Blew my acl very strangely.

[leroy jenkins]

Figured I'd post this here half because its a funny story, and half because its a funny injury, as in odd, not ha ha. So some kid hops on the gad 2 lift with me, says hes 14 from conneticut, hes on race skis, asks if I want to take a hollywood run under the lift lift with him, I was actually planning on hitting that anyways cus I really love to show off my mediocre skills for all the beaters on that lift, so I tell him sure if he can keep up. We then agree that I will take my time buckling my boots at the top to give him a head start and that it is now a race, and winner will obviously be the alpha male. At the top I run into a girl I know and her boyfriend, talk for a minute, they invite me to hit some tree lines, I inform them of my very important race that I am late to, they aknowledge the seriousness of the situation, bid me luck, and I and head down the run, so he had HUGE head start. I catch up to the kid after about 10 seconds, let him go for a ways so hes out of my line, then pass him and take off for the bottom, thinking I'll never see him again. I hike a few feet and traverse a bit to go out a gate to another pitch, with a small pillow line, then down to a dumb little hardpack pilow line at the very bottom of the lift.



I hit this line every run on this lift, probably over 50 times this year. Its nothing great but I hit it regardless of conditions and its a few more muscle contractions of exercise per run. The bumps at the top make for a few different ways to link together two or three 3-8 foot tall airs but the bumps at the bottom kind of just suck, but so far i had been able to absorb them fine, as I took the last compression and aired up and onto the groomer I had gotten a tiny bit back seat, but hadn't even felt like it was putting any strain on my knee at all in previous runs and regained my balance instantly, in fact sometimes it seemed like absorbing that last flat landing with my tails helped smooth it out.

This time though, I took the exact same line out of the mini zone, and as I was pushing my hands forward and getting recentered, my knee just popped. This is the really wierd part, a bit back seat and turning is a recipe for acls blowouts but i was going in a perfectly straight line. Yes insert jokes about tailgunning here but if I was really that much of a tail gunner I would have done this long ago. My weight shifted more to my left ski but I def didnt twist it at all.

And wouldnt you know it, that racer kid must have stayed under the lift while i was hiking and traversing cus as soon as I stopped screaming like a little girl he was right standing over me. After he asked if I was ok and called ski patrol on his cell he made sure to talk a good amount of shit to me. He might be slow but he's got the right attitude, little fucker.




Go pro footage of the incident exists but its a 17 hour video and Im not going to edit it. Second day Ive bothered with the thing this season.


Also, wtf is tramodol? Goddamn plastic pills make me dizzy why couldnt they have just given me oxycontin like I asked for I have better shit to do with my life than be addicted, I'll only need it for a few nights, and it doesnt make me feel like shit.

[Chugachjed]

The vet gave my dog Tramadol didn't know it was for people too. I know its an opioid that's about it. Bummer about your knee, at least you've got good ortho docs down there right.

[auvgeek]

Man that sucks. It scares the shit out of me to hear/read stories of people tearing their ACL doing normal, routine stuff. Makes me wonder when mine's gonna go.

Good luck mang.

[splat]

I once hit a pile of avy debris after airing off a cornice and straightlining out of it in flat light fog and fucked myself up royally.
I came to choking on blood and trying to catch my wind at the same time while trying to figure out if I had punctured a lung from a broken rib and why I was spitting blood everywhere when this 14 year old kid standing there says " Dude, I saw the whole thing. It was awesome."

Get better, Leroy.

[Chugachjed]

I once hit a pile of avy debris after airing off a cornice and straightlining out of it in flat light fog and fucked myself up royally.
I came to choking on blood and trying to catch my wind at the same time while trying to figure out if I had punctured a lung from a broken rib and why I was spitting blood everywhere when this 14 year old kid standing there says " Dude, I saw the whole thing. It was awesome."

Get better, Leroy.

That doesn't sound unlike when I bent my blue bomber 192 no unconsciousness but a fucked rib and wrist... Goddamn debris.

[tone capone]

My weight shifted more to my left ski but I def didnt twist it at all.

Congratulations! You can blow the acl just by levering the tibia forward. It's why sometimes people blow 'em when they hit a buried rock the right way like one buddy of mine.

Sorry to hear this, hope you get to a good doc and a good therapist. Let us know how it's goin.

[Vinman]

Bummer leroy. A very strong quad contraction could actually pull the tibia forward enougho to tear and ACL. Especially if there has ever been some smaller injury there at some other time.

[userA]

hurting your knees in odd places is just part of skiing, the narcotics post injury are just a little bonus.
i do both
bobby

[Chugachjed]

hurting your knees in odd places is just part of skiing, the narcotics post injury are just a little bonus.
i do both
bobby

No shit, first run today total whiteout had a vertigo tip over and something in my knee popped. There was pain but not super bad, skied the next 5 hours because it was so damn good. My knee actually stopped hurting til I got out of my car at home. Now I can't straighten the fucking thing. It still bears weight but tries to go out now and again. Weird place for pain anterior lateral...

[bendtheski]

On a semi-related/unrelated note; I was doing some serious second-guessing of my injury and looking into maybe purchasing a pair of KneeBindings to mount up for my comeback next season.

The conclusion I came to is while my injury was probably the result of some mildly violent shearing force, many acl ruptures are the result of seemingly benign movements that we're sure we've duplicated hundreds of times without incident, hell, most people don't even need the additional leverage of a ski to rupture theirs, just an awkward weight shift and POP, game over.

As far as I can tell, the KneeBinding doesn't really address the forces that caused my acl to rupture, shearing force towards the outside of the knee, and it's questionable whether they would have made a difference with yours either. Besides, the FKS's were way sexier, so that's what I'll be on for the comeback! I welcome any comments/experience with the KneeBindings from anyone who has used them as the idea is intriguing at least on paper.

Anyway, it sucks but you're definitely not the first, and I won't take the low road and suggest that it had anything to do with your technique. You just got unlucky, but at least you got a quality story in the bargain!

Good luck with surgery/recovery and welcome to the acl class of 2012! Feel free to post up any questions, concerns, frustrations and progress in the 2012 thread.

Hope you get that pain med prescription straightened out, although in my brief experience, ice is your best friend!