New ACL

[k2skier112]

How'd it go?

I waited until Thursday the 9th to break in my knee, wanted easy conditions. Ortho said my knee felt strong enuf for no brace, he wasn't suggesting braces as much anymore, depending on the patient of course. Was stiff at first being over protective, felt great, got to the point where I was venturing to ungroomed for a softer turn. Still want to avoid deep snow until I get a few more days and strength back

[DGamms]

Just saw this thread.... a few comments about ACL repair in general.
1) Choice of graft is still mostly surgeon dependent. It seems possible that the strength of repair options may be patellar tendon > hamstring autograft > cadaver allograft, but the absolute risk of re-rupture is low enough for all the graft choices that the side effect profile of the graft harvest is probably just as important. The risks of chronic anterior knee pain with BTB patellar tendon harvest and lifelong small but measurable hamstring weakness with semi-T autograft harvest should be discussed with your surgeon.
2) Patient demographics matter. At least where I work, if you are younger, male, or pushing it harder, the surgeons often opt for a hamstring autograft. If you are older, female (women tend to have smaller hamstrings that are less ideal for ACL repair), or not pushing it, they will often steer you towards cadaver allograft. If you are over 40-50 yo and not pushing it at all, they will likely recommend not repairing the ACL.
3) Concomitant injuries matter. If you have a significant meniscal injury and/or MCL tear in addition to your ACL, your level of pain/instability will be greater than someone with an isolated ACL injury. Your rehab will be slower and harder too.
4) Do your PT! Control your swelling or you won’t get your range of motion back. Use a custom knee brace if you are going to ski within the first year of your repair.

I had mine repaired in Oct 2018, along with my MCL and lateral meniscus. I was having a midlife crisis period and skied on it more than I should have in 2019.
If you can, hold off for one season! If you can’t... well, I hope your season looks something like this.

https://vimeo.com/331146090

[k2skier112]

My surgeon, a skier with kids who race, doesn't recommend knee braces much anymore. Luckily I didn't have any meniscus damage and stayed strong thru rehab. Skied 5 times so far, no pain, no brace just mental in not trusting it. Skiing more aggressively than I should I'm sure but without pain

[Boosh]

Crushed my final strength test last week and got back on the slopes for the first time this weekend. A little past the 8.5 month post-op mark, and have been working really hard on getting into solid ski shape lately. I ended up getting a Don Joy brace from the Doc and rocked it on the mountain. It felt good, not too restrictive or anything, and was definitely nice to have as a confidence boost mentally. The majority of my runs consisted of riding the lower mountain lifts, just cruising around the greens. There was about an inch of new snow on top of fresh corduroy and I had the goofiest smile on my face. I took it very easy overall, skied for about 3 hours, slow and cautious but stoked to be back in action!

[yeahman]

Crushed my final strength test last week and got back on the slopes for the first time this weekend. A little past the 8.5 month post-op mark, and have been working really hard on getting into solid ski shape lately. I ended up getting a Don Joy brace from the Doc and rocked it on the mountain. It felt good, not too restrictive or anything, and was definitely nice to have as a confidence boost mentally. The majority of my runs consisted of riding the lower mountain lifts, just cruising around the greens. There was about an inch of new snow on top of fresh corduroy and I had the goofiest smile on my face. I took it very easy overall, skied for about 3 hours, slow and cautious but stoked to be back in action!

Right on, man. I remember the same feeling when I started skiing 8 months after surgery, just being happy af to be skiing groomers and be on the mountain. I still think that in a weird way the whole injury gave me a renewed appreciation for skiing that lasts to this day. Like anything, when it gets taken away, you realize how much it meant to you.

Just saw this thread.... a few comments about ACL repair in general.

Agree with pretty much everything you said in this post. I tore mine on my 50th bday in the terrain park. Doh! The surgeon recommended hamstring for me, that was his favorite graft to do, and for me the appeal was minimizing the chances of arthritis and achy knees later in life. But no question it comes at a cost in hamstring strength down the line. Doesn't stop me from doing anything, but I do notice it. Still, I feel lucky regarding the outcome as a whole. Enjoyed your video too, that was cool.

[sb]

Congrats Boosh!

[iceman]

Congrats you guys. In your honor I started a hip thread.

[powdork]

I had 10 weeks to heal up and strengthen from injury to surgery. I averaged 4, nine hole rounds of golf a week to strength up the knee and leg before surgery.
My first post-op is in 2 weeks
Sounds like you may have done more damage than I did.
Heal up good my friend

How did you know you did it? Other than the doctor visit.
I slipped on some ice the other night and caught myself with my left leg. At the time it just felt tight, like as if I was touching my toes. Later that night it started to feel uncomfortable, but that was it. The next day it was very difficult and painful lift my leg up with the knee bent at all. Like to put shoes on, pants on, etc. Weighting it while bent (like to sit on the toilet, kneel on the opposite leg)) was also very painful.Walking was fine except for bending the leg for stairs. Walked the dogs and it started to feel better. Sitting on the bed I casually reached behind the knee and massaged the pocket behind the outside of the knee. That sent me through the roof. Two days later it was feeling a little better so I tried to ski. Inexplicably I chose a tour up Tallac to check it out and see how it was. It did well until the lower portion where it had started to refreeze. So it's been a week since then and it is starting to feel better. Today I was able to get out of bed without pain and get off the toilet without pain, and without pushing up off the seat.
So I'm torn between damage to the LCL, ACL, or some tendon. Any ideas?

[Boosh]

How did you know you did it? Other than the doctor visit.
So I'm torn between damage to the LCL, ACL, or some tendon. Any ideas?

I knew something was wrong initially based on the weird twist/hyper-extension and classic "pop" feeling that occurred when I first tweaked it. I took about two weeks off to rest up and let the swelling go down, then got back on the slopes. A few weeks after the short break I experienced a second tweak during which I could feel the instability/shifting inside my knee and big time nerve pain shooting down my leg, was unable to put weight on it for a few days after that. Knew it was time to see a doc and an MRI confirmed it was blown. I did get back to having almost completely normal knee function prior to surgery tho, so much so it had me second guessing the option to have surgery at all.

I'd say it's really tough to tell what actual damage, if any, occurred from your slip without a visit to the doc. No "pop" would be a good sign, and the fact that you've been feeling better after a few days rest is encouraging as well. Although, on the flip side, I have heard stories of people tearing ligaments without knowing and continuing on with minimal pain in their daily lives as if nothing happened. My advice would be to get it looked at if you can, a doc will be able to tell pretty quickly if its a tear with a simple Lachman Test

[XXX-er]

Joining the kneee club eh

I Skied into a depression/root hole in pow on the lotus 120's, popped a knee on Jan 17th, after 2 weeks the PT said " we need to get you into the medical system for an MRI " so got results yesterday from the Radiologist for review with my GP

1. high grade tear of the proximal ACL
2. Transection of Medial meniscus and possibly lateral meniscus, complex tear of the medial meniscus
3. grade 2 sprain of LCL and grade 1 sprain of MCL

so she has referred me to the cutter,

The MRI and the surgery will all covered under the Canadian HC system and so far it hasnt taken very long

so it looks pretty fucked up to me eh



I got a second opinion last night from another MD (retired ) biker/ paddler/ gentleman skier where we drank a bunch and got a little fucked up, he said something about a classic medical situ involving the fucking up of 3 ligaments but he couldn't remember, he does think its fixable

but until then I am just a has-been skier

Has been is history
Has been was
Has been might again

from the album Has-been by William Shatner

[Huskier]

So heres a question for acl veterans. I biffed it on a landing and stepped out of a binding, then thrashed my yard sale due to other binding not releasing Pops were heard. Cursing was had. But I got up and skiied away. Next day sucked balls, but no significant swelling. Two weeks of limping and now back to a normal gait. Took some easy groomers, okay-ish. Didn't push it.

But now my Ortho says my acl's done. MRI pending but it almost feels too... normal? Like I would've expected a ride down the hill in the sled, huge grapefruit knee effudion, etc. But nada... Does this sound at all familiar?

[Norseman]

Joining the kneee club eh

I Skied into a depression/root hole in pow on the lotus 120's, popped a knee on Jan 17th, after 2 weeks the PT said " we need to get you into the medical system for an MRI " so got results yesterday from the Radiologist for review with my GP

1. high grade tear of the proximal ACL
2. Transection of Medial meniscus and possibly lateral meniscus, complex tear of the medial meniscus
3. grade 2 sprain of LCL and grade 1 sprain of MCL

so she has referred me to the cutter,

The MRI and the surgery will all covered under the Canadian HC system and so far it hasnt taken very long

so it looks pretty fucked up to me eh



I got a second opinion last night from another MD (retired ) biker/ paddler/ gentleman skier where we drank a bunch and got a little fucked up, he said something about a classic medical situ involving the fucking up of 3 ligaments but he couldn't remember, he does think its fixable

but until then I am just a has-been skier

Has been is history
Has been was
Has been might again

from the album Has-been by William Shatner

Damn, just seeing this. Sorry to hear this news

[yeahman]

So heres a question for acl veterans. I biffed it on a landing and stepped out of a binding, then thrashed my yard sale due to other binding not releasing Pops were heard. Cursing was had. But I got up and skiied away. Next day sucked balls, but no significant swelling. Two weeks of limping and now back to a normal gait. Took some easy groomers, okay-ish. Didn't push it.

But now my Ortho says my acl's done. MRI pending but it almost feels too... normal? Like I would've expected a ride down the hill in the sled, huge grapefruit knee effudion, etc. But nada... Does this sound at all familiar?

Swelling can vary from lots to none. People do live without ACLs and still ski, run, etc., for years. The MRI should tell the story, but sometimes even that is inconclusive. The whole thing is not really an exact science. Wait for the MRI and go from there.

[ACH]

Joining the kneee club eh

Did you tell your Dr. that you could totally repair that with a tube of Aquaseal?

Bummer man, sorry to hear this (same to you Huskydoc), heal up solid! Here's hoping your convalescence goes smoothly.

[XXX-er]

So heres a question for acl veterans. I biffed it on a landing and stepped out of a binding, then thrashed my yard sale due to other binding not releasing Pops were heard. Cursing was had. But I got up and skiied away. Next day sucked balls, but no significant swelling. Two weeks of limping and now back to a normal gait. Took some easy groomers, okay-ish. Didn't push it.

But now my Ortho says my acl's done. MRI pending but it almost feels too... normal? Like I would've expected a ride down the hill in the sled, huge grapefruit knee effudion, etc. But nada... Does this sound at all familiar?

I got up and skied out onto the run turned one way ok turned the other way and collapsed so I didnt try that again but I got up and slide er out to the bar sliding on 1 ski holding the bad leg/ski off the piste, I kept the poles for help in and out of the bar but it wasnt really that painful, I have taken the odd IBU but not a lot and there is some swelling but not a bunch

When i got home I put myslef on crutches until I could see my Physio on day 3, she said if you can walk without limping you don't need the crutches so i quit using them, I haven't skied since, exercise is the 5 minute walk to the craft brew, riding my road bike on a trainer in the front room is a good thing to keep the knee loose

No MRI in a small town so I had to drive 2 hrs west to Terrace for the MRI which took about 4 weeks to schedule in the Canadian system but you just show em your identity card and its taken care of ... NO INSURANCE COMPANY eh

I tracked down my surgical referral so the cutter has my MRI report but it will probably take 2 weeks for him to review it then a consult and surgery , I'm guessing the consult is a month out, the surgery 2 months out so maybe by early summer, i did tell the secretary I am available for any and all cancelations

[rocca]

Officially joined the club after an MRI last week and did it in almost exactly the same way as XXX-er, except I was in the bc which made for a fun exit. Heard the pop and felt it collapse twice.

Husky - I'm no expert, but I knew I was fucked pretty quick. Walking and doing everything normal without pain now, but it does remind me it's not all there sometimes.

Sent from my SM-G960U using TGR Forums mobile app

[k2skier112]

So heres a question for acl veterans. I biffed it on a landing and stepped out of a binding, then thrashed my yard sale due to other binding not releasing Pops were heard. Cursing was had. But I got up and skiied away. Next day sucked balls, but no significant swelling. Two weeks of limping and now back to a normal gait. Took some easy groomers, okay-ish. Didn't push it.

But now my Ortho says my acl's done. MRI pending but it almost feels too... normal? Like I would've expected a ride down the hill in the sled, huge grapefruit knee effudion, etc. But nada... Does this sound at all familiar?

Yes. I did mine under 10 mph. Ski dove in soft snow past boot top. Sudden stop almost went over the handlebars, 2 pops. 5 minutes of cussing putting ice on knee, no pain. Tried to pull ski out of snow, some pain. Stood up, not too bad. Skied 6 more runs, started getting sore. Ice and rest for 2 days then pounded it on big bumps at Alpental. Dumb. Xray and MRI showed bone bruising with no other damage than torn ACL

[Djongo Unchained]

Some thoughts for the incoming class:

Blew out the full ACL, Bucket handle tear on the lateral meniscus and a partial tear to the MCL for me last april 3.

Never felt or heard a pop. Slow rolling, like 4mph. No major pain indication, but I knew it hurt more than my usual flop.
Skied one long, challenging lap and knew to call it then.

That line about concomitant damage is a real big factor. And the source of ligament is important too.
My Quad tendon is being a bear to restrengthen. Still happy with the repair... took a tough blow to the knee and yet the repairs felt better than all the surrounds. Been a month now and it's just starting to feel like it did a month ago.
Cleared to ski sans brace, I wonder if it would have helped reduce the damage. Hard sayin', not knowin'.

My plan has been to stay sane this season and be ready to charge at 90% or better next season. Still feeling good about that.

[2nd mate]

Yes. I did mine under 10 mph....... Xray and MRI showed bone bruising with no other damage than torn ACL

This was my wife last season. She had surgery march 2019 and was skiing Nov 2019. She was a rockstar with rehab and was way ahead of the curve through the whole process. I was actually a little afraid she was pushing it too hard. It was a great help to have our good friend, who we ski with, as her PT. She had a couple scary moments though...during a BC Babes Class the woman in front of her went down while on Mt Washington and wrecked her knee nearly taking the Mrs out. The other "Oh-shit" moment she skied up behind our 7 year old and picked him up and they both went down, she heard a pop but took it easy for a few days and has no loss of movement or strength. She has worn her brace all season. All in all she says it was the best thing that ever happened to her as she has finally become more interested in touring with me and she is now running all over the place 5k,10k half marathons and has set up her summer schedule for some triathalon fun. She did quite a bit of SUPing last summer during her rehab, even though the doc thought it was a bad idea.

[yeahman]

She did quite a bit of SUPing last summer during her rehab, even though the doc thought it was a bad idea.

I wonder why he thought that--maybe didn't understand SUP? The consequences of messing up are that you fall in the water, big deal. I thought SUP was great for rehab. Forces you to use the muscles of both legs equally for balance. You can't fake it and compensate with your good leg or in the drink you go. Most rehab exercises don't prohibit compensating like that, and it can be difficult to even tell you're doing it.

[el hefe]

So heres a question for acl veterans. I biffed it on a landing and stepped out of a binding, then thrashed my yard sale due to other binding not releasing Pops were heard. Cursing was had. But I got up and skiied away. Next day sucked balls, but no significant swelling. Two weeks of limping and now back to a normal gait. Took some easy groomers, okay-ish. Didn't push it.

But now my Ortho says my acl's done. MRI pending but it almost feels too... normal? Like I would've expected a ride down the hill in the sled, huge grapefruit knee effudion, etc. But nada... Does this sound at all familiar?

Same thing happened with me. Felt mine pop Feb 13th. Had to tour back to the hut and did so with minimal discomfort. 2 weeks later back at the ski hill skiing groomers with a brace on, have been touring a few times with no issues as long as snow was powder. Got my MRI done and within 2 hrs heard from Doc that ACL is completely gone. I had minimal swelling and zero bruising.

Since then I think it has been more mental or the fact that it has completely given out on me a couple of times when playing in the snow with my kids. I have heard from a few dr's and pyshios that a lot of people have messed up ACL's and don't even know it, your body adapts and then you tear it completely. They think mine was already on its way out, hence no bruising or swelling. Sounds like they recommend to try and deal with it by doing solid pyshio and exercise, I am going to try that route but I do ski at a pretty high level in the BC, lots of touring and cliffs etc...

Now I know that I won't be getting surgery anytime soon with the current situation at Hospitals.

But I would like to know if there is anyone else on here who is living and skiing with no ACL?

[Boosh]

But I would like to know if there is anyone else on here who is living and skiing with no ACL?

Tore mine somewhere around end of Feb./beginning of March 2019, it was a series of a few tweaks that did me in over the course of like 2-3 weeks. I could tell it was messed up but had very minimal swelling/no bruising, and it didn't really effect my normal day to day activities.

Doc confirmed it was torn via MRI in the middle of March; we discussed options and settled on end of May for surgery based on his availability and my travel plans for Mother's Day, etc.

Surprisingly he gave me the green light to finish out the ski season from March thru end of April. I kept it low-key (no quick cutting, no moguls, no big drops, minimal woods skiing, etc.). As long as I kept my muscles engaged while turning I couldn't really tell anything was wrong for that last 6 weeks of the season, I even began second guessing the surgery because it felt pretty normal. I ended up having the surgery to protect the rest of my knee for the long term, however, the Docs did mention that there are several people who go on living their lives without getting it repaired. PT can certainly help the surrounding muscles to prevent further injury. Positive healing vibes in any case.