ACL Reconstruction Surgery Pics (mildly disgusting)

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

So... for a little wiener waving... anyone at 144deg flexion at 3 weeks post?

I don't think I can get that much flexion on my healthy knee

Really interesting to "watch" everyone's progress through this and how everyone responds differently to the trauma that is acl reconstruction.

My wife went skiing at Kirkwood today....part of me still wishes that I held off surgery but whatever....there's always next season. I would be psyched if I could even just go and skin around at some point (no downhill).

[altagirl]

I don't think I can get that much flexion on my healthy knee

Really interesting to "watch" everyone's progress through this and how everyone responds differently to the trauma that is acl reconstruction.

My wife went skiing at Kirkwood today....part of me still wishes that I held off surgery but whatever....there's always next season. I would be psyched if I could even just go and skin around at some point (no downhill).

No kidding.

Hell I was psyched with 2 degrees hyperextension and 133 flexion today at 8 weeks. I did get a glowing report to take with me to my OS appt monday that I'm doing advanced proprioception and only lost 1cm on my surgical leg to atrophy, which my therapist said was fantastic. (I lost 4cm on my first ACL). I still have .7cm of swelling around my patella though. My body just sucks when it comes to getting rid of swelling - it wants to stick around. That's what makes ROM so miserable. But it's coming along...

[Arnold Babar]

Huzzah for everyone! We're all going to be ready to rip next year. It's going to suck for us all as we start to get better and have to watch the big powder days pass us by. But thanks to Ty, and ONS, we'll always have "Gimp Central " . Heh, sounds like the title to a new series on UPN, "Next week on 'Gimp Central' Babar gets jealous of Soober's hyperextension. How far is he willing to go to match it. Stay tuned."

[LAN]

my quad atrophy is rampant. the poor thing just wobbles and wiggles like nothing. maybe thats why ROM is coming back so fast because i have no muscle left to hinder it.

[scoober]

my quad atrophy is rampant. the poor thing just wobbles and wiggles like nothing. maybe thats why ROM is coming back so fast because i have no muscle left to hinder it.

yeah, that was me, logged in as LAN....

obviously

[Telepath]

...part of me still wishes that I held off surgery ....

Don't! Coming back with a new strong knee is going to be worth it.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Don't! Coming back with a new strong knee is going to be worth it.

i know, you're right.....

http://www.aspectjournal.com/forum/s...?p=808#post808

[Telepath]

i know, you're right.....

http://www.aspectjournal.com/forum/s...?p=808#post808

Hadn't seen that one. Thanx for linking. Nice

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

4 Week Post-Op PT Report:

7 AM Pain Therapy sessions ssssuuuuckkkk. Hopped on the stationary bike first and spun for 15 minutes...by the end of this cycle, could finally pedal a full revolution with proper technique (i.e. keeping the heel on my injured leg flat, rather than pointy toed), so that was good.

Then hopped over to doing quad sets on a pilates machine (a reformer). Banged through 3 sets with higher tension than I've ever done so that was good. Doc has me on orders to keep motion doing these between 40 and 90 degrees though for the time being so that kinda sucks....so tempting to keep pushing and extending further.

Then did hamstring curls. Two legged and one legged (with the injured leg). 60 lbs two legged and 30 lbs one legged with 2 sets x 15 reps each. Felt good.

Did a bunch of balancing exercies too on the balance boards. Proprioception feels weeeeiiiird, but by the end of this session I could easily balance for 30 seconds which was the goal.

Finally went to work on knocking out the pain in my hamstring which has been the bane of my rehab from the onset. After some masssage, was able to get to 2 degrees extension and 123 flexion which was an improvement over 3 and 115 respectively from last Friday.

See the orthopod in a week for my second post-op visit....hoping to take in some even better numbers for him and see what he says about getting clearance for longer cardio sessions and weight training.

[Arnold Babar]

Everyone's hittin' it sooooooooo hard, I love It!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

...and the roller coaster keeps rolling...up, down, up, up, climbs, climbs, crests, falls....

...pain...

...hamstring..
...ughhhh....

getting beyond frustrating now. the pain in my hamstring when I flex / extend is really getting to me. it's always there. I know I can flex beyond it's limits, but the pain stops me and it usually takes a few bangs against its wall to push on through.

finding out that heat helps it though. spent nearly this entire Saturday alternating between cold packs on the knee, then hot packs wrapped around the back of my thigh, then hop on the stationary bike, repeat.

took some measurements at PT yesterday...lost 2 mm girth from my quad. One month post-op visit with orthopod is Monday.

[Arnold Babar]

Damn, that sucks, Ty. Is the hammy pain where they took the graft from? I've been waiting/expecting to experience hammy pain, and it hasn't come (knock wood). You should try to get into a pool or a hot tub. Doing rom exercises in the warm water has really been good for me. I feel great after a session, and stronger every day so far... I hope your hammy loosens up soon, delays suck.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Is the hammy pain where they took the graft from?

yeah right where the graft was from.

Just saw my orthopod for the 1-month post-op visit. Despite the hammy pain, he says I'm right on track and the new acl feels "solid". Heat packs really make it (hammy) feel better and he said just to keep on doin what I'm doing.

Good news is he gave me clearance to road ride. Sweet. Now all I need is my insurance policy check to come after I destroyed my road bike ramming it into my garage when I tried pulling into in with the bike on the roof rack

Go back to see him beginning of March...and he says at that time, if things keep progressing as they are, I'll be able to start running. cool.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

5 Week Post-Op Report:

Getting better! All that hamstring pain that I was bitchin and whining about earlier is getting MUCH better. Treating it at home with heat packs and then lots of stretching is helping (in addition to all the stuff at PT).

I'm now at 127 flexion max (with PT help), but still at 1-2 extention...grrrr...must-get-to-ze-ro-....the hamstring pain is pretty much gone in flexion, but is very limiting in extension...getting there though.

Can finally hop on a bike and start pedaling with good technique (no hip cheating or toe pointing) with no discomfort, so I'm out pedaling around my neighborhood everyday for an hour for lunch. No hills or no super hard workouts yet, but soon.....contemplating signing up for the death ride (www.deathride.com) in July and then maybe even the Park City Endurance 100 mountain bike thang in August too to give me some extra motivation.

Balance is feelin excellent....did a lot of one-footed balance exercises on the bosu ball today while throwing a small medicine ball into a horizontal trampoline and then catching it. Was doing pretty well at this until I started telling my PT a story, lost attention to what I was doing, and the medicine ball game back off the tramp and hit me in the nads ......but I kept my balance through it!!!!

Looking forward to a relaxing, long-ish (for this stage in the game) smooth fireroad mountain bike ride this weekend. Can't wait to get back into the woods.

[Snow Ranger]

Nice. I envy you being able to ride a bike. I am 3 weeks Post-Op and can't even get on a stationary one yet. My Flexion is 106 so 14 more degrees until I get to pedal.

the medicine ball game back off the tramp and hit me in the nads

That is always so funny when it's someone else.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Nice. I envy you being able to ride a bike. I am 3 weeks Post-Op and can't even get on a stationary one yet. My Flexion is 106 so 14 more degrees until I get to pedal.

When I was at this point, I would just sit on the bike and rock the pedals back & forth as far as I could tolerate...in no time (but definitely with some pain & discomfort) I was able to get 'em around. It was definitely easier getting over the top while pedaling backwards then forwards. Once you can get 'em over going backwards, just keep working on that until you can go forward.

[Arnold Babar]

I missed my pt session today due to attending my wife's level two ultra-sound. It's a girl! That'll be Babar daughter #3. I did drive to New Jersey yesterday in a 24 ft. rental truck , Picked up 22,000 yards of fabric, then drove back to CT and unloaded the 24 foot box truck (about 500 rolls). Lots of bending, twisting, lifting, carrying, hoisting, probly walked about three miles inside that damn truck . Does that count as pt? Good news: I'm back to work. Bad news: I'm already slacking on the pt. Oh well, gonna have another mouth to feed, and so far nobody's offering to pay me to ride the eliptical machine .

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

ahhhh.....back on the mountain bike.....Christmas Day, 5 and a half weeks after surgery....went for a 10 mile mellow, fireroad ride along the lakes & hills near my house. Stayed in the saddle and didn't mash the big gears, just spun at a healthy rpm. Slowed way the hell down for any corners, and got off walked some off-camber sections that you'd normally not give a second thought too, but can't risk even the slightest slip. Anyhow, it felt so damn good.....Prolly won't need anymore updates here for awhile....

[Arnold Babar]

Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice!!! I'm gettin' on the bike soon too, though they say snow's comin' to these parts so maybe not. Nice goin' keep 'em spinnin...

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

haven't had a rehab update in awhile sooo....

it feels good to look back through this and see progress. Things are going great. I have my 3-month post-op visit with the orthopod on Wednesday and my PT thinks I should get clearance to start jogging a little.

I can get to 0 degrees extension on my own no problem and my walking gait looks fine. My normal knee goes to about -1 or -2 hyperextension, but as long as my injured knee can get to 0 on it's own i'm psyched...it goes hyper with a little help...

For flexion, my injured leg is only about 4 degrees off from my normal knee (137 vs 141 roughly)....tightness in my quad of all places actually hinders it from going further now, since it hasn't been stretched that far in so many months.

I'm riding my road bike nearly every day. It's been so warm (60's) down here in the valley it nearly feels like spring. Days are gettin a little longer so I cut out of work around 4 PM and then ride for an hour and a half every day. Take a day off here and there if I push it too hard, because if I do (say if I start hammering hills or something) my hamstring is sore the next day so I'll just rest. Put my name in the hat for www.deathride.com and will know if I got picked to ride that sufferfest at the end of Feb. Saturday's & Sunday's I started pushing my saddle time up to about 3 hours - 4 hours a day...which is where I'm going just after I finish typing this...

Trying to get to the pool 3 times a week too, but that's getting tough to fit in with PT, the gym, bike rides, and work.

Some odd things I've noticed is that there's still some bruising behind my surgery knee. it's nearly 3 months and it's still there! i guess it's slowly fading though...

Also, my knee cap is popping and cracking like crazy. PT says it might be IT band tightnees. Mentioned that it could be crepidus (sp?)...which i guess is the patella getting pulled out of its normal groove from tight structures? It sounds like i'm cracking my knuckles sometimes when I stand up after sitting for awhile. Doesn't hurt..just sounds like rice crispies. PT says there could be a way to tape it when I start running to ensure it doesn't get worse.

took my skis to the shop last night to get mounted and tuned...not really sure why....but just felt I had to do it.........maybe I can XC ski soon...I wonder how Stockli DP's with Freerides & alpine boots will do as an XC set-up

[LegoSkier]

took my skis to the shop last night to get mounted and tuned...not really sure why....but just felt I had to do it.........maybe I can XC ski soon...I wonder how Stockli DP's with Freerides & alpine boots will do as an XC set-up

Thats a little like asking how an erupting volcano will do as a cigarette lighter.

Nice job on the rehab. Hope I can be that motivated when the time comes. I just got back from finally getting an MRI. I won't see my ortho to analyze it till the 17th though. My PT wasn't so sure it was fully torn but the ortho suspects it is and I just have so much muscle that it dosen't feel like it (he compared me to Maori rugby players he worked on while in NZ).
I'll also be getting a real functional brace soon so maybe we can go XC and stare longingly at the mountains together as due to time constraints for my research I probably won't be going under the knife till mid May.

[Vinman]

Ty that bruising might be there for a while. I had a bruise on my tibia for more than a year after my first one. Really it isn't anything to worry about.

With the cracking of the patella. Make sure to get that taken care of. Have your PT check your patellar mobility and hamstring flexibility as well as the IT band as these are 2 or 3 likely causes of the crepitus you are feeling. Don't let that go until it becomes painful or else it could be there a while.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

With the cracking of the patella. Make sure to get that taken care of. Have your PT check your patellar mobility and hamstring flexibility as well as the IT band as these are 2 or 3 likely causes of the crepitus you are feeling. Don't let that go until it becomes painful or else it could be there a while.

cool will do.....it's really started up a lot in the past week, but I haven't but all that vocal about to my PT, but I'll start to bring it up more. thanks.

[altagirl]

Glad to hear that you're getting so much riding in!

I get some popping in my patella too - though lately it's gone from popping to just an occasional feeling of tightness like it's going to pop, and if I do a couple quick patellar mobs it's gone.

[fineline]

well- im a little late jumping on this bandwagon... But Im getting ACL replacement surgery on Thursday, so in 3 days. Im taking it from my pateller and am just trying to work hard to get my knee in shape before they cut me open. All your info has been very informative, thanks to all for the updates and such. Hopefully my rehab will go as well as all of yours has. Im a little nervous but seeing as this is my third big surgery its nothing new. I was really surprised that one of the doctors I went and saw actually asked me IF I wanted surgery... I didnt know that not getting it done was an option, my knee hurts too bad to do much anyway. But was tempted because I missed and am missing a lot of really important comps and opportunities this year, it was supposed to be my big year. But as long as this gets fixed and I can rip it this summer and be back at it next winter... thats the most important thing.

So a few questions (if anyone still reads this thread,) How did you cope with not skiing for so long? I haven't gone this long without skiing for probably 15 years, since my first day on skis when I was three. Its my life, now I dont really know what to do with myself and am trying not to let this totally devistate me. I understand injuries like this are really common among our kind and it was probably bound to happen to me when I ski 100+ days every year. Plus everyone keeps telling me that females are a lot more likely to tear theirs... so it was probably in the cards for me sooner or later. But im 18 and before this happened I felt amazing, stuff was finally starting to happen for me. This is just a really big setback and its hard to deal with... I just need to keep thinking to get strong and healthy to charge even harder next season.

Is there anything I should make sure to concentrate on before surgery/the few days after surgery that I should make special note of? Im trying to keep everything strong and get my range of motion the best it can be, but what really makes a difference?

Well apart from that.. I am just going to stick through it... Oh, and anyone have any ideas of how to drive a clutch with only one good leg?? Cuz thats all ive got. Maybe attatch a ski pole to it? hah, hmmmm.

Anyway, hope you all are doing well with your rehab and such, any tips would be good... hah im super familiar with back and ankle rehab, but knees are totally new to me. Thanks!