Thread: Skiing sans-ACL?

I am looking for reaffirming stories about skiing without the ACL (but I will take the other opinion as well).

So, I tore my left ACL on Dec 5 (but all other knee parts are good). It is bizarre, but it never really swelled or hurt much. So, I have my new Donjoy, and surgery is currently slated for April 1 (with Orr in S.Lake, for those of you who contributed opinions).

I skied two days in Colorado over Christmas (but that was mellow family time). Fast forward two weeks later, back home in Tahoe, somewhere between 60-100 inches have fallen in a couple days. What can you do? Obviously, I have to ski.

I am trying to keep my ski days on the short side, and I am keeping the skis on the ground. I wasnt planning on going off-piste quite so soon, but I guess mother nature decided that one.

So, who has stories.....good or bad, about trying to make it through a season without.....

If you are set on skiing the rest of the season and hving surgery after, I would just give you the following advise....

1. Realise even with the brace you knee will not be 100% stable. The defiance brace does a good job but no brace no matter who makes it can control rotation of the lower leg and knee like your ACL used to. It is still possible to have your knee give out and injure other structures within the knee even in your brace.

with that being said

2. ski but just be careful. Things I would stay away from would include
moguls, hucking, ice, and skiing when tired. Those are the things that are likely to get you into trouble with being in the backseat.

3. ice after each day on skis to prevent swelling

4. start strengthening your leg ASAP to prevent atrophy of your quads and hamstrings. Ask a local ATC or PT about appropriate exercises.

Good luck with the season and future surgery.

good advice as always from the Vin-ster.

I only got to sneak in 3 days of skiing before my surgery in November. I wore a custom Donjoy Defiance brace (I assume this is the one you have to?) and started my first day with the intention of just skiing groomers....ha!....I made two runs on groomers and my knee felt effing great, and then I bumped into my friends and started following them everywhere off-piste. Knee felt strong and most times I didn't even know I was hurt. However, I was holding back alot though...probably only skiing 60 - 70% of how I normally would. In untracked pow, my knee felt fine, but when it got tracked and cruddy I was being REAL careful to make sure that that ski didn't get carried to the outside...it did once and I felt a little discomfort but nothing major. I even hit a few small hucks (5 feet), but made sure I hipchecked the landing on even these small ones so my knee wouldn't take much impact. I was also favoring my 'good' knee a ton (unconciously) so I was probably putting that knee at greater risk for injury.

I'm bummed I'm missing these epic dumps we're having now, (cranking on a stationary bike facing a window right to the mountain on New Year's Eve while my friends were out getting some was TOUGH), but I'm also glad I'm not out there not being able to ski like I'd want to and putting my other healthy knee at risk too.

My acl detached from the femur on the day after xmas 95. My doctor said it couldn't get any worse and advised me that, since I was strong in other respects to my knee and leg, I could ski once I got my brace. For the rest of the season I continued skiing 3-5 days a week and did special workouts instead of regular gym class. It wasn't too painful or tiring, and I pretty much kept on skiing like usual. However, my usual at the time was just cruising around Hunter with friends and racing for my high school team.
I had surgery in March which was a good time to be ready again for summertime activities.