TR: ACL Reconstruction Surgery

[finbar]

For those who read my earlier post you will know that further to an early season mishap the mrs managed to tear her ACL. 4 weeks later she was scheduled for a pre-op visit with Dr. Mark Sanders. One day later she was in ACL reconstruction surgery. Reconstruction method of choice was opposite leg patellar graft with accelerated ACL program to follow. Rehab on the accelerated program is intense and time consuming but progress in less than a week has been amazing. ROM 1 day after surgery was 130 on both legs. 4 days after surgery full ROM on graft leg and 150 on ACL leg. Huge thanks to Dr. Mark and to his staff (esp. Robert and Ed) for all the good work to date. Other than a few dark moments as a result of side effects of pain meds everything so far is going well. If anyone has any questions on the procedure and what to expect would be happy to answer them though I'd also recommend to do what I did and contact the doc directly. Will post updates in the days/weeks to come...

Photo 1: 1.5hrs after surgery with Dr. Mark - I can walk !!

Photo 2: Knees 1 day after surgery

Photo 3: 1 day after surgery on shuttle machine

Photo 4: 4 days after surgery doing 30mins on exercise bike

[mnflyfish]

Wow this is timely! Last Sat I got a call on my radio of a skier down. I went to the scene to find my wife laying in the snow complaining of knee pain. Well now an ER visit, Ortho visit, MRI, another ortho visit she's gearing up for an ACL reconstruction. She's super disappointed/angry because we have a family trip to Jackson/Targhee planned for March which for her isn't going to happen. She's leaning towards a trip to visit her mom in Florida while we're gone, the idea of sitting around a ski area and not being able to ski is far more painful to her than the ACL. With this intense rehab your wife is doing what are they saying about recovery time-more to the point is she done for the season? I've (knock on wood) never blown my ACL so I have no idea what to expect, but seeing your post I'm very encouraged. Not necessarily that she'll make a full recovery by March but at least the recovery time can be shortened by an intensive rehab program. Let me know what you're hearing and I can do some more research on my end.

Jay

[finbar]

Wow this is timely! Last Sat I got a call on my radio of a skier down. I went to the scene to find my wife laying in the snow complaining of knee pain. Well now an ER visit, Ortho visit, MRI, another ortho visit she's gearing up for an ACL reconstruction. She's super disappointed/angry because we have a family trip to Jackson/Targhee planned for March which for her isn't going to happen. She's leaning towards a trip to visit her mom in Florida while we're gone, the idea of sitting around a ski area and not being able to ski is far more painful to her than the ACL. With this intense rehab your wife is doing what are they saying about recovery time-more to the point is she done for the season? I've (knock on wood) never blown my ACL so I have no idea what to expect, but seeing your post I'm very encouraged. Not necessarily that she'll make a full recovery by March but at least the recovery time can be shortened by an intensive rehab program. Let me know what you're hearing and I can do some more research on my end.



Jay

You can find some info on the accelerated Rehab program on Dr. Sander's website, www.sandersclinic.net. Full return to normal activity inc. skiing 3mths after surgery is what the doc states as normal though this requires full compliance with accelerated rehab program. I'm no doctor though so I'd suggest you contact him directly for more info. on the procedure etc though happy to answer any questions you might have on my wife's experience. My wife is now 10 days post surgery, just left the house to walk to the gym to do 30 mins on the bike which she does twice a day plus 3 sessions of rehab exercises. Progress to date has been excellent.

[finbar]

13 days post surgery, now up to 1 continuous hour on the bike in addition to rehab exercises 3 times a day. 1.5hrs walking in the mall today in addition to the above, the lure of Xmas shopping too hard for her to resist.

[Sans]

I had ACL reconstruction two years ago here in Seattle. I chose an alograph - which is a donor patella tendon from a cadaver. I was in rehab for 3-4 months and then cleared to rock climb and do pretty much what I wanted as long as I was smart. I was on crutches for three days, walking around fine in 2 weeks, swimming at 3, running at 4. I was amazed at my recovery and I only have one little scar 1.5 inches long and a few portal holes you can't even see. A friend of mine is a general surgeon and he said of all the surgeries the patella tendon w/ the two bone plugs is the better surgery mechanically. He also helped me not be nervous about the rejection and infection risk of the donor tendon. Likelihood of a problem is minimal and I haven't noticed it at all...I call my new tendon Gomez...

At 6 months I was cleared for anything. I didn't get to ski because the surgery was at the end of December and we were out of snow by the end of April. Ok, ok - I snuck out one day and skied a week before my surgery with no ACL, but it was 4 weeks post injury and I figured the knee was already screwed up. I was NOT going a whole season without even skiing a day.

Good luck with the recoveries.

[finbar]

6 weeks post surgery now. Walking normally and doing lots of rehab though now down to one session a day in the gym with bike, weights, flex & plyometrics. Looking back other than a few days of discomfort in first week or two (though never any real pain) recovery has been very smooth to date. Her leg strength is also clearly increasing now after initial atrophy post surgery. I'll leave the debate on choice of procedure to others but for those who don't like pain and want a quick road back the contra-lateral patellar graft option appears, based on my wife's experience, to be one to put on your shortlist.

Here is the You Tube link to a video taken last week...

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=1RyBSmH6fuY