ACL pop, surgery, and beyond...

Things are definitely picking up now. Been doing 30-45 minutes on the bike fairly regularly with only a little stiffness in the first 30 seconds. Getting 1deg and 132deg extension right now. Still having trouble with steps so I'm trying to take stairs more often now just to torture...I mean train myself. Started strength training last week and it's kickin my arse....and I'm loving it. I can't wait to get this puny left leg back to the size it used to be. Being that it's my dominant leg, it should be a little easier....hopefully. Picked up some yoga stuff as required in the gimp forum, I hope to start that this week too. PT guy says I'm track for opening day, CAN NOT WAIT!!!

B)

Thought I'd give a little update to keep this thing flowin'.

Doing PT twice a week now and hitting the stationary bike almost everyday for at least 30 minutes. Getting 135 flex and 1 deg extension. Went off the Mobic (anti inflammatory) for a while and the knee stiffened and swelled a bit the whole week, so I'm back on it again. As per maggot suggestion, started power yoga and it feels pretty good so far. Damn do I work up a sweat and I'm not even moving that much!

Going up steps is a still a little tough but doable, going down steps is still a problem and can't quite get the flow yet, doing a half hobble/hop thing.

When were you guys cleared for biking, hiking, rock climbing? I have to wait until Aug 29th for my next doc appt to ask. PT won't give me their opinion because they don't want to be liable. A new climbing gym just opened up near me and I'm dying to try it out!

B)

I'm 14 weeks post-op. I was on vacation at 12 weeks and spent an hour every day out on a road bike. It was f'ing great; I didn't ask my PT (he wasn't around). I can't stand in the pedals yet and avoided steep hills. Other than that I had no issues and the workout was good for my leg and my mind (hours on a spinner inside is becoming very dull). Now that I'm back home I've got to get stronger to get back outside as the hills around here are pretty intense.

Stoked on the roadie and spinning . . . definitely the way to a strong recovery and happy knee . . . keep after it!

How's your recovery MtnMan?

K, it's update time. Went to the doc's and asked a butt load of questions. It looks like my recovery is right on track, he was pretty happy about the movement, flex, and stability of the ACL. I can start road biking, but will have to wait until 6 months out to mtn bike, climb, ski, etc. That kinda sucks since I wanted to start climbing soon, oh well. He told me that I would put undue stress on my ACL since my quad is not back up to strength yet. I'll have to wear the brace doing athletic activities until 1 year post op. I may try to do some light hiking this weekend since I'll be up at Killington, we'll see how it goes.

He did give me a little more insight on the pics that were taken inside my knee. It looks like my interior meniscus is perfect, no damage whatsoever. But the outside meniscus before surgery was pretty nasty looking. They had to take a chunk off and shave the part that was left.

So the magic date is......Oct 31st. One of my favorite days of the year. Can't wait for that doc appt!

Edit: Hitting 2 and 140deg right now. Lots of weight training right now.

B)

Congrats on your rehab so far. Sounds like things are going well enough. But I kind of agree with your doc. 4 mths is a bit too soon to start doing some of the more advanced stuff especially if your quad is not stong enough yet. Keep up the hard work. 10/31 will be here before you know it.

Pretty common for the lateral meniscus to get torn up a bit. I had 3 meniscal(2 lateral, 1 medial) tears after the 1st ACL tear and 1 during the second (lateral). And I prolly have a tear in my left lateral meniscus right now but it doesn't hider me much except for the fact that I can't fully squat on that knee.

Glad to hear of your progress . . . you have made it to 4 months, and the next two will fly by. I think that's the way it's been for me. Was your doctor worried that you still don't have full extension, or did you mean -2 instead of 2 degrees? I haven't had mine measured in forever . . . maybe I should go back to PT one more time, just to see what they say . . .

Good luck on the hiking - you'll kill it on the way up and be brought to your knees (no pun intended) or your ass, if you're anything like me. It amazes me how hard it is/was to walk downhill!!! Slow quad control has been a challenge for me.

Ski season is just around the corner, and it sounds like you'll be ready :cool:

The sun finally decided to come out, so I figured it time to test out this knee. Did a short but steep hike in Bear Mtn state park. It's one of my favorite short but sweet hikes that I take a lot of people to, Popolopean Torne near Bear Peak.

The knee felt pretty good on the approach up. It doesn't quite flex as well as I'd like, and I had to compensate for that since parts of the hike are more scrambling than walking (scramble=one level lower than rock climbing a 5.5). It was extremely windy up top, prolly around 40-50 mph gusts that I was leaning into. But it was just good to be on a peak under my own power again.

The hike down was a bit challenging, but the knee held up well. Had to do a few crab walks over a few steep or wet areas, but I was leaning on the cautious side this time around. All in all, very pleased with the day.

Took a few pics at the top with the camera phone, please excuse the quality.

View of Bear mtn bridge, not a whole lot of color yet:
http://www.killingtonzone.com/albums...ike_101505.jpg

I'm not a fan of graffitti at all, but I though this was an appropriate pic at the top:
http://www.killingtonzone.com/albums...ike_101505.jpg

God damn it's good to be back!!!

B)

I guess I'll add my TR, it was a great weekend and the knee is doing great!

Tyrolean Skier and Phantom joined me in Bay 1 on Friday around 1030am. We hiked up Bunny and Chute to the top of Snowdon. On our way, Lamb stated that Upper Flush was pretty sweet so we headed that way. And he was right! Stood at the top of Middle Flush and a "Reserved" sign was up already. I told them to go and I would go around on Bunny or Mouse Trap. After seeing Ty and Phantom make the first few turns, I made the executive decision to go for it. It paid off, prolly the best turns of the day. We decided to head over Racer's Edge and try Highline from there. Racer's had a few waterbars, but not too bad. Highline was fairly untracked and you had to do a few hop turns and keep your speed before sinking to the bottom (kneeish deep heavy stuff). Near the end, linked 4-5 turns that were sublime....just brought a big grin to my face. We headed back to the car for our first official Bay 1 beer of the season and did it taste like the nectar of the gods!

The rest of the crew showed up that evening to hit the lifts early Sat morning. The gondi started about 20 minutes late, so everyone was chomping at the bit. The snow up top was sooooo nice and fluffy. They have a few problems with the Glades triple so we spent most of the day over at Snowdon. We proceeded to do the circuit (Vagabond, Northstar, Great Bear, Chute, Bunny, Mouse trap, Highline, etc) until my knee stated to bother me from the small bumps on Northstar. I decided to play it safe and call it a day around noon. Gsmashed and I headed back to the car for a Bay 1 bev and people started showing up every 10 minutes. Needless to say, we didn't leave until around 3pm because it was so sunny and beautiful out. Eventually, everyone headed to Jurrasic Park for happy hours and stories were shared through out the night. Port was consumed before hitting the hay.

Woke up with an extra hour of sleep (woooohooo) and had hearty breakfast of eggs and pork products. Hit the mtn a little after 8 and the lift lines were non existent the whole morning. The bump line were becoming bigger and I was starting to get the hang of them again (granted, I took them very slowly and didn't zipperline). Eventually, I decided to check out the Light since it isn't that long of a woods shot. It was like paste, the sun was baking it and the snow on the trees made it into a rainforest. Cascade was soooo nice though after that. Chalky soft bumps all the way down, I enjoyed every turn down before heading back home.

Here is the link for the pics from all three days (slideshow in my folder):

http://www.killingtonzone.com/forums...=slideshow.php

Damn, it's good to be back! The Gimpinator is officially retired!

B)

I'VE BEEN CLEARED TODAY, WOOOOOOOHOOOOO!

Granted, I didn't tell the doc I already skied three days, but that's besides the point. The doc cleared me after 6 months. I have to wear the hard brace for 6 months while doing heavy exercise. He said it's ok to use both the soft and hard brace at the same time too. I just have to keep up the quad strengthening exercises and I should be good to go.

Now where's that damn cliff.....

B)

nice man.....i remember that feeling....good on ya.