How long before I ski? (ACL post-op)

[wolfelot]

^^^ I believe that the sensation or lack of sensation is an artifact of quad inhibition from the surgery.

[auvgeek]

I do leg presses and concentrate on not letting the good knee dominate, but the good leg still burns more.

Why not do one-legged leg presses? That's what my PT had me doing after I had surgery on my patellar tendon.

[wolfelot]

Why not do one-legged leg presses? That's what my PT had me doing after I had surgery on my patellar tendon.

I should have clarified. I do one-legged exercises and two-legged ones. When I'm doing the two-legged ones the repaired knee just doesn't really burn like the other one. Even the one-legged ones with the repaired knee don't get the same burn even though it gets tired. Its like my leg make that lactic acid burn feeling.

[auvgeek]

Oh, okay. I get what you're saying. And thinking about it, I had the same experience after my knee surgery. That was two summers ago, and I'm still not quite getting the same type of lactic-acid burn that my other leg feels. I only do the one-legged exercises, though. Still don't feel like I'm back to normal, and I'd like to avoid compensation issues by not working both legs at the same time. (I had hip surgery on the same leg, so that's compounding the compensation issue.)

Anyway, I'm curious now as to what causes it.

[wolfelot]

I have no idea what the heck causes it. If I recall my PT said it was related to the trauma that shuts down your quad after ACL surgery. I did a bunch of lunges tonight alternating legs and sure enough, the repaired one just didn't burn like the other.

[Cedrik]

Unlike Cedrik, I have this nagging kneecap pain and despite considerable effort, my operated leg is still quite a bit skinnier than the other.

Since my quads were pretty underdeveloped prior to surgery , I've not had to worry about unbalanced muscle development.

Have they told you which set of muscles is overdeveloped and/or which set is underdeveloped to the point of misaligning your patella? I'll wager your main quads are pulling your patella laterally. Maybe the rectus femoris and vastus lateralis are overpowering the vastus medialis and the other inner leg muscles (sartorial, gracilis, adductors)? Seems like they must have some weird exercises to strengthen the inner leg muscles.

At least you're skiing, which is more than I can say, although I get my new brace this week and am cleared to ski. I might go after my dr appt this week, though I don't think the skiing at Mammoth is that great right now.

[tone capone]

^^^Yeah, I think you're exactly right about my imbalance issues. It seems to be getting better ever so incrementally. My vmo is still just overpowered by the lateral side, you can totally see it still. I am doing everything possible to correct it, it just takes a long time I guess.

Skiing has been going surprisingly well though. It hurts on lifts with no foot rests for the first half of the ride, but not the second half. Weird. It also seems to hurt less skiing as the day goes on, and no swelling or pain afterwards. I have been taking it pretty easy, but I can lay into it carving groomers and it feels pretty damn good which makes me very happy and optimistic. Seems to actually feel better loaded into a carve which is where I thought it would hurt most. I don't think moguls, variable snow, or landing jumps would feel very good but all that can wait. I feel pretty lucky right now...