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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
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    ACL Allograft/Cadaver Review

    Hi all, just joined this forum because I am 30 years old and an avid snowboarder and Im facing ACL reconstruction & Meniscus Repair. I tore it falling off a Dirt Bike. After talking to 4 surgeons and alot of scholarly article research I have decided to go with a Nonirradiated Achilles allograft, my doc said he will choose from 8-10 younger samples that day.
    I know the graft wont be as strong as the gold standard "patella autograft", but i want to hear from people and how they progressed in the long run with an allograft. I know there are alof of discussions out there already and i have read alottt of them, hoping to get some more detail questions answered here. Thanks.

    Which type of ACL Allograft do you have? Patella, Achilles, Tibia. etc.. (also non irradiated or radiated?)

    How long has it been since surgery? What age did you have the surgery? have you ruptured it before?

    Are you happy with outcome? Is that knee 100%?

    What Actives do you do? or dont do? Any Limitations? Are you back at the Pr- Injury Activity level/comfort?

    Has the new allograft acl been tested?.. falls?twists? jumps? typical strains (not something that would tear a normal healthy acl).. and how has if faired after?


    Thank you,
    Robert

  2. #2
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    Apr 2006
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    My wife had a radiated patella allograft in 1995. It took about two years to be completely healed but was in good usable condition within about nine months. Since then, she has had no issues at all. She skis 3 days a week in the season, bike rides pretty much daily and just does normal 'stuff'. It has been a great outcome and one I would personally choose, should I ever need an ACL reconstruction.

  3. #3
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    Jun 2014
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    thats great! i hope she keeps at it for many more years.. i cant wait for this op to be done so i can rehab/pt

  4. #4
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    Apr 2006
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    The best advice given her, that I will pass along, is to do exactly as the pt tells you. No more. No less. I've had friends who've overdone their pt and blew the knee back up. That sucks. Don't be that guy. She followed all the regimen religiously and has full range of motion and no residual pain.

    Good luck and post up your results in Gimp Central while you recover. When's the surgery?

  5. #5
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    Jun 2014
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    appreciate the advice.. surgery is next monday.

  6. #6
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    Sep 2010
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    Golden, Colorado
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    ACL Allograft/Cadaver Review

    Hamstring last year, 32 yrs old, no pain. I bike 6 days a week and ski 3-4 days a week in winter. I ski pretty damn fast and hard (20-40' cliffs), and don't have any problems. Got cleared for skiing at 5 months and hitting cliffs at 6. Its all about the PT imo. I went to PT twice a week during the critical stages, PT exercises EVERY day. Rode an exercise bike 30-60 minutes a day as soon as I could, ramped up to riding my road bike 120+ miles a week by 1.5 months and mountain bike about 60mi a week at 3 months. Basically worked my ass off the first 6 months so I could be normal for the rest of my life. Best investment I've made.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Dec 2011
    Location
    Denver, CO
    Posts
    48
    Hamstring, had surgery Jan 24th of this year, got back to jogging/running/jumping etc after about 5 months, was told by therapist I was free to do whatever after about 6 months (with discretion of course). Having had back problems in the past, I'm always stretching out my hamstrings anyway, so I think that probably has helped, but I would recommend the hammy. Like Lindhal, I was pretty adamant about my recovery - listened to my PT, worked really hard but was careful not to overdo things. Only twice or so have I had a hamstring cramp and maybe suspected it's because I'm probably more susceptible, but honestly considering the horror stories I've witnessed with a patellar graft and read about online about a donor, I would do the hamstring again if the time came. I'm 28, blew ACL/MCL/LCL on a washed out landing underneath a 6-7 ft drop - looking forward to getting back on the sticks ASAP.

    Lindhal - have you been skiing with a brace since your injury? I have not used one at all and was not planning to, but it sounds like you smash pretty hard and I'm curious what your approach was.

  8. #8
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    Dec 2011
    Location
    Denver, CO
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    48
    Just realized you probably already had surgery it sounds like. Hope it went smoothly - like the folks said above, just focus on the PT and work hard and you'll be back in no time

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Nov 2003
    Location
    Joisey
    Posts
    2,495
    Any updates? I just joined the club last Saturday and I'm facing an ACL and meniscus repair.
    Because rich has nothing to do with money.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Posts
    5
    thats great!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by spanky View Post
    Any updates? I just joined the club last Saturday and I'm facing an ACL and meniscus repair.
    I am the same. WHat is the extend of your damage and how old are you ? I am 43 and this is keeping me await at night . I have a 26 mm tear on the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. How old is your injury. All this is important.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by GoldMember View Post
    My wife had a radiated patella allograft in 1995. It took about two years to be completely healed but was in good usable condition within about nine months. Since then, she has had no issues at all. She skis 3 days a week in the season, bike rides pretty much daily and just does normal 'stuff'. It has been a great outcome and one I would personally choose, should I ever need an ACL reconstruction.
    Did she have any meniscus damage as well ? I need a knee reconstruction with meniscus repair and I am 43 . The problem is not the knee reco but the meniscus damage as this is a big issue in few years time with OA

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by zj4041 View Post
    Hi all, just joined this forum because I am 30 years old and an avid snowboarder and Im facing ACL reconstruction & Meniscus Repair. I tore it falling off a Dirt Bike. After talking to 4 surgeons and alot of scholarly article research I have decided to go with a Nonirradiated Achilles allograft, my doc said he will choose from 8-10 younger samples that day.
    I know the graft wont be as strong as the gold standard "patella autograft", but i want to hear from people and how they progressed in the long run with an allograft. I know there are alof of discussions out there already and i have read alottt of them, hoping to get some more detail questions answered here. Thanks.

    Which type of ACL Allograft do you have? Patella, Achilles, Tibia. etc.. (also non irradiated or radiated?)

    How long has it been since surgery? What age did you have the surgery? have you ruptured it before?

    Are you happy with outcome? Is that knee 100%?

    What Actives do you do? or dont do? Any Limitations? Are you back at the Pr- Injury Activity level/comfort?

    Has the new allograft acl been tested?.. falls?twists? jumps? typical strains (not something that would tear a normal healthy acl).. and how has if faired after?


    Thank you,
    Robert
    I tore my ACL and medial meniscus 16 weeks ago and I am going for knee reconstruction and medial meniscus repair in 2 weeks time. Hamstring for me but I am 43. If it is only an knee reco that you are doing then you should be fine the issue is if you damage your meniscus at the same time and it can't repaired then you are in big trouble with OA which is my case.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Posts
    4
    Hi Robert- I just joined the forum looking for some success stories with young patients and total knees. My total knee is for my right however, I have had my left knee totally reconstructed including an allograft using a pig cadaver. It may be an outdated material to use? as I had it done 21 years ago when I was 16 yrs old, it's still as strong as ever, seriously. Granted, I couldn't participate in contact sports (due to other knee trauma) , its proven to withstand lots of other activities including ice/rock climbing, hiking, skiing and to this day, when any docs (other than my surgeon who did the surgery back east) do any knee draw they are so impressed with the stability, even after that many years. Good luck!

  15. #15
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    Jan 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by fabienzan View Post
    I tore my ACL and medial meniscus 16 weeks ago and I am going for knee reconstruction and medial meniscus repair in 2 weeks time. Hamstring for me but I am 43. If it is only an knee reco that you are doing then you should be fine the issue is if you damage your meniscus at the same time and it can't repaired then you are in big trouble with OA which is my case.
    hey bro I'll help you out, so I like totally fucked up my knee this winter shreading it like the bitch I am, when I say fucked up i did it all, whenever the doctor talked, it sounded like blah blab blah blah blah and I had two doctors evaluating and checking me out and one actually did the work, I still don't know what the hell they did to me, I know I shreaded the acl, major damage to the other muscles in the knee don't aske what they was cause it was all blah blab blah you are fucked bro and that minisucs thing, they glued that back together cause it was almost gone went into the hulk mode and started rehab prep three days after eating shit like a pro I am, with all the rehab prep I was ready for the knife four weeks after getting fucked in the ass by god

    I would without a doubt goto the vail surgery center, holy fucking shit, the place is like a five start hotel, and the nurses are just screaming I want a piece of you, fucking sick, the water fall and the fire place in the waiting room made me so calm,

    Sorry I digressed, so like they took a part of me to rebuild the muscles I wasn't having no pig in me, I mean I am jewish and can't eat that low lying animal so why the fuck would I let them put a pig dick in me. so they rebuilt using me, I was on some heavy fucking shit handfulls of pills and a big ass pump pumping shit right into my dick and down my leg. So for two weeks I could do dick, jerk off, walk or think straight, the medical mary jane that the doctor gave me (colorado brah) that stuff was the best ever a bong hit and five or six pills and I was masterpiece.

    I did start rehab two days after surgery, my coach was like fuck bitch you don't need to sit around we need to get your fat ugly ass moving like the whore you are. rehab was pretty intense shit, two days later I hired a hooker to come date me so I could see if that crap was gonna work, it did don worry I was back to my good ole self, on top of that shit I started back on the pabst mid afternoon style so I was pretty shitty by dinner time. The only bummer was sitting there drinking pbr with my skis sitting by the front door all alone. Not to be mounted again all season by me

    because I am the OG orginal mountain monster I recovered pretty quickly. Five months after surgery I was mountain biking and crushing it on the road bike, honestly I am a super pussy and I'm super scared to go skiing, I not making that shit up, the fall I took was a crusher and many years of thrashing in the making, but on a more real note all in all its been one of the worst fucking things to ever happen to me other than that felon or two some years ago, but I play hard and worked hard recover it usually 9 12 months but I fucking killed it. Right now I'm gonna go ice her up, still do it twice a day, streatch a couple times a week. Rehab was fun but that lasted only two months, it just go boring as watching paint dry so I went out and rehabed on my own jumping from bar stool to bar stool,

    its all for real, the worst way to go down, too bad, it as like what the fuck man this is the shit you get for turning forty, buillshit all the way, I'm still a bad ass twenty two year old at heart gotta keep it up, oh that twenty year old girl who just moved to town texted and said she s coming over to check out my pad and the room for rent, keep it real

  16. #16
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    Apr 2006
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    Spokane/Schweitzer
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    Quote Originally Posted by fabienzan View Post
    Did she have any meniscus damage as well ? I need a knee reconstruction with meniscus repair and I am 43 . The problem is not the knee reco but the meniscus damage as this is a big issue in few years time with OA
    No, no meniscus damage. It was a clean ACL rupture. She partially ruptured her other ACL a couple of years later and also escaped meniscus damage that time as well. Lucky...

  17. #17
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    Nov 2003
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    Quote Originally Posted by fabienzan View Post
    I am the same. WHat is the extend of your damage and how old are you ? I am 43 and this is keeping me await at night . I have a 26 mm tear on the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. How old is your injury. All this is important.
    i'm just getting back around to posting again. I'm the same age as you with a very similar injury. Injury was the beginning of August... Torn ACL, grade 2 MCL tear and complex tear of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. Surgery was 13 days ago... Patellar tendon auto-graft and meniscus repair. I saw the Dr. two days ago and he said all went well and the knee "looks good". Due to the meniscus repair, I'm still locked at zero degrees on the brace and was told to go weight bearing as tolerated. Right now, I'm still only doing home exercises and will be starting PT next Tuesday.
    Because rich has nothing to do with money.

  18. #18
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    Quote Originally Posted by spanky View Post
    i.. Right now, I'm still only doing home exercises and will be starting PT next Tuesday.
    shoulda been in pt a couple days after surgery,two weeks is a long time to wait, but I aint no doctor was in pt two days after getting cut up, a few days after that I was on the bike with coach standing over me telling me to ride you fucking pussy, it sucked balls but was well worth it be bitch slapped a couple times a week

    everyones different but you gotta get back on the horse as soon as you can

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
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    69
    Quote Originally Posted by fastfred View Post
    shoulda been in pt a couple days after surgery,two weeks is a long time to wait, but I aint no doctor was in pt two days after getting cut up, a few days after that I was on the bike with coach standing over me telling me to ride you fucking pussy, it sucked balls but was well worth it be bitch slapped a couple times a week

    everyones different but you gotta get back on the horse as soon as you can
    not for a meniscus repair - just ACL then yes, meniscus REPAIR you need to take it nice and easy at first. Pushing the recovery on that one will just end it in failing.

  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by chewymix View Post
    not for a meniscus repair - just ACL then yes, meniscus REPAIR you need to take it nice and easy at first. Pushing the recovery on that one will just end it in failing.
    Yup. That's what my doc said too. He said I'll have plenty of time after the first few weeks to hit the rehab hard but that I needed to take it easy at first.
    Because rich has nothing to do with money.

  21. #21
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    everyone is different and gets different opinions
    destruction to all that miniscus thing got rebuilt, the acl, and the other two muscles on each side were repaired, didn't hear a thing the doctors said when I talked to them, but they said start rehab asap I cried and said no I'm good and I'll wait, but they said start now so i did, worked out well

    biggest thing was prep, I wanted surgery asap they said I'd have to wait, I said why, they told me why, and I said I'd be ready in three weeks and meet their requirements, they shit their pants and I was ready, streatching cycling and getting the swelling down asap was key

    best of luck for real!!! heal up!!! its a god aweful deal to go through and when you think your gonna get no where you'll get to where you need to go. get well

  22. #22
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    TECH TALK JONG!
    "We're in the eye of a shiticane here Julian, and Ricky's a low shit system!" - Jim Lahey, RIP

    Former Managing Editor @ TGR, forever mag.

  23. #23
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    My wife had the cadaver surgery about 5 years ago. She had aggressive rehab that started immediately. A day or two after the surgery they delivered the knee flex machine. She took the rehab very seriously. She recovered very fast and still doing great. She never wore a brace post surgery.

    I blew my ACL 18 years ago and had a patella graft. Less aggressive rehab. They had me wait a week or two before going to rehab. No knee flex machine. I didn't work as hard as her at rehab and didn't recover as fast. I wore a donjoy for a year or so.

    Another friend that had the cadaver surgery (same doc as my wife) also had fast recovery.

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