Skiing with Partial ACL tear

**snapshot** · 12-30-2007, 02:50 PM

Hey Guys

It's been 10 months since since I tore my acl (partial tear)
I've been cycling & stretching since, & the knee feels fine.
Has anyone here been skiing after a partial tear?
Should the knee be as strong as before?
Just wondering what to look for before my first trip of the season.

**cjump** · 12-30-2007, 05:46 PM

i have a buddy skiing with a torn acl since the '06 winter because he can't afford to fix it. lateral stability/strength is the only thing (obviously) he complains about while skiing but still goes at it hard. im sure you already have a brace but that is the best thing he said he has done.

**snapshot** · 12-30-2007, 06:15 PM

my ortho doesn't recommend the brace.

**Woodlandclown** · 12-31-2007, 09:41 AM

I have been skiing on a partial tear for years without knowing it, so obviously used no brace. Unfortunately, I completely tore it on Nov 24 of this year. I just got my custom brace last week. I am going to try cross-country tomorrow and will try downhill aftre the x-mad crowds are gone next weekend. I will definitely be using the brace, wouldnt go without it. If all goes well, i may postpone my surgery until end of March. If you have a partial tear and your dr. advises not to use one, then I would opt for that. But, just know that you need to keep your leg super strong and there is the possibility that you can fall just the right (or wrong) way that I did and you will compleely tear it. The fact that you know is good, if i had, I may have worked on my strength more.

**Dexter Rutecki** · 12-31-2007, 01:41 PM

I'm two months into skiing with a complete tear (had surgery in September that discovered it) of a reconstructed ACL. Thought I'd be at 50% at best, but I'm basically skiing the same relatively fast, hard type of skiing I've always done. Backed off of air and bumps (mostly), but so far it's fine--and based on my experiment playing hockey without an ACL, which completely failed (and was painful), I'm really surprised. I've had basically no problems with the actual skiing, but a few bad moments walking around in ski boots and standing in lift corrals (turning/pivoting without moving my foot, causing the bones to move unnaturally).
I am wearing a brace, but I don't think it does anything (and I forgot it one day and skied as usual). I'm just hoping to make it through the season without screwing up my knee further, and getting the revision in the spring.

Oh yeah, did a lot of PT/strength work before and into when I started skiing, definitely recommend that.

**Woodlandclown** · 01-07-2008, 10:54 AM

Skied for the first time since my ACL tear yesterday and it was awesome! I am pretty close to normal skiing ability. Of course there are trails I wont go on and I keep it slower, but I even skied a few bumps yesterday. I need to keep working on strength, I have lost a bit in the month since my injury, but now since I have a brace, i've been XC skiing as well and hitting the gym a few days a week for exercises my PT gives me. I may postpone my surgery til the end of march as long as I can still make some turns!

edit to say that i couldnt ski two days in a row thats for sure. i iced my knee pretty close after skiing (aftre downing a couple of glasses of wine in the bar of course) and yesterday too--it swelled up pretty bad and defintely doesnt feel as good as it did pre-skiing. still i think it was worth it!