ACL Reconstruction Surgery Pics (mildly disgusting)

[altagirl]

My doctor said don't get it wet until the stitches come out. So I used trash bags and packaging tape - I didn't have to keep it out of the water though - the tape kept it dry. I've heard different things from doctors on when you can get stitches wet though - I don't know why the difference though.

[basom]

I've heard different things from doctors on when you can get stitches wet though - I don't know why the difference though.

yeah. all my stitches were inside the incision, just a knot sticking out at either end. i was glad to be able to wash that smelly fleash grapefruit that was my knee. smelled like homelss dude after a few.

[mildbill.]

smelled like homelss dude after a few minutes.

story of your life?

[altagirl]

My stitches were all internal too - just the one long thread they pulled out. Could just be like how long to use crutches - the answer is whatever your doctor thinks it should be.

[Lance_K]

Shower? I just sat in my funk for the week.

[basom]

story of your life?

god its so true. i need a bath every hour and a half.


and altagirl i'm sure you are right. the little things often freak me out, like why do i smell like the inisde of a pigeon's digestive track only one and a half hours out of the shower? And why doctors have different opinions?

[scoober]

It's cool to see everyone is doing relatively well.

With the showering, I was told the same thing, keep the stitches dry, even though they were mostly under the skin. First shower was day 3, with a garbage bag. That sucked mainly just because of the bag. After that I went to using Saran wrap, wrapped tightly and sealed top and bottom with wide tape. That works pretty good because you can really minimize the amount of your leg that's covered.

I have realized that there is nothing more I hate than sitting in my garage on my bike spinning on the trainer. It's funny though how quickly I learned to take that for granted given two weeks ago I had to had to spend 5min cranking forward and back to work up to one rotation. My dog was looking at me like I was having a coronary. It's nice to do that in a room of the house where you can swear.

[gincognito]

.

I have realized that there is nothing more I hate than sitting in my garage on my bike spinning on the trainer. It's funny though how quickly I learned to take that for granted given two weeks ago I had to had to spend 5min cranking forward and back to work up to one rotation. My dog was looking at me like I was having a coronary. It's nice to do that in a room of the house where you can swear.

Try doing it in the basement of a decrepit gymnasium with cracked walls and dusty pipes overhead. Talk about motivation: I actually believed that if I stopped pedalling, the lights would go out.

SaAaH (and swearing is good too),
d.

[basom]

.

With the showering, I was told the same thing, keep the stitches dry, even though they were mostly under the skin.

thats it! my doctors a quack! i'm calling the athourities on him this instant.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Rehab Update:

I seem to be hitting a wall.

It's about 3.5 weeks post-op and I'm having major problems (at least they seem major to me...every setback is major at this point imo) getting my extension to 0 degrees.

A positive is that I can hop on the stationary bike at PT or my mtn bike on my trainer in my garage and pretty much start pedaling immediately. It hurts like hell, but I can do it....and the pain get's much more bearable and nearly compeltely subsides as I warmup. So that's good. It's great in fact, 'cause it feels wonderful just to be able to spin.

However, I'm having a hell of a time with this extension. I'm only getting to like 6 or 7 degrees on my own...and that seems to pretty much suck. The reason I can't go any further is because I get MASSIVE pain in my hamstring...it just feels like a rubber band about to snap. At PT, my therapist can press on my knee and get my extension down to 4-ish, and she says it feels like the knee can go further, but the pain in my hamstring is holding it back. So frustrating....so damn painful 'working' it.

Hammy graft people -- did you guys have these problems? My PT doesn't seem too worried that I'm this far away from 0 at this point.....but I sure am.

[xboat]

i've been wanting to get back to this thread, but haven't been able to find the time 'til now. first off, i feel that i have a pretty strong tolerance for blood and guts and looking through those pics knowing that i'm going in next month...i can't sit still. {shudder} doing leg lift exercises with ankle weights right now to ease things.

some history: i'm 33 now, tore first ACL waterskiing on antique skis at age 15 or so. skinny, growing kid and they waited for about 2 years to operate. my leg shrunk and surgery (patella tendon) sucked so bad i swore i would never go through it again no matter what. i was in the hospital at least 3 days. rehab was the devil and i never took much of it seriously. a few years after that i moved to the 'boat and logged 300+ days in 4 seasons. no problems, but i wasn't hucking much, just pow seeking. my leg was stronger than ever. moved back to the flatlands and fast forward to this past spring. non-skiing / slipped on wet bar floor and knee buckled, wasted bigtime after my brother's wedding while physically picking up a good female friend in shitty tux shoes. second torn ACL and neither was on snow.

ok, so this will be my second time around and i have to tell you that i know jack shit about how things are going to happen this time, or how it was done the first time for that matter. i only found out how my first surgery was done when i saw the x-rays for my re-injury this past spring. in those pics it shows some kind of toothed clamps with one or two screws each going into each bone holding the new ACL in there. i hope someone knows what i'm talking about, i'll post the x-rays in a couple weeks. the doc said the hardest part would be getting those screws out of there but it wouldn't be a problem. those fuckers looked long. what kind of after effects does this have? he says "cadaver tendon, hardware removal, you're not overweight - piece of cake." i have an appt. with him on the 27th so i'm planning on learning more about his procedures. different young doc this time. i didn't even want to see the guy that did it the first time because he's gotta be getting old now. i have never heard anything about drilling holes through each bone and threading a new ACL in there. wow. what do you think he'll do this time?

to be honest, if it wasn't for this board fueling my love for skiing i probably wouldn't be doing this again. i played tons of golf this summer and have been hiking cornfields/hunting my ass off all fall and other than my leg being weak, all is pretty well. i do hope to move back west soon though, and i realize this needs to be done to keep me skiing.

oh yeah, i'm looking for a new or good used full suspension mtb and a trainer to ride indoors. i am a mtb jong. what can i get for a grand or slightly less? any leads?

[altagirl]

Rehab Update:

I seem to be hitting a wall.

It's about 3.5 weeks post-op and I'm having major problems (at least they seem major to me...every setback is major at this point imo) getting my extension to 0 degrees.

A positive is that I can hop on the stationary bike at PT or my mtn bike on my trainer in my garage and pretty much start pedaling immediately. It hurts like hell, but I can do it....and the pain get's much more bearable and nearly compeltely subsides as I warmup. So that's good. It's great in fact, 'cause it feels wonderful just to be able to spin.

However, I'm having a hell of a time with this extension. I'm only getting to like 6 or 7 degrees on my own...and that seems to pretty much suck. The reason I can't go any further is because I get MASSIVE pain in my hamstring...it just feels like a rubber band about to snap. At PT, my therapist can press on my knee and get my extension down to 4-ish, and she says it feels like the knee can go further, but the pain in my hamstring is holding it back. So frustrating....so damn painful 'working' it.

Hammy graft people -- did you guys have these problems? My PT doesn't seem too worried that I'm this far away from 0 at this point.....but I sure am.

I went through the same kind of phase. I was so good on extension, then BAM - tight - couldn't get it straight anymore and I was freaking out over it. (And let me tell you the freaking out doesn't help you stretch...)

Have you tried heat, ultrasound, and or massage on your hamstring? I didn't even have a graft taken from anywhere and my hamstring felt tight and cramped when I was working extension. The other thing that helped me was to do basically standing quad sets with the little e-stim type machine. Like stand with your legs just slightly bent, foot flat on the floor, contract the quad (with or without the e-stim machine assisting), and lean forward and think about stretching your hip/glute. I think because I was thinking about the hip stretch, I was able to relax my knee/hamstring and all of the sudden I got my knee back to zero, when my PT couldn't push it straight on the floor. She was shocked, but because of the pain, I was fighting her when she was pushing on it, so getting myself to focus on contracting the quads and stretching my hip rather than relaxing the hamstrings made it easier for me.

All I can tell you is to chill - know that you'll get there - it just takes some time and work. It'll come back - don't go too crazy trying to get it all back in one day or you'll just end up stiffer. Don't worry - you're doing just fine!!! Congrats on the spinning!

And you might want to try some slow backwards walking (helps a bit with extension) or backwards elliptical if your PT allows it. Both let you get the leg straight vs. the bend you always have on a bike, so it's good for extension to do other movement than just the bike, I think...

[altagirl]

i have never heard anything about drilling holes through each bone and threading a new ACL in there. wow. what do you think he'll do this time??

Don't worry about it. Aside from the incisions in my leg, after both surgeries I had a little pinhole where they basically threaded the graft through and I guess like a needle pops out through your thigh. You're going to get some holes drilled no matter which type of graft you go with - then they have various methods of attaching the graft into the tunnels (and it depends if your graft has bone at the end or not). I think many now use bioabsorbable screws these days, but having old screws removed isn't uncommon. I wouldn't worry about that if your surgeon thinks it's no big deal.

to be honest, if it wasn't for this board fueling my love for skiing i probably wouldn't be doing this again. i played tons of golf this summer and have been hiking cornfields/hunting my ass off all fall and other than my leg being weak, all is pretty well. i do hope to move back west soon though, and i realize this needs to be done to keep me skiing.

oh yeah, i'm looking for a new or good used full suspension mtb and a trainer to ride indoors. i am a mtb jong. what can i get for a grand or slightly less? any leads?

It will be a lot easier this time around. You're learning what to expect, and know how important rehab is - that's huge. I made some mistakes my first time around - didn't elevate high enough, etc. and it made it more painful. You can learn from everyone here and avoid all that stuff... It'll be worth it!

For info on a bike deal:
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19629

Link right to the bike:
http://www.supergo.com/profile.cfm?L...604&referpage=

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I

All I can tell you is to chill - know that you'll get there - it just takes some time and work. It'll come back - don't go too crazy trying to get it all back in one day or you'll just end up stiffer. Don't worry - you're doing just fine!!! Congrats on the spinning!

that's prolly the best advice.....just have to take it as comes, but keep working. I'm goingto be doing cartwheels when I get to a pain free 0...hell, just any 'ol 0 actually.

haven't really tried heat or massage yet.....I had actually planned on massage, but I just hadn't thought about it awhile. I'll definitely work that into the routine.

thanks.

[Arnold Babar]

I'm at 3 weeks and doin' aiight! My pt says I'm ahead of schedule, and will start to get in the pool next week. I've got great rom (full extension and like 130 flexion). I actually got scolded yesterday for hitting the lifecycle too hard. I felt so good, I ramped up the resistance and started spinning like I was doing time trials. The doc was like, "woa, if you do too much too soon, you're going to backslide" but it felt sooooo good to get the heart rate up. My docs are way cautious. I feel totally ready to be crutch free, but they say stay on 'em for 6 weeks .

[basom]

i wish i had acess to a pool for my rehab. thats sposed to relly help, the aqua jopgging.

[xboat]

AG, i very much appreciate your time and responses. you rock.

i forgot to add that my folks live in town and i was planning on staying with them for the first two days after surgery.

that bike looks to be exactly what i'm loking for, thanks!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I'm at 3 weeks and doin' aiight! My pt says I'm ahead of schedule, and will start to get in the pool next week. I've got great rom (full extension and like 130 flexion). I actually got scolded yesterday for hitting the lifecycle too hard. I felt so good, I ramped up the resistance and started spinning like I was doing time trials. The doc was like, "woa, if you do too much too soon, you're going to backslide" but it felt sooooo good to get the heart rate up. My docs are way cautious. I feel totally ready to be crutch free, but they say stay on 'em for 6 weeks .

Whoa! that's awesome! Yer kickin my ass!

And you had a hamstring graft like me too right? Do you have any hamstring pain at full extension?? That's what's holding me back and its driving me nuts.

[altagirl]

i wish i had acess to a pool for my rehab. thats sposed to relly help, the aqua jopgging.

They have this treadmill in a pool kind of thing at my PT. The other day I asked why I don't get to use it and the assistant said I'm not missing anything. (It seems to be reserved for old people who can't walk and bear weight.) I did go to the gym one night and walk laps in the pool. I think I'd have to do it more often to tell if it does anything or not.

[basom]

They have this treadmill in a pool kind of thing at my PT. The other day I asked why I don't get to use it and the assistant said I'm not missing anything. (It seems to be reserved for old people who can't walk and bear weight.) I did go to the gym one night and walk laps in the pool. I think I'd have to do it more often to tell if it does anything or not.

hmm. well, it sounds funner than just spinning endlessly and elipticalating forever. little change of pace, i could use that.

my gym is lame, no pool. stupid golds.

[Big E]

Ty, do you ever do chair bridges? Basically scoot out to the edge of a chair, put your foot on the edge of another chair, and <gulp> try to relax. Hahaha, yeah right.

My doc (I had patellar, so this may be different) had me doing these the day after surgery, and I kid you not I had full extension 2 days after surgery. Oh, it hurt like hell, way worse than the straight leg lifts, but I guess it worked. His opinion was that as long as you got to full extension, you would be fine. He actually said that if you got full extension and you didn't care about returning to sports, you could almost skip PT completely. On my first checkup, he didn't even check to see how much I could bend it, just that I had full extension.

Maybe gin can weigh in on this, I recall him saying getting full extension was a real nightmare.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Ty, do you ever do chair bridges? Basically scoot out to the edge of a chair, put your foot on the edge of another chair, and <gulp> try to relax. Hahaha, yeah right.

haha...funny you mention these. I just got back from a PT session and we were doing something very similar and guess what...it worked!! sort of...

I'm still not getting full extension, but I'll get there soon....on Wednesday I got onlyto 7 degrees extension on my own. Today, I was able to get to 3 and my PT pretty much had me there when she forced it (ouch!).

My flexion on Wednesday was only like 97 degrees, today it was 115!

PT says that my tissues in my upper calf, behind my knee, and in my hamstring are just extremely tight and with a bunch of massage, my numbers improved drastically.

So I'm psyched....hoping to make more gains next week

[Arnold Babar]

Whoa! that's awesome! Yer kickin my ass!

And you had a hamstring graft like me too right? Do you have any hamstring pain at full extension?? That's what's holding me back and its driving me nuts.

Just got back from a pt sesh. My doc's really happy, sez I'm a fast healer .
I don't have too much hammy pain at all. Sometimes I stiffen up a bit, but then I just apply pressure and I'm back to full. I still have a little bit of fluid that hampers my flexion but overall I'm really happy. He took me off crutches today, too. Gave me a little speech,"Guys like you are dangerous. You heal fast, and start feeling good, and then you screw up and you're back to square one. TAKE IT SLOW!" okay, okay.

[Arnold Babar]

haha...funny you mention these. I just got back from a PT session and we were doing something very similar and guess what...it worked!! sort of...

I'm still not getting full extension, but I'll get there soon....on Wednesday I got onlyto 7 degrees extension on my own. Today, I was able to get to 3 and my PT pretty much had me there when she forced it (ouch!).

My flexion on Wednesday was only like 97 degrees, today it was 115!

PT says that my tissues in my upper calf, behind my knee, and in my hamstring are just extremely tight and with a bunch of massage, my numbers improved drastically.

So I'm psyched....hoping to make more gains next week

There ya go, Ty! Just keep pushin' it. I want to be measured again, dammit! I don't know my numbers I needed a little help to get back to full extenstion today oh that was nice, thanks doc.

[scoober]

Shoot Shoe, I didn't see this about your extension pain until just now. Like I mentioned in the other thread, I used my own patellar so maybe that's why I'm not having much hamstring pain at all.

I'm actually sort of a freak in this regard, my knees naturally hyper-extend several solid degrees past zero. Because of this as soon as my femoral block wore off 3 days post I was at 0 deg extension no problem. What we are trying to do, and I'm on my way there is to get the original hyper-extension back so it matches my other leg and feels normal.

So... for a little wiener waving... anyone at 144deg flexion at 3 weeks post?



Kidding... I know that's not what it's all about.