ACL Class of 2011

[DRTMaverick]

I will get a scan up as soon as I can. I have a friend with a new scanner I can use hehe. I do have the MRI photo. I think I've got the arrows pointing at the right things.

[Camsteezin]

Put me in coach!

Tore my left ACL early in december being drunk and stupid and falling off a roof. Got a brace and skied the season. Had the reconstruction surgery May 2nd this year, so that would make me almost 4 months post op.

Did physio for the first month then dropped it because I started working at a mine with no physio access. Now that i'm back in the city i'm gonna start it up again.

I've had full extension since week 3, and if i warm up the knee i can touch my heel to my bum. I guess i'm lucky compared to some of you guys since i haven't had any pain or swelling with increased activity. been doing a lot of hiking and cycling and i'm planning to start skiing as soon as snow falls, although i'll be taking it easy probably until christmas-ish.

Progress feels slow and it can be hard sometimes to reign myself in and remember to take it easy. But its nice to have other people's stories to read to remind me that it is a process, and also that my recovery could be a lot worse...

[Shogun]

Shogun: awesome video. Hey, you've got a purple acl! The best part was the drill popping through unexpectedly. Now we know why our knee hurts after surgery.

Haha...when that drill popped thru I was like "Holy shit! Almost popped thru the other side of my leg!" And the purple marking on the new ACL is from a special pen used to mark where they stop feeding it thru the bone....I asked the doc WTF is that purple line haha...

[Piggity]

My friend has towed into North Shore bombs for over a decade with no ACL. He was in a cast to protect the MCL for a couple months.

Listen to the wife.

I got a patellar tendon ACL. It crunches and pops. Neato...

Rehab and training worked for him just fine. He quit skiing 20+ years ago and only boards so... take it FWIW

I need posts like this to keep the faith! Thanks man.

I take your example with a lot of consideration since I've recently been surfing. I've skied, boarded and surfed in the past 4 months since the injury and I think surfing gives me the most problems. So your example is very close to home for me

How long ago did you get your acl repaired? Could the crunching and popping be swelling? I'm having the crunching and popping but I think it will subside when the swelling finally goes back to normal. Hoping anyway

[Cedrik]

Put me in coach!

You're in!

I'll add the type of graft for everyone once I feel like searching the forum again - I think most people mentioned what they got. That way it'll be easy for the Class of 2012 when they do their research.

[FreakofSnow]

Class of 2011 representin'! Tomorrow is 5 months post-op and in general my right knee feels pretty good. I did my left ACL 3 years ago so it would be an understatement saying that I am tired of PT and lifting legs.

This time around seems to be much better on the rehab and pain, mostly due to the fact that I think I know what to expect. In general I have not been as intense on my rehab this time and it almost seems better off. I have no pain when lifting (especially squats) and no swelling. I've probably only been on my mountain bike half a dozen times, but have ridden over 1000 on my motorcycle. Anyhow, hope everyone is progressing towards the radness that this winter is sure to bring.

EDIT - both knees were patellar tendon autograft

[Piggity]

Anyone thought about doing a "Team Gimp" for SFB's POV stoke contest for fun? Watching guys return to skiing from major injuries is stoke inspiring to me

[Cedrik]

Sounds fun, though I admit having to search to figure out what it is.

I was thinking of organizing a Mammoth ski trip in April '12 when most (all?) of the Class of 2011 will be back on skis.

While I have your attention, I'd like to add graft type in the first post in this thread, i.e., allograft or autograft, what kind (hammy, patellar, achilles cadaver, etc.), and if you did opposite leg harvest. Either post up or pm me and I'll edit that post in a few weeks with the info. The ACL Class of 2012 will thank you.

[Piggity]

Riding live ='s more stoke than a vid.

[doughboyshredder]

Sounds fun, though I admit having to search to figure out what it is.

I was thinking of organizing a Mammoth ski trip in April '12 when most (all?) of the Class of 2011 will be back on skis.

While I have your attention, I'd like to add graft type in the first post in this thread, i.e., allograft or autograft, what kind (hammy, patellar, achilles cadaver, etc.), and if you did opposite leg harvest. Either post up or pm me and I'll edit that post in a few weeks with the info. The ACL Class of 2012 will thank you.

I would try to make a trip to mammoth for that.
I had an allograft.

[tone capone]

I've always wanted to ski Mammoth. I had a hamstring graft.

[zion zig zag]

Put me down for a hammy graft, same leg.

[Camsteezin]

same leg hamstring graft as well.

[wolfelot]

Thanks Cedrik! I was as same knee patellar autograft.

[Shogun]

Same leg hamstring graft for me too.

And a Mammoth trip would be awesome! That would be 7 1/2 months post-op for me. Hopefully by then I can take it easy on groomers.

[nogero]

same leg hamstring graft. no regrets.

i could definitely get down on an april mammoth trip

[Cedrik]

That would be 7 1/2 months post-op for me. Hopefully by then I can take it easy on groomers.

Well hell, yeah! Corn cruisin' for sure.

[funvins]

In class of 2011, pending finding a double-bundle surgeon in Seattle area. Any recommendations class?
I tore my right knee ACL playing frisbee. Left knee is also acting wonky and I had injured it the mirror image way of right knee. Am doing a lot of internet research and leaning more towards double-bundle, but can't seem to find a doc in or around Seattle who performs it. Will keep searching for a couple of weeks and then re-evaluate my choices. Wanna get the surgery done by December so that I can start atleast some low level hiking/climbing by next summer.
Happy recovering everyone,
_vinay_
PS: Cedrik, thanks for pointing me to this thread and putting me on the list

[HowieT2]

Allograft. Certified preowned is the way to go.

Returned to pt 2 weeks ago to work on their ski machine. No problems.

[bendtheski]

First, let me apologize to everyone in Gimp Central for ignoring this forum for the first 2.5 yrs of my TGR experience. Glad it's here now though!

Surgery is scheduled for Jan 4 so that might just make me first in line for the Class of 2012! If Cedrik wants to pass on the torch for this year’s crop of the ACL deficient, I’ll be happy to start a new thread.

Doing hamstring from the same (right) leg.

Injury happened on Dec 2; very small huck into a hard left backseat bailout turn and pop! I put off surgery because deductable resets on Jan 1. Meanwhile, been doing lots of prehab; straight leg lifts, quad extensions, hamstring curls, lightweight squats, heel slides, calf and hamstring stretches, bike for 30-40 min a day, etc. I forget what they call the standing one legged exercises with an elastic band, but I started doing those too.

Pain is very manageable, ROM is right where it should be and swelling has gone down considerably since the injury. All that will likely change next week though…

CPM and TENS unit ordered for post surgery.

The orthopedic explained the procedure last week which includes the use of some PEEK material for the tibial anchor, and some bioabsorbable anchors for the femor.

I found a video for the Aperfix II system. I don’t know if that’s exactly what my ortho is using, but he did mention something molly-like being used for the tibial anchor made out of PEEK material. I think he’s using something different than the Aperfix II for the femoral anchor since the Aperfix II makes no mention of being bioabsorbable, but I could have it wrong. Anyway, if it’s good enough for hanging pictures on drywall…

[tone capone]

Sounds like you are set up really well for surgery. Good luck!

[bendtheski]

Thanks tone, the idea of being put under and having holes drilled in my bones is freaking me out a little, but it should be fine.

I'm actually looking forward to rehab. I figure if I can be as OCD about rehab as I am about almost everything else I do, it should be a piece of cake!

It would actually be nice to get in decent bike shape early this year, instead of waiting until the last chairlift in the state stops spinning before starting the suffer-fest that is cycling in the front range...

[edd70]

Not sure if I've noticed this thread before. I got surgery (allograph) last Feb and all in all things are good. The knee still hurts for certain activities but it's not a big deal. I've skied (mellow) twice this season with a CTI brace. The knee swelled, but it always does after a workout. I feel like I'm on track and am ready to kick it into a slightly higher gear ski-wise.

My giant lesson here was keeping my legs strong. During the last few years I just let the skiing take care of my leg strength and that was a mistake. Now I work out faithfully and I'm better off in the long run. I try to convince my buddy I ski with to do the same before he gets hurt but he's not hearing it. It's too bad I had to hurt myself to wise up.

[zion zig zag]

I'm about 4 months out and skied for the first time yesterday. I used a donjoy defiance and just skied easy groomers, it actually felt pretty good with no pain. I had less swelling than I typically do after a workout, which isn't that much anyway. I only skied about 4 runs because I didn't want to push it. In other news my quad strength is at 90% of my good leg and my hamstring is at about 60%, I really need to get the hamstring back before I really trust it.

[Axelerate]

Oh man. I've never even seen this section of the forum. I probably would have been happy to see this post injury when I was depressed about what the future had in store for me.
I did my MCL & ACL in an Evgeni Malkin style hockey accident in July. Except the guy that hit me and fell had more weight in his mid-section (oh beer league).
I had surgery in September (which is beyond fast for Canada), and I've seemed to have a slow recovery. My swelling is still around after work-outs and my leg is still tiny even though I've been doing a lot of training and physio (like 4-5 hours a day on the weekends, and 1-2 hours every weekday). It is feeling pretty strong though.
I've just started to incorporate more weights into my training to try build more strength, so we'll see how that goes.

Anybody else had the same problem?

...maybe I'm not drinking enough Vitamin Beer