reduced pain maybe due to the reported analgesic effects of cissus or maybe that my swelling is going down and pressure is being reduced within the knee joint itself.

Will know more when i see my surgeon on Monday and get my third x ray.

I have been housebound and have not had access to a scanner but i will get all my x rays posted up when i get the chance

keep strong brother, I know my knee injury was difficult and painful.

funny how serious injuries show you a new pain tolerance threshold...

day 16 of USPlabs supercissus RX

seen the surgeon yesterday, what i forgot to mention at the start was that 2 weeks after my first surgery my knee became infected (staph), this meant i had to go back into hospital and have 2 further surgeries to wash out the knee and was put on a aggressive course of IV antibiotics.

My CRP (c reactive protein) which is a blood test that monitors immune response to infection was 150 (normal levels are between 0-5) so the infection was very serious, within 3 days of IV antibiotics my CRP was 45 (still really high), this is when i began taking supercissus, I have since had 2 more CRP test which were 8.5 (still above normal) and my last test result was 2 (in normal range). This is most likely due to the antibiotics doing their job but I cant help thinking that the increase in blood flow to the infected knee caused by cissus may have aided the antibiotics in doing their job (Cissus also has been noted as having anti microbial activity)

anyways the x rays showed that despite the infection that the fracture is still holding and beginning to repair itself. The surgeon said that the patella and the type of fracture that i have take a log time to heal and as i am only 5 weeks post fracture it is too early to notice any major difference

I intend to impress him with the healing power of CISSUS!

the experiment continues (still dosing 2x AM and 2x PM)

Day 17

Was up and about on my crutches today, can move around in my splint without pain but going down stairs i am finding difficult as i have to lead with my injured leg and as my quad is completely dead in that leg (i cant get it to fire at all) it means that my patella tendon remains loose and i have no control of the forward movement of my leg below the knee, frustrating to say the least! its either this or i also have a patella tendon rupture, but i think they would have noticed that at the time of the original surgery and repaired it!!

Was thinking about adding 2x caps mid afternoon as well but i have heard that the healing dose is 2x AM and 2x PM

anyways have appointment with the most renowned knee surgeons in the world next thursday so want to hear what he has to say about my injury and the infection

will def get my x rays up soon, i have no scanner at home but my friend has volunteered to scan them for me at her work

I have to warn you they are not a pretty site! but heres hoping rest, good nutrition and a little help from USPlabs supercissus will see the fracture fill themselves in and my knee tendon/ligaments come back stronger than ever!

Interesting log here, i enjoy this kind of log as its very informative, ive never broken a bone thankfully, even though im involved in many contact sports, and i put this down partly to about 4 years of cissus use.

Supercissus RX is a wonderful product, especially when you get into your forties and everything starts to hurt, lol.

DAY18

I am feeling positive today, changed the dressing on my wound and although it is still weeping a little there is new skin being made and i feel another week or so and it should be well on its way!

had my 2x supercissus this morning before my brekky of 4 wheat biscuits, 1x banana, spoon full of honey 45g of whey in 300ml of full fat milk

before my shower i decided to do some exercise so did 4x sets of 20x dips (feet on floor and hands on a chair) and used my friends tension elastic band things to do some shrugs, side raises, flyes and bicep curls (had necver used these before as i thought they were for girls only, but after 6 weeks of no weights and alot of weight loss i feel as weak as a girl!)

anyways was good to get some blood flowing through the muscles in my upperbody

no pain in my knee (still not bending it though)

onwards and upwards!

DAY 23

Not mush has changed, going down stairs on my crutches is easier as i fell my patellar ligament is definitely healing/becoming more stable which makes life a little bit easier (Cissus aidin this??). One part of my surgical wound is being stubborn and has still not healed/is weeping which is really annoying me as i can not do any bending until it completely heals.

Anyways I am seeing my OS again tomorrow (a knee specialist) and hopefully he can enlighten me on what is going on with my wound and maybe have another x ray to see if there is progress in the fracture union.

Other than that just trying to stay strong and taking my supercissus and eating well. I had a niggling pain in my wrist (nothing to do with my knee injury) that i suspected was ligament/tendon damage from lifitng, it was hurting me when i first started using crutches but within 2 weeks of cissus use that pain is now gone! One injury out of the way, one to go!

anyways praying for good news tomorrow!

Day 28

Ok sorry have not posted for a while!

Seen OS on Thursday and got good news, despite my staph infection the Fracture has healed enough for me to begin physio!! I am so relieved!! GO USPLABS SUPERCISSUS!

Had first physio session on Friday, it was painful!! Because i have not bent my knee at all for 7weeks and have had 3 surgeries in that time the joint is really stiff (scar tissue), i could only bend it 25 degrees and even that was painful!!
also because my quads have also shutdown the atrophy has been massive, i basically have no quad muscle left at all, i could not even get my quad to fire but with some isometric exercises performed religiously over the weekend the contraction in what little is left of the muscle is gradually returning.

I have to do 120 sets of isometric quad exercises before i see physio again on monday,
I will continue to take SuperCissus as it will take up to 6months for my patella to re-calcify completely, and also my patella tendon will be under alot of strain as i go through my long physio.

I am back in the office tomorrow so i will scan my x rays so you can see how the bone has healed

I will continue this log until i can walk again!! (November the physio reckons is achievable)

you may want to look into a cpm (continual passive motion machine). also, don't get too discouraged...it's painful and you won't be able to bend your knee very far for a little while but the cpm should help. the sooner you get on one of those the better....there should be a medical supply company that rents them nearby unless you live totally in the boonies.

good luck bud, I'm 7 months out and doing pretty good; still hurts to try to kneel all the way down to my heels on the repaired knee but generally doesn't hurt too bad.

hi mate,

Did you have surgery? What was the ROM on your first physio session? I only got to 25degrees but then got a whole 30degrees yesterday! i have so much scar tissue around the knee joint, it feels like someone has glued my knee cap inside my knee!!

Are you back in the gym working out again? I am prob going to have my hardware removed sooner rather than later due to the infection



anyways my quad/VMO is firing again, i am going to do my exercises religiously to rebuild my quad

I had surgery, but it seems much less intrusive and difficult than yours. I had ACL reconstruction and heavy medial meniscus trimming (doc said I only have 30% left).

First session, not sure but I did okay...but I am very serious about getting a continual passive motion machine. Even if it costs a lot of money to rent it, try to make it happen (most insurance will help pay for it).

It will take a while, but once you get to a certain point you will start feeling better and your knee will be less stiff. I am 7 months out and still not 100%, but can go on long bike rides and work in the building trades. I have been back working for 4 months now, so the main thing is just to take care of your body and keep moving.

Since you were immobile for so long it will take you a while to get mobile but definitely massage the knee/kneecap and stretch as much as possible. Another thing is to make sure you keep elevating the knee at least once a day or as much as you can; gotta drain the toxins out of your system...and drink water. Lots of water to help you filter out your system.

Good luck

Hi Heywood,

ACL recons are pretty nasty but yeah my fracture was pretty bad and the infection and 2 further surgeries worsened an already bad situation!!

OK UPDATE:

I am now 7 weeks post original surgery to repair fracture (man it feels like 7 years not 7 weeks!)

I have been in physio for just 1 week and after the 1st session was unable to do even a single leg raise or even fire my quad at all.

1 week later i can now do sets of 10 leg raises and got my knee to bend 40 degrees today in PT (with alot of screaming F**K!!! no more!!)

Myself and my physio are very pleased with my progress.

I will continue PT 3x per week and see mt ortho surgeon again on september 10th.

I ran out of supercissus 3 days ago and am waiting on another bottle as i feel the supplement is definitely helping me recover, i will maybe up the dose to 2x caps 3x per day now that i am started physio

Cheers

I wish you a speedy recovery and thank you for this log, indeed it is most informative.

just don't get discouraged. 7 weeks out is very new; take it day by day and things will fall into place.

UPDATE:

had a bit of a setback last Friday, after physio session the wound on my knee opened a little a began seeping blood again, had to go and see my surgeon and he said it was the infection causing the wound to heal slower than usual, have to take it easy on the bending for a week and just focus on my quad exercises so that the wound can close again, frustrating as bending was going well and i hope i will not be back to where i started when i recommence forced bending!!

anyways havent been taking my supercissus as I am waiting on it arriving from the US!!

Will keep you updated on how things progress

cheers

Infections are no fun. I hope you recover soon.

Ditto that on the infections. I had MRSA back in 2005, it infected my groin area first and then after a pretty nasty surgery it infected my lymph nodes in my armpit and around my jawline with some really bad boils.

I was out of work for a few weeks and wasn't able to ride a bicycle for several months after that. Make sure to keep that leg raised on a regular basis, you may want to try making a turmeric paste and spreading it around the wound (not in the wound though).

Diet is probably your most important thing right now; especially avoiding alcohol and sugar as well as coffee and other sources of caffeine. I have noticed that when I cut alcohol and sugar out my skin heals much better.

Good luck bud, just stay positive and you'll be okay.

Hi Heywood,

The infection really is a fukking pain!! It is holding me back form my physio and i fear it will have caused a load of extra scar tissue to form in my knee, thankfully my infection is not MRSA, it is sensitive to flucloxacillin but it is still lingering and causing my wound to heal slow.

RE: diet, I am trying to eat healthily, i have not had a drop of alcohol since this injury happened and as i dont have a sweet tooth i do not consume alot of sugar,

been taking lots of fish oil and upped my water intake like you suggested to clear the toxins from my body

cheers for the words of support

just have to try and stay positive through this nitemare

Sorry to read about your accident. Wish you a fast recovery! Has your SuperCissus Rx arrived yet? I would recommend an increase in the dosage. The minimum should be six to eight capsules daily.

UPDATE:

My supercissus RX has finally arrived and I have the new bigger bottle with more caps and 850mg.

I have started supplementing and am going to "load" for a week using 3x caps 3 times a day on an empty stomach, as i have not taken cissus in ~2weeks as i had run out.

My knee still has an open wound on it, i seen my surgeon the other day and he says it is the infection that is on the wire in my knee that is causing the wound not to heal, I am having surgery (my 4th in 10 weeks), on september the 9th to have the wire removed, he feels the bone as healed sufficiently in order to do this. I need to strengthen my quad and continue with exercises to increase my ROM (range of motion), I am still on 2g of flucloxacillin per day to keep the infection under control untik the infected wire comes out of there.

I will continue the updates on how things are going up until my surgery, i intend to take alot of cissus and calcium in the run up to the surgery in order to maximally strengthen the bone before the wire comes out as it will be very imortant to prevent a refractire during or soon after the procedure.

I can feel the analgesic effects of supercissus after just 3x days back on, it is the fracture healing properties and antimicrobial effects that i am using the supplement for most though.

Have physio appointment on monday to assess my ROM and get some tips on isometirc quad and ham exercises and massage on my scar tissue, will report back after that,

cheers

I had hip surgery (resurfacing) 2 years ago. After a few days in the hospital, I started popping the SuperCissus 2x per day when I returned home. My recovery was probably 3 weeks ahead of schedule and I'm certain a lot of that had to do with the Cissus. Good log you have going here and good luck with your recovery!

UPDATE:

Been loading with 3x supercissus 3 times per day 10minutes before meals, i can definitely feel the analgesic effects and my knee is feeling more stable and less painful. I am just waiting now to see my surgeon next week to get the infected hardware out of my knee and hopefully after that I will be able to return to physio and get some progress made.

Will report back when I see my surgeon next week (that is if he does not admit me for surgery on the day in which case i will report back when i get back form the hospital)

Cheers

Originally Posted by TGF 3

UPDATE:

Been loading with 3x supercissus 3 times per day 10minutes before meals, i can definitely feel the analgesic effects and my knee is feeling more stable and less painful. I am just waiting now to see my surgeon next week to get the infected hardware out of my knee and hopefully after that I will be able to return to physio and get some progress made.

Will report back when I see my surgeon next week (that is if he does not admit me for surgery on the day in which case i will report back when i get back form the hospital)

Cheers

Thanks for the update! Wish you a smooth recovery!