Uneven thighs

[pjlippert]

Hi Cathletes,

Due to not working out for much of last year, I lost a lot of muscle tone which I am regaining everyday. When I measured my thighs, my right one was a full inch smaller than my left. This is due to the crippling arthritis and not being able to use my legs evenly- so my right thigh atrophy'd more than my left. Having lost some weight and getting back onto my supplements, the pain is managed quite well and I am able to workout again!

My question is - what should I do to get my thighs closer to equal? I'm really focusing on form and keeping my legs in line, but do I add more weight, less?

Help!

My thighs thank you!

Pam

 

[JeanneMarie]

Pam,

I'm so glad you're doing better and able to work out again.

I'm not sure my experience will help you, but wanted to tell you anyway. I broke my right wrist about 20 months ago. I was in a cast for 6 weeks and then a brace for about 4 more weeks and lots of physical therapy after that. When my cast came off, my right arm was awful. (I had a cast up to my bicep) It was literally like a stick compared to my other one. It had atrophied a lot. I was shocked! It was probably at least an inch smaller than the left one, maybe more. And it was smaller from my wrist, all the way up my forearm and including my bicep.

At first I could not lift very much weight with my right arm/hand/wrist. It took months to work back up to being able to use equal poundage. But what I did was just do my best to work both arms evenly. I would do the same weight workouts with both arms, but use lower poundage on the weak arm. I always did the same amount of reps and the same moves, just with different sized weights. As my right arm/wrist got stronger, I upped the weight. This May will be 2 YEARS since I broke the wrist and both arms now look the same and I can lift equally heavy. I would say it took about a year to get back to normal.

I guess somewhere in all that I was trying to say just keep your leg work as equal as possible. It will take time, but your legs will end up the same again eventually.

Good luck!

 

[pjlippert]

Thank you, Jeanne Marie! It's really weird, isn't it- to see your body in an asymmetrical state? I rechecked my measurements a few times to make sure I wasn't imagining it!

Glad you are strong again! What a great feeling!

Pam