ACL Reconstruction Surgery Pics (mildly disgusting)

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Originally Posted by fineline

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So a few questions (if anyone still reads this thread,) How did you cope with not skiing for so long? I haven't gone this long without skiing for probably 15 years, since my first day on skis when I was three. Its my life, now I dont really know what to do with myself and am trying not to let this totally devistate me.

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The best way for me to cope was to channel the energy I would normally put into skiing into rehab. I figured if I became as passionate about rehab as I am about skiing, then I'd come out of this fine, and it seems to be working. The thought (or in my case, fear) of not being able to do the same things you once did at the same level will drive you.

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I understand injuries like this are really common among our kind and it was probably bound to happen to me when I ski 100+ days every year. Plus everyone keeps telling me that females are a lot more likely to tear theirs... so it was probably in the cards for me sooner or later. But im 18 and before this happened I felt amazing, stuff was finally starting to happen for me. This is just a really big setback and its hard to deal with...

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I was thinking the same thoughts as well post-op. And everywhere kept telling me that i'd come out of all of this stronger and better off in some way. At first I thought, "yeah right whatever, i'm still missing the season, whatever"...but now, 3 months into rehab and I'm finding that they're absolutely right. I am going to be much stronger coming out than I was coming in (and you will too so long as you turn that "ski drive" into "rehab drive"). And honestly, it really does just boil down to one season...heck in your case, it might even be less than that. You'll have many, many, many, many more ski & pow days with your friends in your future. You will be in excellent shape to kick some ass next winter.

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Is there anything I should make sure to concentrate on before surgery/the few days after surgery that I should make special note of? Im trying to keep everything strong and get my range of motion the best it can be, but what really makes a difference?

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Keep your quads strong. They will atrophy some, so the stronger they are going into surgery, then the easier it will be to come out.

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Well apart from that.. I am just going to stick through it... Oh, and anyone have any ideas of how to drive a clutch with only one good leg?? Cuz thats all ive got. Maybe attatch a ski pole to it? hah, hmmmm.

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hmmmm, ski pole would work. And it would be like a pole plant as you shift into a left hand turn :D

All the best.

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Originally Posted by fineline

Well apart from that.. I am just going to stick through it... Oh, and anyone have any ideas of how to drive a clutch with only one good leg?? Cuz thats all ive got. Maybe attatch a ski pole to it? hah, hmmmm.

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Ditto to what Ty said on all of that stuff. Think "rehab is my life" for a while. And find something else productive to do too. I got my real estate license - there's only so many hours in a day you can spend in the gym before you're overdoing it and it starts to be counter-productive. If I'm busy all day and tired from working out, I'm not freaking out that I didn't ski. Much anyway...

About driving - Which knee are you having done? I had a hamstring graft on my left knee years ago - I didn't drive for probably 4 weeks, but I got tons of paid sick leave and had people that could shuttle me around and it wasn't a big deal. This time I went back to work in 4 days - drove the truck the first couple days because it's an automatic, and I was back driving my Subaru (manual) in under a week. But this time it was my right leg, which is easier for that anyway.

Good luck!

I'll jump in late too. My biggest problem has been getting full flexibility back. The hamstring etc had shortened a lot post op (wasn't able to straighten my leg due to cartillage damage). But the flexibility is mostly back and it's all pretty functional.

I had my first bit of skiing about a month ago - just over 4 months post op. Not strictly recommended but I felt OK and I was confident that I would know whether I was steady enough not to fall. I told my physio about it after, however! Didn't do anything too exciting but it's very motivating to realise that , basically, I can still ski. Will be doing some more demanding stuff in March (just over 6 months post-op) and can't wait.

Sometimes it's been a bit depressing on the rehab. But I've been quite lucky in that it has been quite a steady progression so I've always been able to look back a few weeks and think how much I've improved.

Hope this provides a bit of encouragement and good luck

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Originally Posted by Arno

I had my first bit of skiing about a month ago - just over 4 months post op. Not strictly recommended but I felt OK and I was confident that I would know whether I was steady enough not to fall. I told my physio about it after

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that is sweet! Maybe a little risky eh?...but sweet nonetheless. I assume you wore a brace?

I actually plan on noodling down a groomer at about my 4.5 month post-op to get up and watch the IFSA big mountain comp at Kirkwood in early April. Gonna be so hard to just cruise a groomer over to the venue and just hang out all day.

Possibly a bit risky but when justifying it to my physio I said it was like a soccer player starting to run again - a step on from what I'd been doing before but not the full activity by any means. I'm a good enough skier that I know when I am not feeling stable and I didn't do anything too committing. Just some nice smooth groomers. Avoided bumps, soft snow, hard snow, people etc etc

The most noticeable thing was how quickly I got tired.

I did wear a brace, although not a very sophisticated one. My knee does feel very stable now so I don't know whether I'll bother on my next trip.

As I said, though, the first day back may be a pretty boring day by normal standards but it feels so good to be up in the mountains sliding again that you probably won't mind. :biggrin:

Actually, one interesting (maybe) debate I had with myself was which skis to use. I have Atomic SX11s in a 170 and a pair of the old Dynastar Intuitiv Bigs (the ones with the semi-swallow tail) in a 188.

I knew I was going to be staying on piste all the time and spent a while thinking about whether the Atomics would be best because they were shorter or whether the fact that they are stiff and want to be on an edge all the time meant that they might be a bit too much to handle. One of the many virtues of the Bigs is that they react quite well to lazy technique!

Went with the Atomics in the end and lived to tell the tale...

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Originally Posted by Arno

Possibly a bit risky but when justifying it to my physio I said it was like a soccer player starting to run again - a step on from what I'd been doing before but not the full activity by any means.

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funny you use that as an example...because that is me. I'm also a soccer player (that's how I tore mine), and I'm about to start running again next week.

hmmm....so tempting. :)

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Originally Posted by Arno

I did wear a brace, although not a very sophisticated one. My knee does feel very stable now so I don't know whether I'll bother on my next trip.

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As far as braces go some docs don't even Rx them anymore. A few studies have shown a simple neoprene sleeve is as good as a brace for preventing re-injury. this is mostly due to the abililty of the neoprene to give some sensory feedback and what position the knee is in, (proprioception).

Now I'm not saying that you should just stop wearing your brace or anything but just another piece of info to think about. Talk it over with your doc or PT sometime.

I personally think a brace is a good idea for the first year until the graft fully matures and then after that it is kind of a personal prefernce kind of thing and for some it is even kind of a mental crutch that just makes them feel better. Anyway....

Just saw my orthopod for 3-month post-op..aaaannnddd....

I GOT CLEARANCE TO RUNNNNNNNNN!!!!


sOoooooooooooooo PSCYHED!

Finally starting to feel more like training rather than rehab now :) :) :)

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Originally Posted by Vinman

As far as braces go some docs don't even Rx them anymore. A few studies have shown a simple neoprene sleeve is as good as a brace for preventing re-injury. this is mostly due to the abililty of the neoprene to give some sensory feedback and what position the knee is in, (proprioception).

Now I'm not saying that you should just stop wearing your brace or anything but just another piece of info to think about. Talk it over with your doc or PT sometime.

I personally think a brace is a good idea for the first year until the graft fully matures and then after that it is kind of a personal prefernce kind of thing and for some it is even kind of a mental crutch that just makes them feel better. Anyway....

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Well, they do say that once you're fully rehabed the graft should be pretty much as strong as the ACL was. I agree on the mental crutch point - everything just feels a little tighter with it on.

Interesting about prioproception - hadn't thought of that but I certainly see what you mean.

Great news on the running, Tyrone. Having been doing it again for a couple of months, I'm still amazed by how nackered it makes me! All good though

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Originally Posted by Tyrone Shoelaces

Just saw my orthopod for 3-month post-op..aaaannnddd....

I GOT CLEARANCE TO RUNNNNNNNNN!!!!


sOoooooooooooooo PSCYHED!

Finally starting to feel more like training rather than rehab now :) :) :)

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Awesome! Congrats!!! :)

First Time Running Post-Op Report:

About 11 weeks post-op...almost 3 months. (First time running in about 4 mos. actually)

Ran for 25 minutes @ slow-ass 10 minute/mile pace....

...Knee felt focking BOMBER

can't wait to start ratcheting that pace back up to normal. Getting closer....


that is all.

I had my surgery yesterday... my knee hurts :( It went pretty well though, but like I said.. my knee hurts- I am on lots and lots of painkillers though so thats keeping me together I suppose. I got some pictures too so I will post mine (I had pateller) when i can get access to the scanner that my brother stole from me.

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Originally Posted by fineline

I had my surgery yesterday... my knee hurts :( It went pretty well though, but like I said.. my knee hurts- I am on lots and lots of painkillers though so thats keeping me together I suppose. I got some pictures too so I will post mine (I had pateller) when i can get access to the scanner that my brother stole from me.

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well, you're on your way to getting a stronger knee already. keep ice on that sucker as much as possible and keep it elevated as much as you can too. Elevated as in propped up somehow so that's it's above your heart. That, combined with constant ice will really help the swelling, which will really help the pain.

EDIT: Glad to hear you are relatively killing it, Ty.


A little update on my progress, my PT put me on a running program about 3 weeks ago, and it feels good. I'll go to the track, lay down a few laps then just dork around with a soccer ball getting the touch back. Combine that with some miles on the bike and things are coming along OK.

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Originally Posted by fineline

I had my surgery yesterday... my knee hurts :( It went pretty well though, but like I said.. my knee hurts- I am on lots and lots of painkillers though so thats keeping me together I suppose. I got some pictures too so I will post mine (I had pateller) when i can get access to the scanner that my brother stole from me.

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There's no doubt about it, day after surgery sucks big time. One thing I was glad I did was keep ahead on my pain meds. I got the femoral nerve block in my leg (so it was completely numb for 48hrs) but made sure to keep up on the pain meds so that when it wore off (you can't really tell when it will) I wasn't shocked with the pain.

You'll be back on it in no time. The first couple weeks seem to drag on, but after that time flys by and you are back running and riding.

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Originally Posted by fineline

I had my surgery yesterday... my knee hurts :(

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fineline - we had surgery the same day. I just saw your perkaset induced post over on the padded room, bwahahah! Mine was a patellar graft also....and yes i also had perks for breakfast today.

Ty, great thread thanks for sharing. Way to get your jog on.

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Originally Posted by milton

fineline - we had surgery the same day. I just saw your perkaset induced post over on the padded room, bwahahah! Mine was a patellar graft also....and yes i also had perks for breakfast today.

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really??? wow thats cool! We will have to keep in touch and help each other out with rehab and stuff.. Haha we can make it a race!! Haha yeah I like perkaset, and oxycotin or whatever it is. I got some pretty cool pics and video that I will try to post once I figure out how.

[QUOTE=scoober]EDIT: Glad to hear you are relatively killing it, Ty.


PT put me on a running program about 3 weeks ago, and it feels good. I'll go to the track, lay down a few laps then just dork around with a soccer ball getting the touch back. Combine that with some miles on the bike and things are coming along OK.
QUOTE]

I can't believe how conservative my docs are compared to yours. I don't see my ortho for another month. Last thing he said was to hold off on running. I dropped my pt, and have just been doing my own thing, mostly super long bike rides where I mash alot of hills. But I've also been using the soccer ball. Been doing a lot of juggling, and passing it around with my daughter. It feels really good and I got control back really fast. I thing that soccer is a great rehab activity. We'll have to put together a gimp central all-star team: VIctoire! Victoire! Victoire! :D

I was talking to my PT about speed of rehab (after I owned up to skiing 4 months post-op). She said there are huge differences in views as to what you can do when. Apparently some college football players are running and cutting 1 month post-op! :eek: Having the best medical attention money can buy, daily MRIs etc etc probably helps...

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skiing 4 months post-op

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Arno you skied after four months. How did it feel? are you going again or waiting? Did you wear a brace? I am at week 10 post op and feel strong enough to snowboard with a brace, I still feel a little to weak for skiing.

It was very mellow skiing! Just sliding around on some easy groomers - more details up the page.

Going again in about 3 weeks which will be just over 6 months post-op. Hope to ski some more challenging stuff - longish off piste runs if the snow's decent. Still won't go mad but it'll be a bit closer to normal :)

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Originally Posted by Arno

I was talking to my PT about speed of rehab (after I owned up to skiing 4 months post-op). She said there are huge differences in views as to what you can do when. Apparently some college football players are running and cutting 1 month post-op! :eek: Having the best medical attention money can buy, daily MRIs etc etc probably helps...

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The other thing that my first doc explained to me when I kept asking about this over and over and over again is that if you're a pro athlete, it's sometimes considered worth the risk of retearing or causing permanent damage that you'll pay for in the long run. And they just will not advise anyone else to risk it unless they've got big bucks on the line or some race/event/opportunity that will never come again. Are a couple extra ski days worth re-tearing it and having to go through surgery all over again, starting from a weaker point than you did the first time and possibly with more damage, and also meaning you might be missing out on a lot more good future ski days while you're rehabbing all over again? Probably not. But the Olympics, or a bowl game or whatever else probably is.

Good point. Judging from my experience, it isn't that hard to tear a healthy ACL so you can understand them being conservative about a newly replaced one.

Also, apparently the football players on that program had hamstring tendon grafts with the graft taken from the strong leg. Apparently this means you need to rehab both legs, but neither is weakened as much as the single leg if the graft comes from the weak leg.

Well put, AG. It's all about risk/reward ratio, and I gotta say that mine has changed since this event in my life. The look on my kid's faces when they understand that I can't run around with them any more or ski with them or join them on the skating pond hurts like hell. My four year old actually thought that I was going to be on "crunchers" for ever. I don't think she actually believed that I was going to heal until she saw me hobbling around without them. Now every night when I carry her upstairs to her room, the limp is less and less pronounced, and by spring, hopefully, I'll be the old active dad that she probably doesn't even remember. When I'm coaching soccer again, and running 5ks with my 10 year old, and taking long bike rides with the little ones in the tow trailer, I'll think twice before I jeopardize all that for some extra air or a faster steeper line on the mt. bike or skis. You don't know what you've got till it's gone, and sometimes you don't realize who you're taking it away from. Sorry for the rant. I can't wait to get better. That is all.

Ok...nearly at 4 month's post-op (just a few days away) and here's where I'm at:

Went mountain biking yesterday...not just lame fireroad strolls, but muddy semi-tech long singletrack with a few grueling climbs and lots of fun fast downhill. Knee felt freaking bomber. I was a little sketched taking turns fast, so I kept the speed down pretty low in spots just in case. I did have one instance though that sketched me out pretty good....I was maneuvering through a tight little hairpin turn, got messed up, and got thrown forward a little and had to quickly click out with my "bad" leg and stomp my foot down to catch my fall. Just before I stomped my foot down to catch my fall, I thought "NO!", but then nothing happened. I stomped it and knee felt fine. Phew! Well, at least I know it can handle that. :)

Woke up this morning expecting my knee to be a little sore from the previous days mountain biking, but nothing. Cool. So went on a 35 minute run and it was the best run I've had yet. Knee felt completely normal. Hamstring felt normal and I ran at a near normal pace. Also threw in a few hills and everything felt great. Got back home and threw a leg over the roadie and spun 40 flat miles. At 4 months, my knee feels nearly 100%.

However, there still seems to be an upper limit to flexion. I think flexion is pretty where it was before surgery, but it just isn't comfortable yet hanging out there. Should work itself out over the next month or so.

Feeling like I'm getting sooo damn close....