MBSC's knee goes kaput

**backcountry1pr** · 04-17-2009, 04:26 PM

Glad its going well...

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-03-2009, 10:18 AM

Well, my knee is feeling better and better. I can now walk and be up on my feet for long periods of time without irritating it. My PT seems to have reached a plateau, meaning that not much new is being added. My ROM is pretty much the same as my other knee. I don't do heal slides anymore because they don't do anything for my flexion anymore. I now just stretch my quad (by pulling my ankle behind my butt), which also stretches my knee a bit. I walk normally now, even pretty fast. But, I can't really run. I sometimes get pain on the lateral side of my knee right by my knee cap. My PT says that should go away as I get stronger. Otherwise, my pain is very minimal- just some stiffness here and there after long periods in the car, etc. My PT now is focusing on just getting my quad muscles stronger. My hammy is pretty much just as strong or stronger as my other leg. But my quad is not. I still walk upstairs and downstairs with a bit of a limp because of this. But otherwise, most people wouldn't even know that I had surgery 7 weeks ago.

I'm still fighting the mental battle though. I really want to be out there skiing still. And the fact that I cannot ride my mountain bike on single track until September makes me feel like I'll be missing out on the best part of summer. Even though the doc has approved me to ride my bike outside on level roads, I have not been able to do so because of work, poor weather, and traveling. I plan on riding outside on Tuesday or Wednesday, though. Being outside should help my mental state. I've also joined a gym (Elk Avenue Fitness) which should help with my PT and my mental state. As I get further along in my PT I find there is less I can really be doing at home. The exercises with the pilates bands seems to be getting easier and easier to the point where my muscles feel like they are barely working. So, being able to lift weights at the gym is the next logical stage to improving my strength.

**ma79f8** · 05-03-2009, 11:18 AM

Nice going - you're an inspiration. Can you ride clipless pedals?

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-03-2009, 07:13 PM

Yes, I can ride clipless. But the doc said to make sure the springs are loose.

**montanaskier** · 05-03-2009, 08:15 PM

nice Brittany. Glad you are doing well.

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-22-2009, 09:28 AM

The knee continues to feel better and better. I can feel that it's getting stronger. I was able to get out on my bike a lot last week, since the weather was really nice. Went for a nice 34 mile road ride up Taylor Canyon on Saturday. Being able to ride outside has been really good for the mind and spirit!

I definitely am still having some neuro-muscular retraining issues. My balance is still poor on my hurt leg. I'm doing step-ups onto one of the blue balance pads, and it is pretty hard still. I get annoyed that I can't do some simple things like that. Walking downstairs is still a bit tricky. I just don't have full control of my knee and my hip kind of wants to come up to compensate for my weak knee. I know all of this will come with time. But it gets frustrating because my knee feels really good. It's just weak. I'm doing all I can to try to get it stronger!

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-28-2009, 09:12 AM

I can't believe it's been 11 weeks. Time kind of flies. But, at the same time, I've watched powder storms pass by, dust storms cover the white snow with red ugliness, feet of snow melt, brown grass turn to green, trees and flowers bloom- all in that same course of 11 weeks.

Not much has changed from last week. But, I can say I get frustrated sometimes. My balance is not improving very fast. Sometimes it seems like I'm fine. But then the PT guy puts the little blue balance pad on whatever I do and I am so incredibly unstable. He put it on top of the step up boxes and I fell off yesterday, even though I've been doing it for the last two weeks. So, I'm a little frustrated with fine-tuning my balance. And my quad strength hasn't been really improving over the last two weeks either, although my hamstring strength has. But, my hamstring has been pretty good this whole time, while I watched my quad shrivel to nothing. I lost 7 pounds in muscle

I work on strengthening exercises every other day, generally. And I am doing all the PT exercises I am supposed to be doing at home. I know PT after surgery has it's plateaus and I know I've basically reached one. I know I'll get past it too, it's just a matter of time. But, I am a bit frustrated.

At the same time I'm happy I can ride my bike outside and enjoy the sunshine. That's a really good thing!

**liberman** · 05-28-2009, 11:08 AM

i am sure you will be able to push through this plateau and you will improving again before you know it. staying positive is easier said than done, but i believe that it is key.

did your doc tell you that with your allograft when it would be weakest? maybe that is taking all of your legs energy to morph the tissue and that is why strengthening is plateaued? just a thought. on the upside, once the graft has regained strength, you should be able to start doing more.

i read that you won't be able to ride single track until September, but I have to believe that you will able to do so on a mellow level before that. riding singletrack is super fun at all speeds and intensities and so i think and hope you will be able to start mellow (no chance of major crashes and only remote chance of minor crashes) before then. CB has so many fun, smooth trails that you can ride that are about as dangerous at slower speeds as walking down the street. for me, riding a road bike with clipless pedals sounds more dangerous than riding down the dyke trail or the 401 on flat pedals. my first go around, i was definitely riding smooth trails at 3 months to stay sane. be careful, but be your own judge to some extent. i think the docs have skewed understanding of what these sports entail. i was told that can ride my dirt bike the same time (5 months) i can ride my mt bike off road, even if smooth. to me, this is crazy as they are two very different levels of danger.

**Hukoslo** · 05-29-2009, 01:55 AM

Plateaus in most kinds of training are often our bodies making an adaption to what we're doing to enable us to move forward. You've just got to keep going in the belief that you'll get through it and improve. All the best

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-30-2009, 01:00 PM

Yeah, I know I'll make it through this plateau. I'm not depressed about it or anything. It just gets frustrating sometimes. It's all part of rehab.

liberman- yeah, I'll probably be riding some mellow single track before 6 months. The problem is that even 401 has some parts that I probably won't be ready for earlier than that- the part at the beginning is really pretty steep and I need to be able to stand up out of my saddle. But, I don't see myself doing that for awhile. It just hurts too much. I'd walk, but I'm more scared walking on the uneven, slippery, steep terrain there than I am riding it. Once I'm at the top I'm pretty good to go except that I have that one ditch thing to cross over that I really never make riding. Even with a knee that is not gimped it's a little bit sketchy to cross over. So I'm a bit afraid of that. The main thing is that anything I can't ride, I would be afraid to walk on right now anyway. Most of the trails around here have something I'd walk here or there, especially if my confidence is down, which it is in my riding right now.

There's a few things I'll likely ride at the ski area though- technical doesn't really exist there, unless you poach the secret trails. Hartmans in Gunny has a lot of smooth trails, which I'd like to hit in July, except by then it will be smoldering hot.

Basically, I've kind of decided for myself that I won't really be riding single track until August sometime- around 5 months. I don't have a brace to use so I kind of get scared walking on uneven terrain. Even now when I take a step the wrong way my knee does awful things and I'm scared to death of re-tearing my ACL, since I hear it's a lot easier to do with an allograft than an autograft, until the 6 month healing time is up. Skiing is my passion. It is the #1 thing I like to do. Biking is second, but it's not even a close second. If I could have winter all year long and never ride my bike again, I'd be completely happy. If I couldn't ski, life would suck. So, I don't want to do anything to hurt my knee that would jeopardize another ski season. Missing half of the last one was so hard, especially since I missed the spring ski mountaineering season. I want my knee to be ready and strong for next ski season. I want to enjoy it, and I want to accomplish all of the ski mountaineering goals I have set for myself. If I were to hurt my knee biking this summer, making it so I couldn't ski this winter, I would be absolutely heartbroken. There's a reason why boyfriends have broken up with me in the past saying, "You love skiing more than you love me! "

**ma79f8** · 05-30-2009, 01:22 PM

Very wise grasshopper. My ortho was much more worried about me hiking uneven terrain than road biking.

**upallnight** · 05-30-2009, 06:23 PM

mbsc: i was thinking about your condition while on a bike ride this afternoon.

first of all, you seem very determined, and i know you are not so much complaining about the plateau in progress as just noting it/reporting on it. you've also said that you've suffered knee injuries before. i've had a couple of knee surgeries (though admittedly not exactly what you've been through; i think there's some element of any knee injury that is universal, though).

i'm really just popping in to give you one more success story to focus on to help you get through rehab: i had a long road back to feeling like myself, but things do improve dramatically. in the 3 years since my 2nd surgery, i've averaged 160 days and feel better each year.

from the little i know about your situation, it's clear that you are motivated. in fact, i predict that you will come back from you injury more focused, more aerobically fit, and stronger than before your injury. i also predict you will be a smarter -- and better -- skier as a result, although it may not feel like it when you first get back on skis.

good luck for continuing to power through your rehab, and for realizing that the routine you are establishing now will have a long-term effect on future injury prevention.

your best ski days are still ahead of you.

**montanaskier** · 05-31-2009, 02:28 PM

keep it up B. My rehab is similar at this point. I've been riding the bike outside quite a bit and I'm in the gym 3 or4 days a week. If I ride a long stretch or work it out really hard int he gym then I get swelling and have to shut it down for a couple of days. My quad is SLOW to regain strength. I did my second hike today and it feels ok. Nothing to do but just keep pushing to get it back. My knee feels bomber.

PS- Some nice skiing GB did up north last week...very nice.

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 05-31-2009, 04:08 PM

Thankfully, I haven't had the swelling issues to the extent you have had! I have really low level swelling, kind of a constant. Some of the strengthening exercises irritate my knee, but then I ice it for 15 minutes or so and it's fine. Thankfully, the biking doesn't seem to hurt my knee at all. Got in a nice 3 hour road ride this morning before the rain hit at 1 pm. I even took the chance and rode from the town of Crested Butte up to where I live on the mountain (I live about a 5 minute walk from the base of the ski area, across the street from public parking). I thought the hill might hurt my knee, but I wanted to try it, and it was fine. Boy did I want to get up out of the saddle though.... soon maybe!

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 07-22-2009, 02:54 PM

It's been a long time since I've updated, so I thought I'd take the time to do so.

My knee is healing well. Every couple of weeks it seems to be noticeably stronger- could do things better than I could two weeks before.

I've been riding my bike outside a bunch. I've been doing quite a few 3-4 hour rides (ride time, not including rests) in the last month or so. The weather has been excellent for riding lately and that makes me happy. I'm still shying away from single track.... anything where I feel like I may have to put my foot down unexpectedly. I have been able to find some easy single track on the ski area trails, so I've been doing a lot of those as after work rides. In September I'll be able to ride all the single track I want. Really, that's not all too much time from now. I have been practicing riding out of the saddle- standing up while pedaling on ascents and just standing up on descents. This has been one of the harder things for me to do- especially with the pain factor. But my knee seems to be getting more and more used to it. I'm finally beginning to feel more in control and more comfortable riding out of the saddle.

I am still going to physical therapy once a week. My routine still includes some basic core exercises I started about 2-3 weeks post-op. But most other things have changed. My PT guy has me doing a lot of plyometrics which basically involves jumping up and down a lot right now. I really can't jump up and down on one leg yet and I'm working up to that point. Then we'll involve more side to side movement in the plyos. With the sports cord (a huge elastic cord that straps to the waist), I'm doing lunges with it pulling me at a 90 degree angle, step ups at 90 and 180 degrees, and stepping sideways over cones.

My quad still has some re-building to do. The muscle is growing, but it is still a lot smaller than my other quad. I'm not too worried about it yet. I remember it took me about 9 or 10 months with my first ACL surgery to get the quad to "full" strength.

All in all, I feel like I'm healing well and the knee continues to get stronger. The only bad thing is that I now have to go in for another surgery on my [ame="http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=163196"]thyroid[/ame]
on August 3rd. This surgery will set me back a bit and I won't really be able to exercise for a couple of weeks. However, after a few weeks I should be good to go, and ready to ride single track in September

**montanaskier** · 07-22-2009, 09:36 PM

good luck B on your other surgery. Sounds like you are doing great. The wife and I are definately coming back down to CB this winter to tour....you better be ready.

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 07-22-2009, 09:48 PM

^^^ I'll be ready, and glad to have both of you here

**45hill** · 07-22-2009, 10:48 PM

If it's not one thing it's another. Best of luck with your thyroid.

**ma79f8** · 07-23-2009, 07:18 AM

The rest may do your knee more good than you think. I just did a river trip and didn't do anything but row for a week. My knee (3months post op) felt GREAT when I started rehab again - swelling gone, stronger, more flexible and less pain.

Good luck on your surgery!

**mtnbikerskierchick** · 08-30-2009, 12:47 PM

Finally getting out on the single track now! Feeling good! The muscles around the knee are still weak, but all in all it continues to improve. My knee rarely hurts, which is so much better than my last ACL recon with a patellar tendon graft. At this stage in the game, I have to just start trusting it more and stop subconsciously trying to protect it all the time. Glad to finally be riding single track again though

**45hill** · 09-03-2009, 02:16 PM

Congrats on getting back on the dirt. Did you not ride single track for fear of wrecking, going over the bars, or putting your foot down in a turn?

I ride two local trails almost daily and am getting much faster, I started out at an hour and a half and can now do it in under an hour. I haven't crashed yet but I know it's coming. This is one reason why I won't go ride at the resort. I figure one ride on my usual trails is fine but multiple downhill runs will eventually lead to crashing.

I have also been skating a bit. It's roller hockey by myself and quite boring but it helps. I'm a little leery of pushing off the first few times but then I'm fine. Cutting real hard scares me a bit but everything seems really stable.