Thread: OK, Here goes: My 2nd ACL reconstruction

Some of you have probably read that I did my ACL on March 5th, trying to hold on to to third place at the tele comp at AM. If you didn't , you can check out my TR (including carnage vid) here:

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=48405

Any way, I'm about two weeks out now, the swelling's mostly gone and I'm pushing 130 degrees of flexion and I've got my old -3 degrees on extension. I'm walking around fine and I've had a few episodes of instability with no apparent harm done.
I'll be getting a new Donjoy Armor brace on monday. I had a custom CTi2 for my other knee and it was never that comfortable. This Donjoy is an off the shelf model which I'm not so sure about but the rep says we can return it if I don't like and get the custom made one. My new insurance doesn't cover the brace so this saves me about $350 even at his cost.
The MRI shows a grade 3 ACL tear (complete) with a fairly large peripheral medial meniscus tear. My Doc thinks he can repair this since it's in a vascular area. That's good but it means I'll be non-weight bearing for six weeks post-op. SUCK!!! I'll get to keep all my meniscus though, in theory. The plan is pattellar tendon auto-graft, like my other knee, which is bomber.
I have to put off my surgery though, until the end of april 'cause I've got a lot of clinical work to finish up for school between now and then if I want to graduate on time. I figure I'll still be fine in plenty o time for next ski season but probably not competing next year. In fact, my competitive freeskiing career is probably over, at 32, I'm too old for that shit.
Till then, I'm hitting the Pt hard and I'm doing lots of time on the trainer and making good functional gains. Full report on the brace and the rest of recovery to follow (I know, YAWN, but I gotta get it out).

Good luck under the knife foxy. Keep us posted.

Thanks, three weeks post-injury now and I've got 140 degrees of flexion and am getting lots of time on the bike. I think I'm getting cut April 27th but maybe sooner. I'd sure like to get it over with but I've got five days of clinical work sheduled for late april in SLC. As it is I'll be pushin it for full strenth by ski season. Should be good for opening day in theory though.

OK. Been gone for awhile, graduated, got surgery, computer blew up, but I'm back!

Three weeks post op:
Surgery went well, three "darts" in my meniscus tear. Restrictions are no weight bearing for six weeks, no flexion past 90 for four. PTs going slow on those accounts but at least I can get it straight.

Had to go back into the hospital at four in the morning the night of surgery cause morphine on top of Oxycontin wasn't touching my pain. I'm no stranger to severe pain but I'd say "It went to eleven". Weird, no trouble like that after my first ACL. Struggled with pain for all of first week in spite of my new scipt for dilaudid (whoa).

Swellings mostly gone now but scarring is definitely setting in. I hate not being able to work it hard or really work on flexion yet. (Three days post op 90 was no problem.) I've still got sick circumferential bruising all the down into my foot. I guess I'm not 24 anymore.

Off-the-shelf Donjoy Armour-ski brace is awesome. I'm really impressed. It's way lighter and more comfortable than old custom CTi-2. I would definitely recommend this brace to anyone even over the custom Donjoy because it's adjustable to accommodate muscle gain. It's real low profile and short, no ski boot interference. And it doesn't migrate, slip or try to squeeze off my leg like my CTi did once I got all my quads back. this thing is sweet, and only $500 (cost).

Anyway, next week I can get on the trainer, which I'm really psyched about. Two weeks after that I can take a step! God this is going slow.

Take it easy everyone, and good luck to all my compadres in pain and suffering. I'll post more soon.

glad to hear that you're getting along good if slow!

UPDATE:
Four weeks post-op.
Got the all clear to open up my flexion past 90 deg. 108 on first try, not as bad as I thought. Got another two degrees over the next two days. So at 110, I can get the pedals around on the trainer with a lot of cheating from with my hip and ankle. My revolutions are REAL clunky but as long as I can do that I'm making progress. I recall that I need about 120 deg. for a normal spin. First time on the trainer was Friday, which I followed br going to a party. It's taken the las ttwo days to get the inflammation under control again. Being up and about is just not good yet. Knee will still strighten out, it takes 15 minutes to 1 hour to get it there depending on inflammation. So progress is being made.

Two more weeks and I can take a step and ride my road bike for real (on the flats, which gives me one option around here).

Oh yeah, I've lost 4 cm from my quads and 2.5 from my calf in four weeks!
Here's some pics:

Originally Posted by foxy

Oh yeah, I've lost 4 cm from my quads and 2.5 from my calf in four weeks!

Amazing how fast that happens, huh?

Glad to hear you're making solid progress.

I'm going through a meniscus repair; I'm a few days shy of 2 mo. post-op...I can spin as much as I want on a stationary bike and bear weight to 45* flexion (and flex as far as i want/can w/o weight on it), but I'm not supposed to do anything outside for another month -- and no weight bearing beyond 45.

Good luck with a continued strong & full recovery!

Heal up, Mang!

Thanks guys.
UAN, glad to see you're coming along with your ROM. Them meniscus repairs is a BITCH.

Scar looks good man…looks just like mine when I had the patella graft done 11mnth ago. Keep up the PT and you’ll be back on snow by next season no problem. I had mine done in late July and I was riding in late December.

Thanks BC, I'm shootng for opening day. Should be no problem.

Nine weeks out of surgery, I've been walking and road riding for three and I'm up to about 120 miles a week on relatively flat roads.
Full extention and 125-130 degrees of flexion, depending on inflammation.
Ever since the first week of walking I've been having episodes of random severe posterior joint line pain (my meniscus repair is medial posterior) associated with movement and/or weight bearing. I've been communicating with my Doc and he and my PT don't seem too concerned, both think pain is normal. I'm stressed because of the severity and quality of the pain (it's like a knife) and I'm concerned that the meniscus repair didn't take or whatever.
Doc says I'm hitting it real hard for nine weeks and some pains inevitable. He told me not to back off though as long as I listen to my body and keep improving. I know ups and downs are normal but the only way to really tell if everything’s kosh with the meniscus repair is another scope, at which time the Doc'll remove it if it didn't take and it's definitely way premature for something like that.
My most severe 'incidents' have happened in PT and are associated with lateral strength and stability exercises, so now we're just trying to take it easy and not irritate anything. Not only am I starting to worry about my ski season at this point but I can't start my new job if my knee's jacked up so everything's kind of in limbo right now.
Frustrating.
Anyway, hopefully this is just a bump in the road.
Good luck everyone else!

edited for clarity

Well, I'm up to 100-150 miles a weeks on the roadie. Knee's doing good, 132 degrees of flexion, -1 extension without forcing it. I did my first hill, only about three miles, took it easy and it felt good. Two days later I did our "Breen Loop", starting with a ten mile climb out of town up Hesperus hill. Took it easy, it felt good. No getting out of the saddle yet for another six weeks according to the Doc. Pretty sore the next day but no real problems. The sharp pain in the back of my knee is gone, it was just muscle tension. That makes me feel a lot better, no more worries about complications. The knee feels like a knee again!
Only 15 weeks till opening day, hopefully I'll be ready.

Did your doc mention why your not allowed to ride out of the saddle for another few weeks. i've been riding my bike alot to try to strengthen up the knee a bit and i noticed that either i have almost no strength, or ligaments to be able to push a gear out of the saddle. I am riding with no ACL right now so Im sure that has something to do with it. wondering if he gave you any specifics though.

keep at it with the knee. sounds like your killin it.

This is a vulnerable time for the new ACL, it's now actually weaker than when he put it in because it's in the process of "ligamentation", where it vascularises and then changes in composition. These next few weeks are, in theory, the weakest point, even though it feels strong. I went too hard after my last reconstruction during this period and stretched out my graft a little.
He' also super cautious about the meniscus repair.

Thanks man, you too.

Well, I hate to resurrect this thread but here it is.

First day back: 12/06/06, Wolf Creek, CO. Skied about 10 am till last chair. After one groomer I said, F-this and went for it. Knee felt great in all conditions. Not as strong as the other one but close. By mid-day I was airplane tuning and doubling moguls no problem.

Second day back: Solverton Mtn, CO. Knee felt so good after first day I went up to Silverton, new terrain was opened so, some nice turns were had. The runouts were pretty heinous though. Real rocky and tips and tails on rock. It was pretty challenging while trying to ski easy. At one point I waas sideslipping backward and my tail hit the rock wall, I fell backward and rolled over downhill. At the time I felt some strain in my knee, but it didn't feel like anything serious. I called it after the next run (#3) 'cause the knee was pretty sore. Within a couple hours it swelled moderately, and felt pretty wierd.

I gave it a week and went up to Alta for a tester before the last storm was scheduled to hit. One run and in no way could I ski. I've got excruciating pain in my knee when flexing past about 30 degrees under load. It feels like I've little steering control on the ski and I can't lift my ski up on the lift.

I'm so frustrated right now. I've got an Alta pass, a brand new setup, and a three day work week for the winter. All I've ever wanted to do is ski and this year is no exception. In retrospect, I guess I should have counted my blessings after that first day and rested. It just felt soo good to be back on the boards though and freshies at Silverton was too tempting. I've done the stability tests on myself to the extent that I can and everything seems to check out. It's hard to do those tests well n yourself though. I guess I'm going to find a Doc here in SLC and shedule an MRI.

Sorry to hear that Foxy I had my ACL reconstructed around the same time as you, and can certainly identify with the feelings of elation and frustration you have had as you've gotten back on snow. Theres quite a few good docs around these parts - check out West at TOSH, Cooley up in PC, or Gordon at Alta View Sports Medicine. Best of luck with everything.

Thanks man, I'm going out of my noggin here. I work @ the U of U hospital and there are lots of good options in network. I found a guy named Patrick Greis who fellowed at Steadman Hawkins so I think I'll go check him out.

sorry to read of your recurrent knee issues foxy.it's certainly frustrating as hell...
hang in there +++

bummer Foxy

easy is as easy does.

It's still early. Took me a full year before I felt confident in going back to back days.

Damn, I hope it's nothing serious.

OK, I saw Greiss today and he doesn't think it's anything serious. The knee is still stable, ACL is solid. He thinks I stretched out some some stuff that hasn't been stretched and tore loose a bunch of scar tissue. He says he could go in and clean it up but I'd prolly get better results just continuing PT. Sounds good to me. I'm still not totally sure but it has been improving slowly.
So here's hoping for the best, maybe my season's not over. Thanks everyone for all the kind words. Let's make some turns this year!

Originally Posted by foxy

Oh yeah, I've lost 4 cm from my quads and 2.5 from my calf in four weeks!
Here's some pics:

Woah, nice legs! Steadman Hawkins is the shit, as are most of the docs that pass through there. Good luck!