ACL Class of 2013

Shekat, that's awesome! I always thought that many people tear an ACL and it heals on its own ever knowing.

I'm done w/week 5 tomorrow. Just over 130 degrees now, so less emphasis on getting the bend back -- just focus on letting it come naturally now.

I have minor swelling below the knee cap still and getting up after sitting at the computer is stiff. But my patella tendonitis / pain behind the patella is basically gone. Just feel it going downstairs or trying single leg squats to bench. Been instructed to take 4 days off of cycling/strength to see if we can ditch the last of the swelling.

Been stable enough to not wear brace for about a week now. Still wear it at night since I move a lot in my sleep.

Hope recovery is well for others!

I am day four post surgery and for some odd reason yesterday was better than today. Today, my knee swelled up bigger than ever and went numb again. Not the whole leg. Just about two inches above and below. Freaked me out. Couldn't get feeling back or swelling down, iced, elevated, nothing different. Called doc, on call doc said likely too much activity. Said if no better by Monday to call my doc, meantime if calf pain, go to emergency for DVt. A bit worried, anyone else have this?

Really don't think it could be over activity. I was gonna try my bike/trainer but decided against it, walked a few times without crutches, but mostly elevated, iced. ...???

count me in.

going to mexico tomorrow. well actually today. in like 3 hours. then figure out surgery when i get back in a week.

it's been a little over 3 weeks. I've been working it out as hard as possible. set another new pr for the leg press today, 50lbs. last time was 20. and 0 before that.

swelling is down a lot, but still persists.

rom= full extenension. bending it in prob 4 or 5 inches.

this will be acl reconstruction #3.

Lurker for a long time but wanted to share my experience.

Common theme to many it seems... huck a relatively small lip, got in back seat and off balance. During fall left leg got tangled under body and for some reason bindings never released which was the culprit to the severity of my inuries imo. Thankfully at resort and not bc so got the sled down as there was no way I was getting down on my own.

ACL, MCL, and FCL were completely torn requiring reconstruction. Also both menisci were trashed and had to be repaired. Guess that would be the "terrible quartet"?! ; )

6 weeks in since surgery and now just starting to put some weight on leg. ROM is around 95 and that is painful and takes a lot of stretching to get to. Off painkillers finally but I miss them quite a lot during PT and late at night. This will certainly be a long journey but grateful that I will recover from this someday and had a great dr(steadman/laprade) and friends & family to help get me there.

Best wishes to the rest of you.

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Originally Posted by hoarhey

sorry to hear it, spindrift!

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Thanks. Had surgery on Tues. Hamstring autograft and a medial meniscus trim. Doc said I have beautiful hamstring tendons. Feeling pretty good. Going with no opiates - which I am convinced is a really, really good idea. First PT next week...

Going in tomorrow morning with Dr LaPrade, glad he seems to be quite well know around these parts. ACL/MCL/meniscus here we go.

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Originally Posted by spindrift

Going with no opiates - which I am convinced is a really, really good idea. First PT next week...

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Myself not at all looking forward to the meds. Wondering if you would elaborate a bit about why you think they are not a good idea? Strength...to you, and all you, and me too.

6weeks today.
I'm feeling good. 95% swelling gone when I wake up. Light swelling after the strength training I'm starting now in PT. Patella pain mostly gone except for during certain PT movements.

For those of you worried about opiates - I got an anti nausea patch behind my ear and the nerve block for surgery. I ate lots of veggies day 1 once I got appetite back. Nerve block took over 24hrs to wear off, took norco every 4hrs for the next 12hr. Then didn't need more than advil and didn't have either kind of stomach/digestion issues. Everyone's system is different on opiates of course. but I think the nerve block was great to just let me nap for the worst part of recovery.

Sent from my DROIDX using TGR Forums

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Originally Posted by ate'em

Going in tomorrow morning with Dr LaPrade, glad he seems to be quite well know around these parts. ACL/MCL/meniscus here we go.


Myself not at all looking forward to the meds. Wondering if you would elaborate a bit about why you think they are not a good idea? Strength...to you, and all you, and me too.

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Wild coincidence, but I also just had surgery with Dr. LaPrade on Thursday. I had the ACL and FCL (also called LCL) reconstructed with allografts, and he stitched together a sizeable tear in the medial meniscus. I'm staying until Wed to do pt. If you are doing pt, I'm the short slim blonde woman with short hair.

through the worst of it. surgery went well. patellar tendon graft to reconsruct ACL, hamstring graft to reconstruct MCL, and stiched up a complete radial tear of the meniscus. tibial plateau fracture the least of the concerns, should heal no problem. surgery was way more trauma than the initial injury. knee swollen like a fat hog, but not too much pain with the nerve blocks and the opiates. glad to be on the way forward at this point.

Hanging out in vail through Wed to work PT with Dr LaPrade's team. Short dude with short brown hair and glasses, say hi if you see me. Already have better ROM than pre-op. I have 6 weeks no weight bearing to look forward to. Gonna be a slow recovery. Apetite is back, settling into the routine of doing lots of nothing. Fired up for working hard to get back.

And a brief introduction and history, since I'm a new poster. I am a regular poster over at the skidiva and epicski boards, and have lurked here occasionally. I have had a season pass at Squaw Valley/Alpine for the past several years and usually ski a variety of terrain, but love skiing powder, steeps, and trees, and am working on moguls. The injury happened Feb 17 in the new medium/large terrain park at Alpine Meadows. I've hopped over lots of small jumps before, but this was a little bigger and I landed off-balance with more weight on one leg. I'm not sure if it collapsed on landing, but I then flipped over my left side. I was using knee bindings, which has already provoked another extended knee binding battle over at epicski.

The surprising part was that I got up and kept skiing. I iced it that night (and cooked dinner for the family), but since it didn't swell I skied the day after as well, although I stayed on the blue groomers. It swelled a little the following week and felt weird, so I went to the doctor the week after that. She thought it was probably a sprain but sent me for an MRI, which showed full tear. I saw five knee surgeons, who all had different opinions about the rest of my knee. One wanted to replace the entire posterolateral corner, two thought it was just the ACL, and one wasn't sure. I ended up deciding to travel to Dr. LaPrade, and I'm glad I did. He narrowed it down to the ACL and the lateral collateral ligament, but then they also found a pretty big tear in the medial meniscus and were able to stitch it back together without removing any tissue. Now I've got six weeks of total non weightbearing and a lot of pt. The swelling is coming down fast and my range of motion is pretty good, and I'm glad to be over the surgery hump.

valli - did you have an MRI and did it not show anything about your meniscus?

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Originally Posted by Chainsaw_Willie

valli - did you have an MRI and did it not show anything about your meniscus?

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I had two MRI's, including a high resolution Tesla one. It also didn't show the high grade partial LCL tear, which was apparently functionally useless. MRI's don't tell all.

Well Mrs. Flounder got to see the surgeon last Friday. We saw the MRI with the ACL tear and strained MCL. She's decided on a hamstring autograph. The patella tendon is out since she has to kneel a lot with the kindergarteners. She was leaning towards the allograft but decided the hamstring would be better. Surgery is next week and she hopes to be in decent shape by summer vacation. As long as she can return to climbing she will be happy.

Glad to see everyone is doing as well as can be. It's going to be an interesting couple of months.

10 hours post surgery and I'm feeling wayyyyy better than I did after my first ACL back in '96. They didn't do a femoral block back then, I gotta say this is the way to go. No other pain killers at this point and I'm feeling fine. We'll see how that changes when the block runs out. but for now it's all good.

Hamstring autograft, just like the right knee. Follow up with surgeon and first PT appt. Friday at noon. 'til then it's couch surfing, ordering pizza and netflix.

Bandages and immobilizer off. Lots of swelling but only pain is one spot on the side of my upper calf that gives a sharp pain when I try to lift the leg. Doc had an ultrasound done just to make sure it's not a blood clot and no clot so I'm good to go with beginning PT now. I have pretty good range of motion already and am really pleased at the lack of pain. The femoral block wore off last night so I took a couple oxycodone's just in case and slept like a baby. Woke up this morning basically pain free. I should be able to return to work Monday as long as I can find a way to keep the leg elevated at my desk.

Doc gave me the pics from inside my knee - there's a little arthritis developing and doc says if I want my knees to last as long as possible I should probably stop or at least cut back on the running. Other than the rough spots, everything else looks good.

Hoping everyone else is having a speed recovery!

Bodad reporting for roll call and new to TGR.

Me-46 years old
1 week post ACL reconstruction surgery
Tore ACL in 2 and damaged meniscus while skiing at Alta
Prognosis- doc says I will be back on mountain bike in a month or so and skiing 100% next season.

though I was pretty bummed about it while sitting in the snow waiting for the patrol to load me up (knew knee was toast, heard and felt "The Pop"), after talking to the patrollers I learned the first patroller had both ACLs redone and of the 7-8 patrollers who helped me get down the mountain half had had their ACL's torn and repaired. They all seem to say just get the surgery and come back at 100% next season. Sucks siting on the sidelines at the end of the season though. Was skiing Alta a couple of times a week this season till I tore my ACL. Got to say Alta clinic and patrolers were great (they should be paid more, I dont know what they get paid but I know its not enough). But if someone who spends their work day in skis can keep doing their job after ACL surgery I know a weekend warrior such as myself wont have any problem getting back on the slopes.

This isnt my first major surgery, I had 3 hip surgerys since 2006, the last being a total hip replacement about 3 years ago due to a hard landing in a parachute while in the Army, so I'm use to PT and the whole healing process, though the doc told me my knee surgery is going to seem like nothing compared to my hip replacement My knee was outpatient surgery when I had my hip done I was in a hospital about a week after surgery and non weight bearing for 2-3 monthes it seemed like(cant remeber but longer than knee for sure).

Not quite sure how it happend, dont really care, caught an edge I guess just fell and it tore, fallen plenty of times before and no problem, twisted one way when I should have twisted the other I guess...just part of the game. The only thing I do wonder about is that my binding didnt realease in this fall, they have realesed before but not this time. I have Marker Duke's and it's lowest DIN is 6 which is what mine are set at. I am 5'10, about 200-210 pounds and ski pretty much most of the mountain (I dont ski some of the more challenging chutes but will ski alot of them and I dont jump off anything). I almost went with the Baron binding which I think has a lower DIN range but ended up going with the Duke's, wonder if that would have made a diffrence.

Welcome Bodad, and congrats to both Willie and you for coming through surgery. Sounds like you are both recovering well. I had nerve blocks but still needed the oral pain meds but the lateral collateral ligament is a bigger open procedure and replacing multiple ligaments increases the trauma of it all.

How are you guys doing in terms of swelling and what sort of ice system are you using. They discharged me with a rental game ready ice compression system, but I've got to decide if I want to keep renting it or maybe even purchase a used or new one. Expensive, but someone around our house always seems to have something sore. The perils of continuing to be a competive athlete in your forties.

Sucks to be laid up but it's a relief to be on the other side. It's hard not rehashing the injury and wondering if you could have done something differently. I even had Knee Bindings, but unbeknownst to me they only protect against backward rotational falls, not the kind where you jump off stuff and land wrong. Then I was kicking myself for being dumb enough to jump off stuff in the terrain park, but my physical therapist pointed out that at least I did it doing something fun. The other bright side is that at least I know I can reduce my risk by staying out of the trauma park after this.

Keep us posted in how you are doing.

Valli I am almost 2 weeks post surgery and still have swelling...but I have not been iceing like I should. I have a rental Iceman siting beside me right now but I have an ice pack on my knee (just got back from PT)...go figure. I'll probably return the rental in the next few days and just use ice packs.

IMHO I wouldn't spend too much time "rehashing the injury" (I know its hard not to do) it is just part of the risk you take when you ski just like in any other sport or activity. case in point, did you see that awful footage of that basketball player (excuse me here I don't follow basketball) who just came down funny on his leg and had that terrible break a few weeks ago...yikes (and that was on a flat floor not the side of a mountain). what can you do?? we can try and protect ourselves as much as possible but in the end their is always the possibility of an injury that were willing to accept if we want to keep doing what we enjoy.

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Originally Posted by Bodad

I'll probably return the rental in the next few days and just use ice packs.
...case in point, did you see that awful footage of that basketball player (excuse me here I don't follow basketball) who just came down funny on his leg and had that terrible break a few weeks ago...yikes (and that was on a flat floor not the side of a mountain).

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Consensus at Boulder Center For Sports Medicine is that Kevin Ware (the Basketball Player you are referring to) had a stress fracture that he was most likely unaware of prior to the injury...

I reccomend a large bag of frozen peas or corn...spreads out better across the knee, you can put it directly on the skin (not too cold) and cheap!

As for Me. Six weeks out from surgery. hitting the bike with the seat as low as possible for an hour a day 6 days a week. PT 3 days a week (soft tissue massage mostly) frustrated because i am still not at 0 extension but up to 135 flexion. still need painkillers to sleep through the night. deep bruising makes is almost impossible to sleep comfortably on my side for long periods of time.

otherwise re-learning how to walk and icing when i've done to much.

The hardest part for me is watching it snow, and snow, and snow...This April in CO has been going off. Im definitely stoked for all the snow...I dont want my home to burn down this summer. But damn it sucks to sit inside or on the stationary bike while the homies are choking on faceshots :)

hang in there fellow gimps!

Wildman - I know the feeling about watching it snow and being sidelined. Last weekend was one of the finest April pow weekends ever according to reports.

I'm icing a couple times a day with a bag of peas. The doc didn't think very highly of the various contraptions out there, told me a bag of peas would be fine.

Returned to work on Monday (6 days post-surgery) and that was probably a bit soon. I still have a lot of swelling and after work on Tuesday the knee was so swollen that tapping it was like thumping a watermelon and I could hardly bend it, so took yesterday and half of today off. After laying around yesterday, icing and doing light stretching and quad sets the swelling was way down. Had a really good PT session last night (2x week for now) where we worked on balance, leg lifts, and trying to get me back to a normal stride while walking. Don't know the exact numbers but I'm about 0 extension and over 90 flexion. Only the swelling is holding me back from being able to go further with the flexion.

I still can't step up enough to climb stairs normally and no way can I step down, the leg is still too weak for that, but at just over a week post-op I'm not sweating it.

Bodad - at your height and weight I'm shocked you can ski at DIN 6 or even less. I get pre-release and have crashed hard a couple times skiing at less than DIN 10 on my Solomon 912s. I'm 5'8", 180. My Dynafits have never pre-released but I've always had them at 10 also and generally don't ski as hard in the BC on the lighter gear. Could have contributed to tearing my ACL, but not sure as I got caught in an avy and the ski got all twisted up under me during the slide.

/I'll chime in on the icing question. For me there was no comparison--the ice machine is in a different league from manual methods. You just can't ice too much in the first few days/week, and the machine makes it easy and more effective (and since it's not quite as cold as actual cubes on your skin, you can use it continuously). Not to pick at you, CW, but if you had strapped on an ice machine cuff for the first 48 hours after your surgery, I doubt you'd be so swollen...

I bought a lightly used Iceman on fleabay for like $65--there are tons of them out there. It was some of the best money I've ever spent.

Mrs. Flounder had her surgery yesterday. It went well but since she's so tiny they had to supplement the hamstring with an allograft. Hamstring was only 6mm and doc wanted at least 8mm. With the allograft they got to 9mm. She's doing ok I guess. Lots of pain but we are staying on top of the meds. Didn't do the femoral block. No CPM machine as the doc said his research show no real benefit. Did come home with the ice machine. Had to make an ice run this morning because the ice maker in the fridge can't keep up. She's trying to just use the Tylenol and only one oxy at a time as the oxy makes her really nauseous. Icing non stop. First PT/ follow up is Monday morning.

Glad see everyone else is doing well. CW, bummer about the swelling. Hope it gets under control.