ACL Class of 2012

[shralpingthegnar]

ACL surgery for me in a couple months, I've been putting it off; much like I've been putting off writing about my injuries!
Going with the cadaver graft. Hopefully be able to ski this season!

[Dave Marshack]

I had mine done just over 4 months ago.. It was on a firday the 13th. I skipped most physio because of my situation with housing (i live on a back woods lake near a small town with nothing, hours away from a city). I focused on just using my leg and climbing ladders and walking for the fist bit. I have been biking and doing my own physio and don't have any real pain in my knee. When I go for long ass bike rides it sometimes can ache but I expected that. I think that with a good training program for the next 3 months ill be back dropping stuff in no time... Im going to hold off on spinning into powder landings for the first few months, and just try not to re-injure.

What are your thoughts on wearing a brace for the first bit? I skied last winter on a leg with no acl just an OTS CTI brace, but I want to get away from it and start using those muscles again.

[Kiwiskier]

I joined the Class of 2012 a month ago when a snowboarder did a blind jump above me on a narrow track rupturing the ACL and seriously straining the MCL in my right knee. I've been here before having graduated from the class of 1990 on the left knee. I'm now unemployed (I had to terminate my contraact on the local ski hill)and waiting for surgery to be approved. I don't have insurance but in New Zealand we have a no-fault government accident insurance scheme - paid for by levies on our earnings. I had a MRI yesterday and seeing a surgeon next week. If I am lucky I'll get surgery approved and done within 6 weeks from when the surgeon applies. I've had two reconstructions on the left knee - intitially a patellar tendon graft till I fell down the stairs and snapped it 4 weeks post-op (cautionary tale about switching on lights there). I had the choice of patellar from the other knee or hamstring from the injured leg - I chose the hamstring (thank God because it gives them something to work with on the right leg now). I'll go for hamstring this time (never heard of an allograft in NZ - not enough donors I suspect). So I'm still in a ROM brace but have good flexion and extension and not too much pain/swelling - very unstale though. Have been managing 2 x 30 minutes per day on stationary bike for the last two weeks, plus upper body weights. Seeing PT (we call them physios) for prehab - focussing on getting some of the lost strength back in quads, hammies, glutes, calves. I'm much older this time and know I need to go into surgery as strong as I can. I'm pretty unhappy about it all - I worked in a job I hated for 25 years so I could make skiing my fulltime job. Anyway looking for some support/encouragement through the dark times ahead. Most of my friends just don't get how painful surgery/recovery is (much worse than original injury) and that it takes at least a year to get back on the boards.

[bendtheski]

Kiwi, It does get better. I'm still seeing progress. A month out of surgery isn't very long to expect much. I just burried myself in my work and my PT, and surprisingly it didn't get me nearly as down as I worried it might. It didn't hurt that we had one of the worst winters in recent history; I wasn't missing much. I also threw a bunch of the money I was saving on not skiing into new bicycle gear. After 4 months of being a gym monkey it felt so good to be on a bike, and with the skiing still sucking and an unusually warm March, I re-discovered my love affair with cycling just as I was burning out on the gym/PT routine. Just keep plugging away at it; it will get better. I turn 50 next week and was really concerned that this might be the end of my skiing career as I have know it since age 7. I know I'll have to be careful, especially early season, but I'm starting to think it's not going to be anywhere near as bad as I thought.

shralpingthegnar,
Just curious why you put it off? In my case there was no question that my knee wasn't stable enough to try to get by without surgery, and I guess I figured the sooner I got it fixed the sooner I could rehab=the sooner I'd be back skiing. Of course timing also had a lot to do with my decision; I knew I wouldn't be able to ski from the day of the injury (Dec. 2) and figured I'd be cleared for bicycling just about the time the roads became rideable.

Dave Marshack,
I don't have a custom brace or anything, so will probably start out skiing without. My PT told me the brace I do have (a donjoy playmaker) wouldn't prevent re-injury anyway, but I might wear it for the first couple of days because the neoprene will keep the knee warmer, but I also don't want to have a false sense of security just because I'm wearing a brace. Of course I've had more time post surgery, so that plays into the decision somewhat.

My ortho stressed early on that the surgery and the mechanics of the knee are a small piece of the entire rehab picture. I'm sure he has had many patients who either couldn't afford to go to a PT regularly, or who simply didn't because they didn't think it was necessary. PT is necessary, especially if you want to come back as close as possible to 100%, but I don't think you necessarily need a PT standing over you every day, once a week, or even once a month if you're disciplined about doing the work on your own and have at least some idea of what exercises you need to be doing. I would keep doing what you're doing and try to work in some single leg balance and strengthening exercises. I think I listed most of my PT routine in here somewhere. Some of the later exercises that seemed to help a lot were one legged floor touches, lunges, door touches, and hamstring and quad strengthening exercises with a rubber PT band. You've probably already looked into this, but a google search on ACL replacement strengthening exercises will probably yield some pretty good results including videos, diagrams, pie charts, sock puppets, and maybe even some porn.

Good luck you guys, and welcome!

I've just been remembering lately that a good friend of mine from my Killington bumper days had one knee done in his mid-twenties and the other in his late twenties, and then went on to win their annual mogul contest (Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge) at least once, and podium a few times after that. Not exactly a pro-comp, but the guy could crush a bump line and throw solid triples in competition with two fake knees, so there is hope. I never had more than a solid double and never could spin, but at least now I can use "protecting my knee" as an excuse.

[culcrsr]

I'm at 12 weeks post-op and my PT cleared me to start jogging. I still get tightness after a long day on my feet or riding my bike but definitely feel like I'm getting stronger. Hope everyone is recovering well this summer!

[Kiwiskier]

Thanks Bendtheski. I guess the waiting is doing my head in. Surgery is at least 6 weeks away if it gets approved, meanwhile I'm sitting here unemployed with no real income coming in. Feels like my life is in limbo. Any advice on keeping a basic level of fitness and avoiding weight gain while in prehab/rehab. I find it hard to keep my weight down without exercise. I love swimming but PT said avoid open chain exercise (swim kicking). I guess it's just the exercycle in front of the TV.

[Dave Marshack]

Kiwi, It does get better. I'm still seeing progress. A month out of surgery isn't very long to expect much. I just burried myself in my work and my PT, and surprisingly it didn't get me nearly as down as I worried it might. It didn't hurt that we had one of the worst winters in recent history; I wasn't missing much. I also threw a bunch of the money I was saving on not skiing into new bicycle gear. After 4 months of being a gym monkey it felt so good to be on a bike, and with the skiing still sucking and an unusually warm March, I re-discovered my love affair with cycling just as I was burning out on the gym/PT routine. Just keep plugging away at it; it will get better. I turn 50 next week and was really concerned that this might be the end of my skiing career as I have know it since age 7. I know I'll have to be careful, especially early season, but I'm starting to think it's not going to be anywhere near as bad as I thought.

shralpingthegnar,
Just curious why you put it off? In my case there was no question that my knee wasn't stable enough to try to get by without surgery, and I guess I figured the sooner I got it fixed the sooner I could rehab=the sooner I'd be back skiing. Of course timing also had a lot to do with my decision; I knew I wouldn't be able to ski from the day of the injury (Dec. 2) and figured I'd be cleared for bicycling just about the time the roads became rideable.

Dave Marshack,
I don't have a custom brace or anything, so will probably start out skiing without. My PT told me the brace I do have (a donjoy playmaker) wouldn't prevent re-injury anyway, but I might wear it for the first couple of days because the neoprene will keep the knee warmer, but I also don't want to have a false sense of security just because I'm wearing a brace. Of course I've had more time post surgery, so that plays into the decision somewhat.

My ortho stressed early on that the surgery and the mechanics of the knee are a small piece of the entire rehab picture. I'm sure he has had many patients who either couldn't afford to go to a PT regularly, or who simply didn't because they didn't think it was necessary. PT is necessary, especially if you want to come back as close as possible to 100%, but I don't think you necessarily need a PT standing over you every day, once a week, or even once a month if you're disciplined about doing the work on your own and have at least some idea of what exercises you need to be doing. I would keep doing what you're doing and try to work in some single leg balance and strengthening exercises. I think I listed most of my PT routine in here somewhere. Some of the later exercises that seemed to help a lot were one legged floor touches, lunges, door touches, and hamstring and quad strengthening exercises with a rubber PT band. You've probably already looked into this, but a google search on ACL replacement strengthening exercises will probably yield some pretty good results including videos, diagrams, pie charts, sock puppets, and maybe even some porn.

Good luck you guys, and welcome!

I've just been remembering lately that a good friend of mine from my Killington bumper days had one knee done in his mid-twenties and the other in his late twenties, and then went on to win their annual mogul contest (Bear Mountain Mogul Challenge) at least once, and podium a few times after that. Not exactly a pro-comp, but the guy could crush a bump line and throw solid triples in competition with two fake knees, so there is hope. I never had more than a solid double and never could spin, but at least now I can use "protecting my knee" as an excuse.

Yeah buddy, I wasn't saying that I wasn't doing pt... just incorporating it into my life. I have the very lucky situation that my college roommate is a Athletic Therapist and a PT so I can skype pt for free... If you are worried about re injuring a knee brace can help. My surgeon set mine to lock before my knee got to full extension, I just did not butter ANYTHING all wither and tried to keep my knees bent at all times. That was his idea as in his mind my knee mechanism was vulnerable with no ACL holdin shit down. I had a few crashes and lots of nice drops to pow and great high speed skiing. Just stay away from tech tricks and slipping while drunk after riding...

[Dave Marshack]

Also... As a special to all my budds that blew their ACL's; contact me if your ever in whistler.. I am a ski mechanic/tuner and will make sure your boards are perfect before we go and wreck our knees again!

[Kiwiskier]

Results from MRI: 'near complete rupture of ACL and complete rupture of MCL'. I could have told them that!

[bendtheski]

Kiwi,
My prehab consisted of lots of stationary bike, plus quad sets, leg lifts, squats, hamstring curls, and swimming. Bike and swimming are probably your best bet for calorie burn and weight control, and the rest will maintain or improve your leg strength which will help your recovery post-surgery.

FWIW, I delayed my surgery for just over a month so the cost of surgery/PT would all go towards meeting my deductible within the same calendar year. It was kind of frustrating waiting, and I really would have preferred to get the surgery over with sooner, but I think the prehab really did help my recovery.

[bendtheski]

Marshack, I'm gonna dial my mind blowing twister-spread back to a twi-spre, and won't even think about catching air for at least the first month, unless of course someone double-dog dares me. My brace is lockable, but I don't have the clips to let me do that. I suppose I could get them from my ortho, but he's been insisting all along that I won't need a brace so I'll probably just try skiing without and see how that goes. I spent most of last winter pre and post op slipping around on frozen steps and parking lots, so hopefully that won't be too much of a challenge this year. Adding alcohol definitely increased the difficulty score though.;-)

[Dave Marshack]

Thanks Bendtheski. I guess the waiting is doing my head in. Surgery is at least 6 weeks away if it gets approved, meanwhile I'm sitting here unemployed with no real income coming in. Feels like my life is in limbo. Any advice on keeping a basic level of fitness and avoiding weight gain while in prehab/rehab. I find it hard to keep my weight down without exercise. I love swimming but PT said avoid open chain exercise (swim kicking). I guess it's just the exercycle in front of the TV.

Pilates. May sound faggy as fuck but it was developed to help people with injuries recover. Fatty housewives took it over in the early 2000s and made it sound dumb but it works magic. Thepiratebay has lots of videos for free

[Kiwiskier]

Thanks Dave. My PT got me doing some Pilates exercises yesterday. Will need that core strength to haul my carcass around immediate post-surgery.

[TRON]

Two days post op here. Full acl, meniscus repair ad cartilage tidy up. First pt tomorrow. Ready for wounds to heal to gt back in the pool.
Already getting a bit weird in the head. Feel guilty about not being ble to assist in the day to day with the kids (1 and 5).
Sorry to whine but it is oddly refreshing. Thanks.

[Dave Marshack]

It's ok we were all there. In a few weeks you'll be over the hump. Now is the time to make That 5 yo kid go get u a sandwich

[bendtheski]

TRON, prolly a little weird for the kiddies to see you laid-up. This too shall pass.
8 months post surgery; I have to find something new to whine about.

[climberevan]

I hope it's not too late to join the class for this year. I have surgery scheduled for 24 Sept. I've been operating without the ACL for months, apparently. I scheduled an appt to have it looked at because it felt weird, and the night before it sort of subluxed and now hurts like a bitch. The OS says that if it snaps back into joint I can delay surgery, but it's not doing so, so it's become more urgent. I don't have much time for pre-hab, but have been riding bikes like a maniac all summer (including a 112 mi/ 12k vert road ride 2 days ago).

Thanks for all the information I've thus far gleaned from this and the 2011 thread, and I'll keep you guys updated. My OS comes highly recommended (Belzer in SF if anyone knows him). He does no bracing or CPM, apparently... He recommended an allograft because I need to be able to kneel a lot for work (pretty much eliminates the patellar graft), and because I'm so into cycling (he says the hamstring can remain tight forever with that type). Any tips going in, thoughts on the type of graft?

Look for a Gear Swap post soon...won't be needing any touring gear this season.

[leroy jenkins]

So I'm 7 months past surgery and everything seems swell. I can run, I think up to 10 minutes on the treadmill at a time at almost 6mph. I've been mnt biking a lot, up to 4ish hour rides now. Some hiking although nothing with much sustained steep parts, and I've been using ski poles.

My whole body seems to be aching though. My other knee and my shoulder specifically. Shoulders always been a little odd but not this bad, and I've never had any problems with my healthy knee.

Anyone else experience this? I'm hoping its just that my other joins have maybe been picking up the slack of the weak knee for a while and aren't used to strenuous exercise since its been a while. I'm hoping it will go away.

I've been doing lots of stretching and yoga a few times a week and all the related muscles seem to be flexible.

[Kiwiskier]

Climberevan - I've got surgery on 24 Sept too! But they are only doing a meniscotomy and a look to see how badly ruptured the MCL/ACL are. Keep telling them I NEED it fixed NOW so I can be ready for the next Southern Hemisphere ski season (Jun-Nov). Already missed most of this season and willing to give away the upcoming Northern season (I ski 150 days per year on average) just to get it fixed. Sigh.

[bendtheski]

climberevan,

I'm sorry kid, you missed the cutoff by one day. Applications now being accepted for ACL class of 2013...
KIDDING!!!

Sorry to hear about your injury. You've probably already seen that I went with auto over allo, but I don't think there's a clear right or wrong choice there. Mine was a same-side hamstring graft, so some additional rehab is necessary to strengthen the hamstring, in addition to what you'll need to do with the allo. I think I do have some residual tightness in the hamstring area, but it doesn't give me any trouble on the bike or hiking. I'm kind of anxious to see how the knee responds to skiing in a few weeks.

Good luck with your surgery and looking forward to hear about your progress during recovery.

Leroy, I've noticed some tenderness in my good knee. Nothing debilitating, but I never noticed it before this injury. I think favoring my surgery knee is probably the culprit. (oh yeah, and being 50)

I've completed 13 rides up Loveland Pass so far this season, and combined over 1300 road/mtn miles. Not much running, but usually doing at least one 4hr hike a week including one 14'er (Bierstadt). Hiking or biking anything around here always involves a good amount of climbing, and the knee seems to be handling all of it really well, although I still think my ROM is a little compromised, hopefully not enough to be an issue for skiing.

I think at this point the biggest obstacle I'm going to face returning to skiing is going to be confidence. That might actually be a good thing at least intitially so I don't try anything stupid. Hopefully all will go well on the blue cruisers early season. I don't want to be skiing tentatively all season as I think it will increase my chances of biffing.

Looking forward to the W.R.O.D.!!! Will update in a few weeks after I get some turns in. If anyone wants to gimp it up with me at Loveland this season, drop me a line!

[Cedrik]

I think at this point the biggest obstacle I'm going to face returning to skiing is going to be confidence.

Yup. I skied groomers for a while, then eased into easy low angle powder, then steeper pow, all somewhat tentative at first. Then a good ragdoll tomahawk fall with no issues with the knee (my back really hurt for a week, though) and now I feel quite back to normal.

Cedrik
Class of 2011

[bendtheski]

^Thanks Cedrik, I don't imagine there will be much to ski besides groomers for a while, but still going to take it easy and see how it goes. Still light years ahead of where I was almost 10 months ago! I still recall vividly the subluxations of the day of injury, and even though I feel like the new graft and all the work I've done before and since surgery should prevent it happening again, just the thought of it FREAKS ME THE F OUT!!!

I can only guess that folks who put off surgery and continue to ski don't experience subluxations, or don't mind excruciating pain and the sickening feeling that accompany them. Viking heritage might also be a possibility.

My ortho also said 6 months to return to full activity, but more like 18 for complete recovery. I think the graft is rock solid, but there's still some residual soreness, which my ortho attributes to bone and cartilage bruising. Apparently those take longer to heal than the graft itself.

[BigJim]

Hello everybody,

Thought I'd get on here and share my (somewhat late for this year) ACL experiences. I tore through mine on January 15th after a drop into powder skiing in France. As I was working out there for the season I decided to try and carry on after a few days. This went surprisingly well, apart from the knee sub-laxing a few times. After the season I returned to the UK and carried on doing what I do in the summer, mountain biking and teaching sailing and windsurfing. I also went to see the doc to try and get something sorted as although I could function without an ACL I'd heard bad things about the long term effects of doing this. To sum up, I had a same side auto graft (left leg) on 9.15. and am now 11 days out.

At first it hurt a lot, and got me pretty down as I'd walked into hospital with seemingly nothing wrong and came out with a leg that felt way worse. Things have now improved, and after a week of being bored and worried I came across this thread, wi
Hitch has not only been interesting reading but also super encouraging, so a huge thanks to everybody who has been writing on here.

I've been doing PT trying to get the leg straight and it's a bit of a worry, I can still only get it almost straight. How did everyone else get on? Any particularly good exercises or does it just take a bit longer to get there?

Thanks

[bendtheski]

Welcome BigJim,

At 11 days out your ROM is probably going to be pretty limited. My ortho prescribed a CPM for the first week or so which might have helped some, and my PT had me doing quad sets for a month before surgery, and immediately following. You might have some swelling and fluid build up in the joint which will limit your ROM for a while. Keep icing and doing your PT and you'll probably be fine.

I only waited a month for my surgery, but I know what you mean about being more gimped up after the surgery than before. I was actually getting around OK just before surgery, but immediately afterword was afraid to put any weight on the knee, and stairs and dogs underfoot posed some major challenges. The long-term benefits of the surgery have been well worth it though, and the dogs are stoked to have their walker-in-chief fully functioning again!

Somewhere in here I outlined most of my PT routine. Your PT should be able to show you what you need to do at this point in your recovery, and should help you to improve your ROM pretty quickly.

Best of luck with your recovery! BTS

[climberevan]

I'm now at day 4 from surgery. Day 2 was ROUGH. I was maintaining a dose of 2 oxycontins and 2 percocets at all times and wishing for more. It felt like I'd made a terrible mistake.

Luckly that cleared up quickly, and yesterday and today were much better. I am now taking NO pills, and feel fine with only a tiny bit of pain.

Unfortunately I learned (after finally talking with my OS, who disappeared after surgery and was unreachable until late the next day) that I needed a meniscus repair in addition to the ACL reconstruction. Apparently it was a bucket-handle tear on the medial side, and the tear was close to the edge, so he's optimistic that it will heal well. That does mean an additional few weeks of minimal weight bearing before I can really start rehab, though. I had hoped to be back at work in 2-3 weeks, but it's looking more like 5-6 now. My brace is set at 80 degrees max flexion for 5 weeks. Getting to the 80 degrees today when he unlocked it from 0 degrees was a little hard, but I can now go back and forth without too much trouble. The good news is that I can already do at least -5 degrees of extension.

Thanks again for all the advice. I'll keep you all posted and look forward to reading more updates on your progress.