Travelling Magette ACL help/advice.

+1 on the post surgery care.

After swelling gets away, if it is a clean cut ACL, she should be fine to walk around even without surgery. There is no rush, as long as she can avoid running+cutting or any twisting motions of the knee.

After surgery she will still have to do some appointment with the doctor in the following weeks, and it is probably better to stick with the same PT for 4-12 weeks. PT will be 2-3 times per week. That time is critical to get range of motion back, swelling down, get rid of scar tissues, progress with exercises/loads, etc. It should be personalized to each patient and having a good PT is critical. It also takes a lot of time to stretch and train. After that you get closer to a normal "get back in shape program" and don't need as many follow up with PT.

FYI: 6 months full return to skiing is super ambitious (at least for me). Done my ACL twice. First time at 25 yo was 9ish months and last time at 40 was 2+ years (remote PT during peak covid time = not good at all)... Now finally skiing back at 100%!

I see more reasonable time lines on this thread, cuz reading the ACL thread it sounded like ever buddy was hitting it like a boss 6 weeks post surgery ?

I just this week I got back to where I was 4 yrs ago

to be fair the first 9 months of the 4 yrs was waiting for MRI & a surgery spot

Thank you all for your continued data points and personal experiences. Very helpful for us to gain a point of reference and ask better questions when we see the Doc.

We have a preliminary consult on Tuesday morning with Timothy O’Brien at Alpine Orthopedic here in Bozeman. At least we can sit in the same room while he looks at the images, tell us what we’re seeing, and we can ask some pertinent questions.

Up ‘til now we have just gotten the hard disk images and a website with a passcode to read the MRI tech’s interpretation/report.

Tell Deb thinkin of ya.
Good post alude.

Buy a Don Joy brace. Tonight. Measure her leg. Follow the instructions on the web site. Best money and effort you can spend right now.

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Originally Posted by fastfred

Buy a Don Joy brace. Tonight. Measure her leg. Follow the instructions on the web site. Best money and effort you can spend right now.

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Done…
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and mags have reached out with offers of cryo-cuffs.

Thank you all

This stinks to hear- The Mrs Singlecross rips and your trip has been so great.
Sending positive vibes that you get the info and relief you need

Dude. Party is over. Go home sooner than later. Surgery near home. If she wants to keep skiing for decades think long term. It.s going to be a shitty drive home for pain and it.s depressing. Maybe stay in boze for the sweling to go down but it will go back on your drive. I would not want to be travelling in a truck for days on end. Expect shorter days and more stops. Stock up on edibles.

I did mine about 5-6 years ago, was late 40.s. Am riding just as strong or more so than before. She can do it but has to be smart, do pt, and focus on long term.

I.m in the class of oh maybe 2017? Acl thread if she wants to check out some healing journies. Or dm me q.s.

Sorry to hear about this A, y'all been so excited about this journey for some time. Some sound advise has offered by many. I can offer to fly out, on my dime, and continue the tour if you choose to fly back for comfort. I know your rig is eager to finish the trip and collect more stickers and I am willing to do this for you. Couple, three weeks? ;)

Since you're traveling around the West, it might be a good idea to look for ortho surgeons in the areas you'll be passing through or staying in for a while. I've heard good things about the medical care in Salt Lake City, so it's worth exploring options there.

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Originally Posted by Vt-Freeheel

I can offer to fly out, on my dime, and continue the tour if you choose to fly back for comfort. I know your rig is eager to finish the trip and collect more stickers and I am willing to do this for you. Couple, three weeks? ;)

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Thanks for the offer VT-F… I’ll keep you posted. Probably wouldn’t be until Mid-March if at all. Had plans for our kids to fly west and meet us in a couple weeks to all ski together. Plans are changing.

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Also not sure you want to miss bump season on Superstar… :fm:

SS goes til June, I can do both.

The best of luck to all during this setback

No better place to rehab than home. My dad is getting a full knee in Portland me and the doc is out a year. Get the process started. Unless your wife is a saint, she is going to get pretty salty when you describe your skiing adventures while she spends the day in a ski lodge, sleeping in an 8x8 box.

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Originally Posted by mcski

Another vote for waiting till youre back home. And even though kinda I like the idea of traveling to the best surgeon , (i would go to a Heiden) Fred is right in that post op is prob the real key to success.

I tore my acl last June and have been kicking the csn down the road on surgery since. My knee was super unstable the first few days but it stabilized and is prob strong enough now to ski w a brace.

I’d enjoy whatever I could of the remaining road-trip and do the surgery closer to home. Insurance is no small thing to consider either

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What makes you say you would go to Heiden?


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Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn

What makes you say you would go to Heiden?

Oh, OP go home and find the best surgeon that works in your area and use their preferred PT. You might find a surgeon to fix her knee but I wouldn’t do it. Follow up, complications, PT familiar with their regimen etc. I would want to be at home. I’ve been in this line of work working for sports docs for 35 years and most ethical surgeons would give this advice.

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Originally Posted by m64d85

Since you're traveling around the West, it might be a good idea to look for ortho surgeons in the areas you'll be passing through or staying in for a while. I've heard good things about the medical care in Salt Lake City, so it's worth exploring options there.

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Tell us you haven't read the thread without telling us you haven't read the thread...

JONG

Sent a PM because I’m in the medical field in SLC/PC and don’t want anything to get back to certain surgeons.

Get a pressure/cryo icer. It has been poo-pooed by nursing and PA’s in our case but allowed my daughter to take no oxy’s and PT says they really speed recovery by keeping swelling down.

^^that, robaxin and NSAIDs should limit the need for narcotics


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I've had my left ACL done 2X. The first at 21 with a hamstring graft. The second at 51 with an allograft.

I highly recommend the allograft. The recovery is much easier without damaging another structure within the knee via harvesting the graft tendon. I found the allograft surgery and recovery to be 80% easier than the 1st go round 3 decades earlier. Of course, my first doc may ha e been a hack.

As many have suggested above, I would recommend getting the surgery at home. Heck, you have lots of great options within an easy day's drive from Maine. Rehab is pretty straight forward, but PT is very important the first couple of months. Good PTs really help get the knee bending and straightening, which is vital.

Plus, keep in mind life without an ACL varies greatly from individual to individual. Some lose a great amount of stability without it, while others can perform at a high level without an ACL. Unfortunately, I fell into the 1st category. Mrs. S. could be somebody who can recover an perform at nearly 100% without an ACL. Just food for thought.

Best of luck.

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Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn

^^that, robaxin and NSAIDs should limit the need for narcotics


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I took the 6 days of hydro morphine post surgery but I couldn't handle the Tramadol the doc prescribed and did ok with just extra strength IBU's , took the Tramadol back to the pharmacy to be disposed of

DON"T forget to take a laxative with Hydro morphine

maybe the cryo cuff i borrowed ( just ice and water) sucked but I didnt find it any better than a bag of frozen peas so i only used it once so YMMV as they say

OP is there to help his partenr but it was beginning of winter i had a whole bunch of getting ready for winter that i needed to get done before i was on cut-on

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Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn

^^that, robaxin and NSAIDs should limit the need for narcotics


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Have you heard any data on nsaids slowing the healing of tendons? I’ve heard that from a few sources but don’t know if there’s anything to it study wise

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Originally Posted by mcski

Have you heard any data on nsaids slowing the healing of tendons? I’ve heard that from a few sources but don’t know if there’s anything to it study wise

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There’s one doc that I work with that buys in but I don’t think there’s any real good study to suggest avoiding NSAIDs.

There’s a lot of dogma and superstition in medicine fwiw.


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Originally Posted by XXX-er

I took the 6 days of hydro morphine post surgery but I couldn't handle the Tramadol the doc prescribed and did ok with just extra strength IBU's , took the Tramadol back to the pharmacy to be disposed of

DON"T forget to take a laxative with Hydro morphine

maybe the cryo cuff i borrowed ( just ice and water) sucked but I didnt find it any better than a bag of frozen peas so i only used it once so YMMV as they say

OP is there to help his partenr but it was beginning of winter i had a whole bunch of getting ready for winter that i needed to get done before i was on cut-on

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Tramadol is classified as a narcotic. Methocarbamol(Robaxin) is a muscle relaxant and is available OTC in Canada. A lot of the discomfort with injuries and surgery is due to muscle spasms. Patients often discount it’s effectiveness because they don’t keep taking it. You need to maintain a serum level for optimal effect.


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I had Dr. Heiden look at my shoulder 8yrs ago. He's straight up, said it was gonna suck, but he recommended AGAINST surgery. Said my damage was as bad as could be and not get surgery. I was 100% in a year. He could have easily cut me and gotten a nice paycheck, so I totally respect his office.

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Originally Posted by MagnificentUnicorn

Tramadol is classified as a narcotic. Methocarbamol(Robaxin) is a muscle relaxant and is available OTC in Canada. A lot of the discomfort with injuries and surgery is due to muscle spasms. Patients often discount it’s effectiveness because they don’t keep taking it. You need to maintain a serum level for optimal effect.


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It was a prescription 3 yrs ago, the pharmacist did mention something about it changing classification when i gave it back to him

The hydro morphine was doable but I didn't like Tramadol cuz it made me really jumpy , not much of a drug addict i guess