Coming Off ACL Reconstruction - Return to Skiing Fitness Plan & Tests?

[XXX-er]

for what its worth

sposed to take 9 months for the pateler tendon graft to become an ACL , it may or may not reconstruct itself in 5 months, if it works out ok i'm cool but if it pops i'm a dumb ass

maybe I end up like my buddy the OR nurse who re-injured at 6months and told me it was now going to take 2 years rehab

I haven't got the time to wait if it fucks up again

[smooth operator]

So I am two weeks out from my ACL reconstruction. I had an ACL repair two years ago (repair is when they sow the ACL back together, in my case with some additional stuff called an internal brace) -on the same knee. After the repair 2 years ago I had one good skiiing season last year (19-20) although I did partially tear it again that year. But since it still felt super stable I just kept skiing, and apparently it slowly tore away, cause now I woke up one day with a painful knee out of nowhere. (well ok a lot of skiing the week prior). Surgeon said it never properly healed. Big bummer to miss out on a ski season again. Especially since every window in my house i look out of, i see ski lifts and snowy mountains

Went to see the doc, got an MRI that same day, and surgery the day after (yeay Swiss health system). This time no more sowing it back together, but went the Hamstring way. first days after surgery were fine, better than two years ago, but then a painful week followed. Now shit is better, only using some light pain meds to sleep. Should be walking without crutches soon but the quad is still lacking. Looking forward to the next phase when I can actually do some work on the leg.

Good luck everybody. Take it easy, don't rush your return to skiing. Like XXXer said, it is not worth the risk. the tendon needs to die and transform into a ligament which takes time and during this the new ACL is at it's weakest. I watched Lindesy Vonn's 'The Climb' yesterday (its on youtube): she came back to soon and had to go through it again.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Going in for my first ever knee anything on the 26th, completely torn ACL and torn meniscus, so no weight bearing locked leg for a while is what they are saying, never had any surgery before and I'm not looking forward to it or the recovery, but this thread, as in all TGR, proves to be THE source of information. I'm printing this thread and sending it to my doctor now.

[XXX-er]

well he knows all this ^^ stuff but this thread kinda put it all in one easy-to-read spot, for you getting the meds on board for apres surgery pain/ getting unplugged is pretty key, have a pair of crtuches ready, do all the things that need doing that you won't be able to do on crutches with a facked knee , i put some meals in the freezer so I wouldn't have to stand up in the kitchen/ cook , book the PT for 2 weeks post surgery to establish a baseline and get some exercises

Now at just over 5 month post op and the knee is good, pain free with good mobility but on the leg machine its not equal to the good knee so considering normaly i would have 50-60 days of skiing up/ down hill by march that good knee I'm comparing to should be WAY stronger, in other words neither leg is anywhere near ski fit

SO just gona finish a 9month text book rehab, hit the knee machine almost every day maxing out the settings and wait for the bike season

[grskier]

9 Weeks post operation today.

I was lucky in that I was allowed to be weight bearing at 2 weeks. ROM is almost there and inflammation is still there, but not too bad. Pockets of fluid sometimes bind up my patella a little bit.
I go to PT twice/week and try to do something every day. I've been doing blood flow restriction on the effected leg and that puts me out for 2-3 days after. Totally kicks my ass. I'm back walking the dogs as well, which is a hilly 1 mile loop. the down is way trickier than the up. I walked with ski poles for a while, which did help on the downs. I spin 10-15 minutes easy on the bike trainer every few days and will try rowing again in a week or so.

Being sore everyday sucks, the pain in the knee is almost non-existent, it's just muscles being fussy at this point.

[XXX-er]

Are you walking down stairs normal yet ?

I just got to Ok on that last bit of the stride before the foot hits the step after 5+ months, the surgeon told me the walking down will be harder than the walking up due to the weak muscle

[grskier]

Are you walking down stairs normal yet ?

I just got to Ok on that last bit of the stride before the foot hits the step after 5+ months, the surgeon told me the walking down will be harder than the walking up due to the weak muscle

I've been walking down stairs, except when I'm really sore, normally for a few weeks already.
My meniscus tear was pretty minimal, so I had just the two weeks of atrophy to deal with.

[Chugachjed]

Shit I’m a year out and able to ski like before but I’ve only been walking down stairs normally for like 2 months.

[XXX-er]

Yeah ^^ on stairs that last bit of the bad knee flexing to do the steps without just dropping onto the step i can just do it this week if i concentrate, the PT is close by so I go every day doing like 7 single leg sets of 15 on the knee press at max setting, with no skiing/ covid restrictions, what else have i got to do ?

should start biking soon and that will be good for the knee and the head

[Ireallyliketoski2]

I've got my surgery scheduled for the 26th, got Xbox PGA2K21, already working from home (software stuff), how long would you think before being able to work again, I was planning on returning on the 1st, just cause I want something to do, but do meds/pain make that not feasible. I've got a wife and three kids willing to help out with food and drink.

[XXX-er]

YMMV as they say so that ^^ gives you 6 days,

probably doable

besides its only software

sez the smartass recovering HW guy

you can read what I wrote on page2 of this thread, at 6 days I was off the heavy meds able to skip the tramadol and into just 400mg of IBU, did some getting around without crutches, i have a GF who drops by whenever I would ask but I got no support staff in this post op facility

[Ireallyliketoski2]

YMMV as they say so that ^^ gives you 6 days,

probably doable

besides its only software

sez the smartass recovering HW guy

you can read what I wrote on page2 of this thread, at 6 days I was off the heavy meds able to skip the tramadol and into just 400mg of IBU, did some getting around without crutches, i have a GF who drops by whenever I would ask but I got no support staff in this post op facility

I've got a meniscus repair as well as ACL reconstruct , so docs are saying 4-6 weeks crutches, non-weight bearing so yeah, I'm glad I got some help as I'm going full Howard Hughes mode.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

HAd the surgery yesterday, turns out no meniscus tear but there was a bit of cartilage damage, which looked like torn meniscus on the MRI, surgery went well, but the pain try to full extend the leg is pretty real, hence posting at 3am, I got one of those CPM machines and it’s moving my leg from 0-60, 10-60 is ok, but 0-10 keeps me up.

Good news is because no meniscus pair I can do weight bearing, which I can’t really bare any weight now because Of the pain but happy I don’t have to do full 6 weeks no weight bearing, the loss of cartilage will put me at higher risk of arthritis down the road but no one knows exactly what that looks like. I’m taking oxy and Tylenol for pain, and boy do I need it.

[grskier]

HAd the surgery yesterday, turns out no meniscus tear but there was a bit of cartilage damage, which looked like torn meniscus on the MRI, surgery went well, but the pain try to full extend the leg is pretty real, hence posting at 3am, I got one of those CPM machines and it’s moving my leg from 0-60, 10-60 is ok, but 0-10 keeps me up.

Good news is because no meniscus pair I can do weight bearing, which I can’t really bare any weight now because Of the pain but happy I don’t have to do full 6 weeks no weight bearing, the loss of cartilage will put me at higher risk of arthritis down the road but no one knows exactly what that looks like. I’m taking oxy and Tylenol for pain, and boy do I need it.

Haven't checked in for a bit, how are you doing?

[Jeb McHardman]

Had surgery this afternoon. Doc repaired the ACL using the patellar tendon, sutured the small medial meniscal tear (2 all-inside sutures), and did a root repair on the lateral meniscus. Because of the root repair, I'm looking at longer than average initial downtime/recovery, but I'm hoping it pays off in the long-term. Pain isn't bad now (dull throbbing on the outside of the knee), but I'm guessing it will increase when the nerve block wears off tomorrow.

It's been two months since the accident, and, more than anything, I'm just happy the damn thing has finally been addressed. I've got a good PT, a big ass pile of books, and the Euros start on Friday. I think this will be ok.

[XXX-er]

I thot the same thing but IME the nerve block wears off in about 18-20 hrs so I hope you are preemptively on top of your meds and laxative

I'm 8+ months post op, do some biking hitting the gym, nothing earth shattering to report,

[pfluffenmeister]

Yeah, when I got my ACL reconstructed they said start your pain meds as soon as you start feeling anything.

[Jeb McHardman]

I've been on the oxy-naproxen-tylenol train since leaving the hospital. Seems to be working, since I actually feel better today than yesterday. The side effects of the oxy are pretty miserable, though--I feel like Simple Jack

[splat]

Nurse gave me some all-time advice - half an hour after the oxy, do a vicodin.

It erases any semblance of pain - and reality.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Hey y'all, been a while, coming up on 3 months post surgery, got almost all my extension/flex back, just a 1-2 degrees off, that feels good. Dealing with a bit of knee pain when doing squat\lunge type exercises mostly due to weak glutes combined with the quad graft putting strain on the tendon, that feels not so good. Overall just a little bit of soreness, stiffness. I can walk along fine with my brace, max is like a 3 mile walk around the neighborhood with 250 ft elev gain, up the stairs is ok, downstairs less so, crowds make me nervous and I'm off all the official pain killers and now self medicating with unofficial pain killers. I enjoyed the oxy, but I don't remember those days much and my wife said I was "inattentive". Should be able to start riding a bike in the next month or so, that would be good I think I would ride it for miles just to get the heck out of the house. Mentally I'm probably doing the worse, being inactive for so long sucks, drinking too much, kind of just miserable, but working on some meditation, breathing, gratitude to keep me relatively sane.

I finished 2nd in my xbox PGA2K21 season, lost to Bryson DeChambeau in the finals, super pissed about that, especially since I crushed him in the season fed ex standings, oh well, playing another season now.

[splat]

I think the last year was weirdly difficult for all in so many different ways.
But it sounds like your killin' it, got a cool old lady, and know what you gotta do.

[XXX-er]

I had the 9 months post op PT visit, buddy sent off a report to the orthopedic surgeon and its all good

range of motion has pretty much all returned, no pain, from testing in the gym I can see the knee is still getting stronger but its all positive , the PT tells me i need to do jumping around side to side back n forth which i didnt do any of but I am now but otherwise it all seems positive

this has for the most part been a text book recovery with no ifs ands buts setbacks or fuckups

still IME an ACL really does need 9 months to fully mend and at 9 months every thing just miraculously kind of lined up

be good and let the body fix itself eh

[Jeb McHardman]

Congrats man. Good to hear everything is going well for you. Do you run at all? How's that feeling on the knee?

[Djongo Unchained]

Fucking DeChambeau.




He owes me money.

[XXX-er]

I hardly ever ran but i could always run 20 or 30 minutes without feeling injured the next day, so i tried the tread mill last month and was good for < 10 strides but i think it will come round,

PT sez the whole bounding side to side fore n back thing which i didnt do needs to happen so I am doing it

exactly 9 months was on tuesday which was coincidently the day everything felt pretty good