Power Meter to help equalize leg strength
 

So I'm recovering from a year long ordeal with a broken leg, surgery to fix leg and subsequently an atrophied thigh. I can ride pretty well now and am up to 70 miles but I do notice I'm still favoring my injured leg. Not putting as much effort with that leg.

I did a cycling class a couple years ago where we used some stationary bikes that had power meters on them. So we could tell when we weren't using the full pedal stroke to generate power. Worked quite well. So my question is would a power meter help me see when I'm not using my bad leg as much? I have a power meter sitting in my garage that I've never used but I don't want to build up a wheel if it's not going to help.

Do you think it will help?

Not that many pedal meters do true two sided power. Vector pedals do. Quarq synthesizes 2 sided power from a torque algorithm so its more power for each half of the stroke, but both legs affect each half.

Sounds like you've got a powertap. Not sure if that also synthesizes two sided power now, but I know the older ones don't.

Some drills would likely do you more good. Specifically, one legged pedals, high cadence drills, and muscle tensions (climbing at 50 rpm).

Those will naturally build your leg strength back.

Yours almost certainly won't help. I think it's debatable whether any power meter will be very useful for you. But a wheel can't measure how much power each leg is supplying, only the total power. It's pedal-based meters that can measure total power; some others guess at it in various ways that probably aren't accurate enough for somebody with a leg injury.

Riding rollers, especially on a fixed gear, will even out your pedaling dynamics more surely than any other method.
Power meters have their place for other uses but rollers are inexpensive with terrific feedback/consequences for not pedaling smoothly and/or putting in herky-jerky steering inputs.
Suitable precautions for safety to be observed.

Riding FG on the road will have an impact on improving/training pedaling dynamics as well if you are up for that, it is the Old School method.

-Bandera

Thanks for the feedback guys. Mine is the cylclops one that's a rear hub. I think I'll take the advice and look into some drills to help with this. Rollers might be good also but I've never used them and concerned I'd break my neck instead of my leg. Fixed gear is an interesting idea. I don't have one of those, but I've always been interested in them and since I'm in Portland, I'd finally fit in. I'd have to get some skinny jeans though. :)

The Pioneer does for $1000 on your DuraAce or Ultegra cranks. You can even split it in half for single-sided power on two different bikes. That said I don't know split power will help.

My leg got back to normal a few years after I broke it, although after months of not walking on it (I stretched a nerve at the same time which made any weight bearing too painful) I couldn't even stand on just my right leg after getting off crutches.

Set up between a doorway. The other thing to consider is that you're not moving, so when you fall, you just fall. Put some pillows down. Rollers help tremendously with smoothness and stability. One winter, I rode rollers for 2 weeks before I got a chance to get outdoors again. It felt like nothing could knock me off my bike.

I have a Quarq that estimates L/R balance. It's kinda useful, but it just confirms what I suspected. (Yes, a 1.5cm LLD will impact your power balance.)

Based on my positive experience using a Cycleops Powertap power meter for my recovery from cartilage replacement knee surgery, I would strongly suggest the OP utilize theirs.

Despite leg power balance not being a discrete feature, the steadiness of the power reading will help you smooth and even-out your stroke.

Also, power training is the fastest and most efficient way to build strength and power, which will expedite your recovery and development. If there's a power-based coach available to you, I suggest you avail yourself of their service, get on a plan, and learn how to use power.

in my 30 years of recovery from knee dislocations and surgeries (too many to count), and horribly atrophied legs that were twigs at best to start, riding a bicycle has been the best way to get them back to even. I never worried about the L/R balance, but it always helps to check and make sure you are not favoring the "good" leg. That mental check, a few times a ride (esp. during the initial rehab period) is all I need to even things back out.

Not to say a new toy (PM that measures L/R balance) wouldn't be helpful in some amount, just that the miles and a little attention can go a long way.

I'm just recovering from PFJR surgery in april, with the longest rehab and most atrophy i've had in 20 years, so I feel your pain and wobbliness. Good Luck!

I was in a similar boat back in 1990. Badly broken right tibia and ended up with a leg that's around 1cm shorter. I make up for some of that difference by shimming the cleat so it's less noticeable. But I just rode and rode, and while it took a while (well over a year), the right leg "caught up" size-wise. Strength-wise is a different story. For reasons unknown to me, the once-broken leg has a lot more endurance than the non-broken one. On hard efforts, the non-broken one burns first, always. Sometimes I try to consciously push harder on the broken side, but that's hard to do and keep a smooth stroke at high cadence.

Of course my break was at a time before power meters. Maybe the new tech will help you even things out faster.