ski injury - recovery tips

i'm feeling a little low and am looking for some encouragement. I fell on ice last week, binding didn't release and I twisted my knee. It's probable that I've got meniscle damage and an ACL tear (there is some disagreement between professionals at the moment & I'm waiting for some further testing).

Any words of wisdom out there? Really keen to hear from people who've carried on skiing with this injury and what tips there are to speed up recovery times.

In the meantime I watch the snow falling on the webcams and try not to feel blue. :(

See a good physio (a sports specialist, or even better a winter sports specialist if you can find one) as soon as you can. Actually, do it right now if you haven't already.

My wife tore a medial ligament quite badly (not as nasty as a bad ACL injury, but still bad news) on a dry slope a couple of years ago. NHS wanted her to wait 3 months plus to see a physio (how dumb is that?) so we went private and she started treatment next day. Massage, ultrasound and manipulation to ensure swift and (most importantly) flexible healing.

She was skiing six weeks later with no probs at all.

You can be rebuilt! But don't wait for treatment if you have any choice at all.

If it does count you out for this season, then plan some training to build up your leg muscles once the injury has repaired - which will protect you in future. The snows will come again! 8)

Spinning will strengthen your knee and keep you ski fit. I hut my knee playing squash and was off for 18mnths whilst I wasted time with Phsyios and doctors in the end I just did the spinning and my knee is vastly improved I can play squash again I can skii and I don't have the constant pain that I had.

Good luck

Cheers

Max

Like powderhound said, don't get screwed around. You need a good orthopedic doc and an MRI. A good specialist can tell a lot just by examination, there shouldn't be much disagreement. They certainly shouldn't leave you in limbo, not knowing.

My experience of a meniscus tear was very good. I was told that there was very little chance of further damage if I snowboarded on it befor surgery and I was back on my board 6 days after surgery (snowboarding is much easier on the knees than skiing).

My minor MCL injuries have been quick to mend. I think ACL is a bit more complicated

I'm sure you are ice packing your knee frequently, but in addition I found it important to warm the knee up with a heat pad befor exercising (esp. after ice).

Quad strength seems to be very important, both in preventing knee injuries and also for recovery.

I'm wondering what din setting your bindings were on ?
I keep my settings as low as I can and only crank them up a fraction if I get pre-releases.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress

Trencher

Trencher wrote:Like powderhound said, don't get screwed around. You need a good orthopedic doc and an MRI. A good specialist can tell a lot just by examination, there shouldn't be much disagreement. They certainly shouldn't leave you in limbo, not knowing.

Trencher

Well it was all very confusing. The Austrian GP I say declared it a complete rupture of the ACL just by looking at it (inspite of the fact that I'd got up and skied myself off the mountain and then walked to the doctors). A sports physio therapist staying at the hotel did loads of manipulation and believes that the ligment is most likely intact, and the orthopeadic surgeon (in Austria) also pronounced it to be a rupture after one manipulation (which i've since discovered is for the medial ligament). They were very keen to operate and whilst I acknoweldge they probably see more ACL injuries in one season than the Portsmouth docs see in a year something didn't feel right and I declined surgery. This may have been a mistake but it was felt like the right decision at the time.

I think I will ask for a MRI and that should be conclusive. I will then look into private options if the NHS is too slow. I'm resigned to not skiing again this winter - & I've a trip to Morzine booked in 5 weeks :cry: - but I don't want to stop running or sailing and hiking out on a dinghy with my knee in a brace is a bit daunting!

Oh well maybe tomorrow they will tell me that it's just a bad sprain and all I need is some RICE and TLC.

Thanks for the responses so far, very encouraging.

Sharon

Well I hope it works out. I'm sure you have been reading all the great info online. There's a lot on the surgery options. It's nice to be able to second guess the docs nowdays or ask the awkward questions.

Trencher

Trencher wrote:
I'm wondering what din setting your bindings were on ?
I keep my settings as low as I can and only crank them up a fraction if I get pre-releases.


Trencher

I weigh around 60kgs and am 1.6m tall and I'm a reasonable skier. Bindings were on a din setting of 4.5. One released the other didn't. I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy my own skis when I get back to skiing and I'm going to pay much more attention to the quality of the binding.

Off to the orthopeadic clinic this morning. Fingers crossed.

Me again,

saw the orthopeadic reg yesterday and he was wonderful! After much painful manipulation he declared himself 99.99% certain my knee is completely intact. He has ordered an MRI to be totally sure but he was very encouraging. Says I've probably bruised the bone, had a bit of a bleed into the joint and have given everything a bit of a wallop but feels that I've got away with it. :D How good is that? He even said that if I had to i might be able to ski some green runs only in Morzine in March!!! Trying to be sensible though and will see what the MRI comes up with first.

The brace is off - which he says has caused more problems than it's fixed as I've now some stiffness and wasteage to deal with - and I'm mobilising, weight bearing and doing some exercises. Now can you believe those knife happy Austiran surgeons who wanted to operate immediately? I'm sure they really know their stuff but I'm so, so glad i said no. I'm such a happy bunny now I can't stop smiling.

Cheers
Sharon