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Thread: Recovering from Knee dislocation

  1. #26
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    Jan 2006
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    21 Week update

    5 Months 1 week since the accident.

    Another week of PT has come and gone. It's finally starting to feel like i have a real leg again!!! rather than a lifeless extremity. walking is becoming easier...I still have a limp, especially when i havn't warmed up on a bike or anything. once I do i can get going pretty close to normal.

    PT this week was awesome. 2 very hard work outs...After being layed up in bed for a solid 2 months with out even being able to roll on to my sides.....there arent words to describe how much i appreciate finally breaking a sweat due to physical activity and having a good hard workout.

    every visit my condition improves.
    today highlights over last week were
    45lb single leg press with bad leg 3X15
    6lb ball throws at tramp balancing on foam pad....40
    moved to circular balncing plate got off 6 throws while balancing on bad leg.
    started doing forward and backward lunges with elastic band between my ankles. felt kinda like skating.
    step ups and step downs.
    single leg bridging and curls for the hamstrings.
    ankle has finally started to loosen up and flex, used to be pretty much solid.

    the lunges with the elastic felt great. closest feeling to playing hockey ive had in a good 6 months. Made me almost think i could get back out on the ice. The idea of getting back to skiing and sports in general looks brighter...I've got a long way to go....but definately one of the best weeks I've had in a long time.

    and after 10 days of no sleep and feeling like shit I've been able to cut out a huge dose of the oxy's ive been taking for the last 5 months.

    things are lookin up right now

  2. #27
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    good work caddah - keep at it and keep us posted.

  3. #28
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    5 and a half months.

    Another week down. Not as exciting as last week. but made some good progress. My knee has been feelin real sore and worn out after all these work outs. almost like it doesnt have enough time to fully recover. but it is getting stronger.

    pt this week

    55lbs single leg press with bad leg.
    8lb ball thrown at tramp on balancing disc 11 throws
    elastic ankle band lunges
    squats with 8lb ball
    step down with bad leg on higher step
    hamstring pulls with 10lbs
    adducter pulls with 50lbs

    Wednesday was also the first time i have been able to walk around campus inbetween my classes with no crutches in 22 weeks!!!!
    This may be the reason for the knee feeling so sore. more work with walking during the day and stairs

    I am able to go up stairs, not normal, but still one foot in front of the other skipping a stair each time. going downstairs is still the one step at a time routine.

    One more month from today i will be seeing my ortho for another check up and to plan surgury possibly. we'll see how I'm doing. any one know how much strength you should have built up before surgery. probably as close to normal as possible. any way....I feel good and am progressing. my hope is that i can get myself strong and ready for surgery in early summer. and maybe....just maybe ski a few runs next season.

  4. #29
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    had a decent weeked with the injured leg. I enjoyed all the fresh new snow here in burlington by doing donuts on lake champlain. felt good enough to get out of my car and walk around on the ice a bit. slipped and fell flat on back. no damage to knee i think, but was the first serious digger I've taken since september. I've let my leg rest up over the weekend after a hard week of rehab. i did some biking but nothing to exhuasting as i wanted to let my leg heal up. over all it hasnt made any difference tho. my knee is actually feeling looser than ever. very unstable. my left knee is the bad one, and if i am sitting in a chair with my leg bent, i can hold my knee/femur with my right hand, and with my left hand apply pressure to my outer lower leg/tibia and watch the bone translate through my friggen skin. any one know what ligament this means is missing? does your knee get more and more loose until you have it reconstructed. should i let my doctor know? Ive told my PT and she said that aslong as i have quad control i should not need any bracing or anything.

    I have PT tomorrow, and a meeting with the ORTHO in less than a month. I'll keep updating and anyone who might know anything about this I'd appreciate what ever knowledge you have

  5. #30
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    From your description that would probably be your ACL or possibly your MCL. It is tough to tell from your description which way you are pushing your knee and causing translation. If I had to pick one it would be ACL.
    fighting gravity on a daily basis

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  6. #31
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    update 23 week post injury

    Great week of PT. The leg is feeling stronger and stronger. Made some big progress.

    PT
    18 throws of 6lb ball at tramp while balancing on bad leg on disc. (starting to finally feel kinda stable on this leg)
    65 lbs single leg press 3X10 with bad leg.
    started doing step downs balancing on bad leg and using all of my quad to slowly lower my self, with right foot in front, side and behind.
    single leg bridging
    3X15 squats with 8lb ball
    elastic lunges
    first attempt at holding myself up while laying on my side and having only my elbow/forearm and bad foot touching the ground(not sure what this exercise is called)
    started balancing on bad leg while sliding good leg out to the side(had a cloth under the good leg so it would slide)

    got to 128 degrees flexion with stretching the quad while laying on stomach
    so I'm atleast maintaining if not getting a little more flexion along with my increased strength.

    talked to my PT about the real loose feeling. didnt seem to worried about it. started doing some exercises to strengthen certain muscles around where its loose.

    I have a HUGE scar on the outer part of my bad lower leg becuase of a fasciotomy. its been PAINFUL and difficult whenever firing that muscle on the outer lower leg. (happens when trying to move ankle and foot to the outside) excessive scar tissue build up there from the incision closing up. got some massaging on it and it goes DEEP. hurts real bad but I think its starting to loosen up.

    any one have any methods for trying to get rid of scar tissue formation blocking muscle. My PT says the entire muscle belly has a deep scarring.

    I've rambled enough...my bad
    more next week

  7. #32
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    mabe some deep tissue or frisction massage on the scar to lossen it up???? ask you therapist.
    fighting gravity on a daily basis

    WhiteRoom Skis
    Handcrafted in Northern Vermont
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  8. #33
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    WOW
    best of luck to you
    keep up the good work
    nancie2k

  9. #34
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    6 month update

    I cant believe its been 6 MONTHS since I hurt myself. The 24 week anniversarry is this saturday. Im still far from normal but things are improving.

    This week at PT

    75 lbs single leg press with bad leg.
    tried the elliptical for the first time.
    lots of squats on inclined ramp holding 8lb ball
    step downs on inclined ramp (focusing on the quads here)
    what my pt calls monster walks, elastic band inbetween the ankles.
    lots of hamstring exersices to try to wake the focker up.
    stair practice. going up is pretty good, still some weakness in the hip, going down is still all about the railing.
    lots of work stretching and loosening the ankle up, and trying to get scar tissue out of the muscle belly on my outer leg, massive deep scar tissue on, around and behind the fibula.

    walking is getting alot better, almost have a normal gait. strength in the leg i improving. basically my whole leg wasted away during my surgeries and hosptiol stay, and with my fixator. so I really started out from square 1 here. according to my PT it takes about 3 times as long to build muscle as it does to loose it. so by those standards i've got a ways to go before im back to anywhere near full strength.

    starting to see some muscle definition and my skin graft is almost all closed and looking good. i might post a couple pics of how its looking a little later. Its cool to compre to pics taken from a month or so ago.

    ortho appt scheduled a couple weeks from now to figure out what the plan of action from here is.

    Atleast winter is almost over here on the EC. if I had to miss one, this year was prolly a pretty good choice.

  10. #35
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    winter is officially over here, skiing today was terrible, crowded, and there wasn't even much of a base. good luck with the leg, this winter sucked, you picked a good one to miss.
    Three fundamentals of every extreme skier, total disregard for personal saftey, amphetamines, and lots and lots of malt liquor......-jack handy

  11. #36
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    One year ago...

    My man caddah.

    Props to you for keeping a good vibe and great attitude throught this whole deal. One year ago I dislocated my patella and had it re-aligned and all. No ligament damage so I was lucky but I remembered sitting (make that lying in bed) wondering about "will I ever ski again" or do anything of the sort. Well, other people in PT would tell me that they were in my perdicament so many weeks ago and yadah yadah about getting back to it pronto. Well, they were right and I'll tell you brotha that I am more than 110% since that experience.

    DON'T EVER CATCH YOURSELF MUMBLING OR SPLIRTING OUT NEGATIVE VIBES!!!!
    They will only set you back.

    Every day is positive if it moves you toward your goal of being crutchless and self reliant. It can always be worse and for you the future looks bright. Thank heaven for modern medicine, specialty doctors, insurance, great legal drugs, and all the stuff that gets us back to where we left off. Sure it was a learning experience for me that I will never forget. Now I think twice before I leap and weigh out the circumstances a little more. I still take risks and so will you but the long and the short of it all is that...

    You will be back on your feet shortly and all your time will have been worth it. Consider the reflection time an investiment into your future. I did.

    Keep writing about your progress and hears a CAW CAW from Spread to cheer you on.

  12. #37
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    Hoy F%&* Caddah!
    I've seen that injury once in seven years of patrolling. Kid was lucky and had no vascular compromise. Your ordeal is gut-wrenching, I had a tear in my eye reading about your progress. You've come a long way and you'll see the other end of this. Keep up the good work.

    By the way, I'm looking at ACL reconstruction now (my second) and I've just had the cadaver/autograft discussion with my Doc. He fellowed at Steadman Hawkins in Vail where they generally know thier stuff. He said the cadaver graft (which he has) may be a slightly quicker recovery but the relative risks are high enough that he'll only do it if he absolutely has to. The risks are generally small but still considerably higher than the alternative. They include disease (very small), autoimmune reaction (rejection or just plain absorption of graft), and there seems to be a generally higher risk of graft failure. I wouldn't panic if this is your only option but I think the auto graft is just more reliable with less chance of complications. My Doc said circumstances where he'll do the cadaver graft include multiple repairs on same knee, where all other options have been exhausted, or problems with deciduous tissue, such as trauma or weakness. Ultimately, I would listen to what your doc recommends though, it can depend on what procedure he has most experience with. Sounds like he's pretty good and I bet he'll have a similar opinion, or will support any difference he might have.

    Good luck!
    There's nothing better than sliding down snow, flying through the air

  13. #38
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    25 week update

    This is the 25th week since my injury and things are going well. First off i just wanna say thanks to Spread and foxy and everyone else whos given me positive words of advice and incouragement. They help alot, and having a positive attitude through out an injury like this is the only thing you can do. I have tried real hard to keep positive even when its easy to get down on yourself. theres no point in getting down on yourself, i did it early on when i was real gimped up. its just a waste of your time. looking forward and setting goals has helped me and my progress.

    My OS appt is on the 4th of april. I plan on learning alot and discussing what exactly will be happening with my knee then. I have alot of questions for my doc and I plan on finding a solution that will get me back to my ultimae goal of skiing and playing hockey...at a very high level.....foxy I'll let you know what my doc says. my case might be a little different becuase of multiple lig tears. I probably will be getting allograft, but i have heard that autograft is the gold standard. It will be interesting to see what my doc does at the appointment given that he does not have and connot take MRI's becuase of metal clips holding my artery and vein grafts. (which are 100 percent now and I'm f'in pumped about)

    any way ...PT this week.

    80LB single leg press
    45LB calf press (heel raises on leg press machine)
    tried a really sweet new machine. lcd screen that shows your pressure on a plate, you have to shift your weight to move a cross hair around to balance your self.
    squats with 5 lb ball while standing on one of those blue excersize balls cut in half.
    monster walks. (during one of my lunges it snapped and flew at my bad leg. I didnt feel anything, becuase i cant feel anything on my leg still, but i think it probably hurt)
    step downs on incline plane( getting closer and closer to walking normally down stairs)
    massage on scar tissue ( finally starting to break up a little bit)

    I am so lucky to have not had any set backs yet, and i keep progressing everytime i see my physical therapist. good luck to everyone and thier injuries. looks like a bunch of people got hurt this past week. keep at it

  14. #39
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    time lapse

    Aright i took some pictures of my leg just to compare to ones I took earlier. its a good way of seeing how the healing process is going. the first set of pics is from the first couple weeks after the accident. 2nd set is at 4.5 months. 3rd set is at 6 months and a week.


    my leg right after getting the skin graft with external fixator

    same leg at 4.5 months

    same leg now....you can see a little tiny quad there


    now for the donor site, right after injury

    4.5 months

    and now...lightened up a little bit


    both legs side by side at 4.5 months

    both legs now (left is the bad one)


    heres a close up of how the graft is doing now, just like a big ass scar


    and heres a shot of the sar on the outside of my leg thats been given me a lot of trouble. lots and lots of scar tissue deep inside this fasciotomy incision.
    its finally starting to break up just a little bit now, but this one is deep.

  15. #40
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    Week 26. 6.5 months since injury.

    PT went well this week. last weekend i got swamped with work (resume and shit) and didn't do my usual weekend work outs outside of PT. definately payed the price. not that my muscles lost any strength, but they started pulling in really wierd directions. When i got to PT on tuesday all of my normal exercises were difficult. When some muscles in your leg are stronger than others, your body tends to compensate and use the stronger ones more. all my exercises were doable but difficult and often with crappy technique. problem solved by my thursday appt tho. just needed to get back to controlled percise movements to target my weak muscles.

    nothin new this week, i think i might have added 5 pounds to my leg press. but i mostly worked on getting back what i had lost over the weekend.

    For all of my PT sessions i have been wearing custom compression pants on my bad leg to help the skin graft heal. they're getting small tho and almost constricting which means the muscles have definately grown. i worked out at PT for the first time with out them on thursday (just wrapped an ace arround the skin graft) and whith out the pants both my PT and I (who look at my leg everyday) were shocked to see how small some areas of my leg were. my inner thigh is so underdeveloped right now among other things. Ive really gotta long way to go here.

    I measured circumphrence of my thigh last week and my bad leg was 1.25 inches smaller than my good leg. seems like that is improving a little as i add muscle. the right, good leg has gotten huge tho bearing all of my weight. really noticable on squats when my good leg has bulging muscles. finally getting a little of my quad back on the bad leg.

    OS appt on Tuesday, and stregth testing on Monday so i will have some numbers to show how much my bad leg has improved over the last 3 months eaarly next week.

    I'm done rambling for now, i'll update again next week
    Last edited by caddah; 03-31-2006 at 03:41 PM.

  16. #41
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    STRENGTH IMPROVEMENT

    Quote Originally Posted by caddah
    I had my first outpatient PT. did some strength testing . my right (good) leg is consistently 4 to 5 times stronger in all tests. my flexibility is also very bad. i had some work done on the ankle that for some reason has become a big prolem becuase of the knee dislocation.
    So, that was 2 and a half months ago. I just got back from strength testing over at the rehab gym. made some big progress. added 1.5 inches of muscle to the bad leg measured at 4 inches above the knee cap, and .75 inches to my calf. As for strength, i consistently DOUBLED my old numbers, sometimes more. ankle range of motion (dorsiflexion) has improved by 13 degrees. flexion at the knee has increased with no stretching from 100 then to 130 degrees now. So over all 2.5 months ago my bad leg was testing at about 20% as strong as my good leg. Now im testing about 50% as strong as the good leg...which has also gotten stronger.

    Definately some big gains in the right direction and a good morale booster.

    OS appointment tomorrow

  17. #42
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    I had my appointment with my OS today to figure what is going on with my situatuon. For anyone who reads this. Please let me know if this seems right, even though my case is a little different than most, or if I should maybe get any second opinions on what i should do.

    Doc did a lot of external test on the stability of my knee. pulling and such to see how the ligaments are doing. came up with the following results.

    LCL was previously TORN but has 'healed' scared over and is fairly tight.
    PCL worst of all ligs. 1cm extra movement as opposed to good leg.
    ACL torn but has scarred and healed. i think he may have said 2nd degree. a little loose here
    MCL is around the same as the ACL.

    meniscus was previosuly torn in the injury, but seems to have healed due to increased blood flow during the injury and recovery. my OS thinks this is not a problem as i do not get swelling when active, and i have full extension. So he thinks this is not a huge problem.

    chattering through full range of motion on knee cap (crepitous) He says this is scar tissue behind knee cap, which im sure i have a ton of. He says it will get better as i get stronger, or he can clean that up at any time.

    I know this is kinda vague, but with out being able to take an MRI, my two options are either going in the knee to look around, or another scan, forget the name, but both seem not worth it right now.

    He asked me what i would be doing now if i didn't injur myself, i said slaying the gnar, and playing hockey. He asked what I expect myself to do after having been injured. and i said the same thing. So he knows that i really want to compete at a high level once this mess is all over with. He sais at this point to work on strengthening my leg more. once i have got it stronger than we can see where my instabilites are and then work from there, and perform surguries if necessary. right now my left knee as is, is stable enough for cross country skiing some skating, real easy skiing, none of which i am interested in. He says surgury now would be just putting me down again, crutches imobilized etc......

    So it looks like i might be able to ski some groomers at the beginning of next season. surgury seems out till i strengthen my leg some more, and can be done at any time.

    Does this sound legit. I am leaning on agreeing with him right now. It makes sense to me, even though i really want to back on the slopes next year in good shape. My OS has been with me since the beginning when he was unsure i would ever be able to walk again. I definately have some built up trust in him.

    So that is the prognosis right now. Still alot of work ahead of me. But i can not be happier or luckier that things are looking bright. Just got an email from my pops about a skier competing in an extreme tele skiing comp in crested butte who just got an above the knee amputation becuase he shredded his popliteal artery in a fall...the same thing I did. I consider myself very lucky

    http://www.rutlandherald.com/apps/pb...=2006604040329
    Last edited by caddah; 04-04-2006 at 03:57 PM.

  18. #43
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    I understand you have your LCL and MCL back. Makes a lot of sens, as they are both suppose to heal. What I do not understand is how you can diagnose that ACL was torn, but healed just moving and twisting your knee? Have you got any previous diagnoses of torn ACL?
    Why you consider PCL to be the worst of them all?
    I am really inspired by your story. Good luck

  19. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kempes
    I understand you have your LCL and MCL back. Makes a lot of sens, as they are both suppose to heal. What I do not understand is how you can diagnose that ACL was torn, but healed just moving and twisting your knee? Have you got any previous diagnoses of torn ACL?
    Why you consider PCL to be the worst of them all?
    I am really inspired by your story. Good luck
    Hey Kempes,
    Yeah, I dont know if I would say i really have 'ligaments' basically my OS said that the ACL was torn in the beggining, but has significantly scarred together like most of my knee has. I have not had any imaging test done on my leg, so all he's going on is laxity(maybe this is how u spell it) tests on the knee. basically prying and pulling on my leg in different directions. He is noticing where it seems tight and where it seems loose. I think that basically whats holding my knee together right now is scar tissue. I dont think he even knows what exactly got torn or what grade.

    So im not a miracle healer who can just grow an acl, but if i understand correctly he thinks many of my ligaments were torn and now have scarred together to hold the knee. to dislocate a knee you usually have to tear atleast 3 ligaments. so they were torn at one point, but my knee is semi stable right now. The focus right now is still on working on strength and then seeing what problems and instabilities i have, and then going in and reconstructing.

    I said the PCL is the worst, becuase its in the worst condition of my ligaments right now. not that i has the most impact. he said i am pretty much pcl deficient. He said it was definately torn and has not healed that well. there more than a cm difference in movement compared to the good leg.

  20. #45
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    My limited experience shows that no imagining or laxity test is good enough and substitutes camera inside the knee.
    You probably need to focus on rehab and go for arthroscopy once your OS advises so. They will see what is in there and reconstruct what is missing.
    I had ACL done 3 days ago. I would say the better condition of the leg and knee the better. ACL reconstruction is equivalent of major injury at the begining.

  21. #46
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    Yours is definitely an unusual situation. If your scar tissue is holding the knee stable... maybe that's a good thing? You have ROM, so why not just leave it? I can also believe that the whole situation might have led to increased blood flow that allowed your ligaments and meniscus to heal. It's possible that they weren't torn completely and were able to repair themselves - just somewhat stretched out.

    I don't know if I would think it's worthwhile to get it scoped to figure out what's really in there or not - especially if it's feeling pretty decent. I think you really have to base that on how it feels and what you're able to do on it.

    Honestly it's hard to know what to say in your situation at all. But it's truly inspirational to see how far you've come! Keep it up!
    "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow, what a Ride!"

  22. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by altagirl
    Yours is definitely an unusual situation. If your scar tissue is holding the knee stable... maybe that's a good thing? You have ROM, so why not just leave it? I can also believe that the whole situation might have led to increased blood flow that allowed your ligaments and meniscus to heal. It's possible that they weren't torn completely and were able to repair themselves - just somewhat stretched out.

    I don't know if I would think it's worthwhile to get it scoped to figure out what's really in there or not - especially if it's feeling pretty decent. I think you really have to base that on how it feels and what you're able to do on it.
    Thats exactly what the doc said. Increased blood flow definately healed the meniscus. He said he has no concerns there becuase I have full extension and no swelling during activity. my knee is definately stable enough right now that i can work out....leg press, lunges, to work on my strength. The main thing limiting me still is muscle loss. I have alot of strength to build up before i can really know exactly where my instabilities are. Once that happens I can be re-evaluated for reconstruction etc. Its gonna suck, getting knocked back down after working all the way up to that point, but i definately want the strongest, most stable knee i can possibly get.

    So i think any surgical stuff is probably just not worth it right now. It is definately possible that some ligs were stretched and not completely torn, and then healed. the only fracture that came up, not on xray, but on the first emergency surgury was a tibial plateau fracture. No avulsion fracture from ligaments tearing off.

    BY THE WAY, i have 2 screws holding the tibia plateau fracture, and they are bigging me. Are those something that stay in there forever? I can definately feel them when putting pressure on my leg. if anyone has had a fracture like that i'd be interested to know what theirs feels like.

    Altagirl, your posts have def been an inspiration to keep working as hard as i can. I just feel very lucky and fortunate that I have my leg especially with some of the stories i've heard about people who have had the same injury with much worse results. It is finally feeling like a leg again. Walking is getting easier and the transormation from basically a peice of meat hanging off my hip, to a functioning leg that feels good is happening. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. For a while there i didnt really know if i could ever get this thing to work again...especially with the other complications, but i can finally feel it getting stronger everyday.

    Next OS appointment is AUG 1, So i'll be gettin as strong as i can for that. that will be 11 months since this happened.

  23. #48
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    Man, I have no idea where those screws would be and if they'd come out easily or not. Mr.AG had a tibial plateau fracture, but no surgery - just had to stay off of it.

    I'd ask your OS though - I know there are people with screws in there that have them removed and it's a very simple procedure - obviously that depends on if they can get to them without being very invasive, I'd think. But it can't hurt to ask - I wouldn't even wait for for the appointment - I'd just call him and see if you can get an answer that way. I'd think it would be easy enough to ask "hey can these things come out" over the phone.

    Have you ever looked at http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/index.php

    There are some people on there with some seriously fucked knees - sometimes I can't stand reading about the horror stories on there. Other times it just makes me feel really lucky. But you might find some good info.

    It's really amazing to see how far you've come and how much flexibility you have after all of that. It sounds like you'll just be doing better and better once you get more muscle back!

    Edit: see http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/i...?topic=25338.0 and http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/i...?topic=25178.0 about TPF hardware removal.

    And http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/i...?topic=22290.0 for screw removal story with pics.
    Last edited by altagirl; 04-09-2006 at 08:17 AM.
    "Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming, "Wow, what a Ride!"

  24. #49
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    Caddah, I guess that's good news so far. I think they can do a PCL reconstruction but usually don't. Not 100% sure on that one. Sounds like you can pursue serious strengthening without much risk at his point though, which is awesome. Grade 2 tear means partial tear, which can heal. The ligaments are vascular, and especially with all the immobilization you had, I guess it had enough chance. MCL and LCL commonly heal on their own after a partial tear.

    As far as imaging, I don't think it could hurt, if there is an alternative to MRI. I've got old fixator screws in my knee and still got an MRI. They're titanium which is non-magnetic, I assume your clips are too, so there wouldn't be physical danger. The metal does interfere with the image though, depending on their location. My last MRI on that knee was actually inconclusive for meniscus damage though it did show my ligaments intact (which we knew anyway). Like Kempes said though, no imaging would be as good as being inside your knee, especially with the hardware in there, which isn't worth it right now. Turned out I did have meniscus damage as well as a bone spur cutting my five-year-old ACL, and some chondromalacia under my patella, all of which were surgically corrected. I don't really have problems with my screws but I know plenty of people who've had 'em out for that reason. I would call the doc and ask him, it's usually a real easy thing.

    I get my reconstruction in three weeks. I would have been in that comp with EJ if not for this injury. That's terrible stuff. He's back home in SLC now, and doing well considering. I guess you've gotta count your blessings that you've still got that thing. What kind of competition do you do? Whatever it is, keep up the hard work and you'll be back at it.

    Keep killin' it!
    Last edited by beaterdit; 04-09-2006 at 08:01 PM.
    There's nothing better than sliding down snow, flying through the air

  25. #50
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Burlington, VT
    Posts
    186
    I am so f'in glad I am finally out of the woods enough to be talking about things like hardware removal and strength training. My knee is no where near where i want it to be, and my leg is still pretty weak...cant walk downstairs one foot in front of the other yet, but Its feelin so much better. Had a real good work out today. 85 lb single leg press with the bad leg. still no where near the strength of the good leg, but improving for sure.

    AG, thanks for those links. There are some REALLY depressing stories about knees on there....some shit you wouldnt beleive. sometimes theres so many damn abbreviations for everything tho that i cant even understand what people are saying. and, beleive it or not, even on that site i havnt been able to find a thread about a similar prognosis as mine. all my searches for knee dislocation come up with people who have dislocated their knee cap. not even close.

    As for the TPF screws, heres a picture of my leg and where they inserted the screws. sorry for the gross close up of the graft(which according to an email i just got from maxim mag, might get into next months issue....stoked) but you can see the stices where they put the screws in.


    I found this pic, It's actually a pretty good view of where the two screws are lined up on the upper portion of the tibia. The only difference in my leg is that the 2 screws further down aren't there, and the screws in my leg are comming in from the opposite direction (the inside of my left knee) The pic actually shows where the popliteal artery snakes around the fibula which is why it gets torn so easily. it also shows the fasciotomy incisions that they make too.


    I can definately feel those screws, its a wierd pressure sorta pain right where they were put in, and almost a little above that, kinda where my quad connects down there. I'm definately gonna take your guys advice on calling the doc tomorrow or asking the PT on tuesday.

    Foxy, yeah when i talked to my OS, some one who has dealt whith college level hockey player before, that it IS possible to skate well with out a PCL. he still said tho that it would be a good candidate for reconstruction when the time comes just because it hasnt healed at all. The rest of ligaments definately have scarred and healed from the extra blood flow. I'm glad that they are sturdy enough for me to excersice. I'm pretty sure my ACL, even if it has healed is gonna have to be reconstructed. I have a feeling thats gonna be a big instability as i get stronger. Right now if i am sitting at a chair with my leg bent, i can push on the back of my lower leg, and see my tibia translate and bulge out. its a really weird feeling.

    the bone spur sounds painful. I'm real interested to see what kind of shit they can find in my kn ee once they do scope it. my OS said that alot of stuff like crap on the back of your patella can be cleaned up real easy. Good luck with the reconstruction man

    I don't do much competing. there really arent that many free ride comps on the east coast. I was competing in a bunch of skier cross races which are a blast. I'd like to be able to get back to that, but right now, just getting back on skiis, and skates is my goal.

    My heart goes out to EJ. hearing about his accident blew my mind. It really was a matter of minutes. If I was with out blood flow to my leg for another 30 minutes, me and EJ would probably be in the same boat. I'm really glad thats he's doin ok, considering what happened. Hopefully he can heal up and inspire alot of people.

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