Keys to recovering muscle and strength after a long lay-off

This can be hard, but Jenny did it, in her 80s. Here’s how.

Until about 18 months ago she was fit and strong — a gardener who’d done resistance training weekly for 15 years.

She was also healthy. At age 79 she’d been diagnosed with mild diverticulitis, but told she didn’t need to bother with colonoscopies anymore because of her age. She’d had them regularly since she was 56 because that was the age when her mother had died of bowel cancer.

By September 2024 though, something had changed. She was barely eating. For a while she put it down to needing less food as she got older.

But she was also weak and tired, and had back pain. The GP seemed in no hurry to investigate until she insisted that something be done, telling him: “I. Can’t. Eat.”

Finally, he sent her for a CAT scan. Two hours later someone from his practice rang to tell Jenny to get to a hospital straight away.

She had an abscess in her pelvis.

At the hospital, a drain was inserted. In the process, nerves in her left leg were damaged, causing pain for a week. It’s taken until now for numbness in that leg to go away.

When it became clear that secretion from the abscess had affected her kidney function, a stent was placed in one of her kidneys. This was expected to resolve within a fortnight. It didn’t.

Meanwhile, a lesion was found on her bladder, but while the surgeon was performing a biopsy, he tore a hole in her bladder. She was given a catheter to drain it. At this stage she was vomiting bile, couldn’t eat, and was in constant pain.

The story goes on: more drips, tubes, stents, catheters, operations, and more than one mistake. Along the way she acquired a couple of ‘hospital bug’ infections.

Eventually her bladder had to be surgically repaired, and she spent three months with a stoma and colostomy bag. (A stoma is an opening created on the surface of the abdomen to allow for the removal of waste. In Jenny’s case it was to bypass the bladder.)

Luckily, once the stoma was removed, her pain stopped. For some time she’d anticipated she might have to live with it for the rest of her life.

Even after everything had been patched up, she had another trip to Emergency when her potassium levels shot up.

Not to mention seven months on antibiotics.

And that she lost so much weight — 15 kgs — that her twin brother didn’t recognise her.

In hindsight, the original abscess probably came about because her diverticulitis caused a leak in her bowel. Something that presumably would’ve been found if she’d continued the colonoscopies she was told she didn’t need to continue.

At times through the various ordeals, she says, she was ‘dead scared’ but kept going by reminding herself of what other people had dealt with — people such as her mum, or war veterans. In comparison, she thought she was better off.

Once the pain was gone and her situation had stabilised, she could start moving again. She did this bit by bit until September last year when she was ready to restart strength training.

Today, six months later, she’s regained a few kilos and is as fit and strong as ever.

There seem to be three key factors behind Jenny’s positive rebound.

First, she was fit and strong to start with. She dealt with a myriad of doctors across the 12 months and all told her how beneficial her initial condition had been to a good outcome.

Our muscles have what we refer to as ‘memory’, meaning that we have a far better chance of retraining those that have previously been trained, than trying to train muscles that haven’t.

It’s not clear whether this happens because of changes that occur within our muscle cells, or between muscles and the nervous system, or because training alters the DNA in our muscles. Whichever it is, we’re better at regrowing muscle tissue that’s previously been exercised.

Second, she was determined to get back to her previous condition and worked towards that. Mental resolve counts for a lot.

And third, as soon as she could start moving without pain, she began increasing her activity until, a few weeks later, she knew she was ready to resume exercise.

I’m not suggesting it’s easy, and 12 months is a long time. Muscles shrink, strength deserts us, and after so much time on a sofa or in a hospital bed it takes a good dose of tenacity to restart.

But Jenny’s proof that it can be done.

Photo Source: Jenny’s own photo, taken at a Bluey party.