Diary of a knee injury

Thanks SB, funny how different the uk can be to France. Hope you're recovering well, it sucks getting injured!

I'm so overwhelmed by all the things I'm being told and am doing my own research on it as well. I read an article specifically about acl injuries and skiing, it suggests that as a one week a year skier I could get away with a knee brace. But then I do lots of other stuff as well.

I'm going to continue researching, working on my rehab and see how I am in a couple of months.

I'm out of my brace now and moving better, my whole leg is very stiff and gets sore if I over do it, but I know my limits so just have to be sensible. Got a static bike coming later from my sister in law who had a knee replacement so that will be a big help.

Good luck with your rehab, we'll be skiing again in no time!

I think one thing to remember that ACL surgery is reconstruction not repair. If your ACL is ruptured yes you can do physio but you still do not have an ACL.

Ranchero_1979 wrote:I think one thing to remember that ACL surgery is reconstruction not repair. If your ACL is ruptured yes you can do physio but you still do not have an ACL.

And they don't repair on then own either I guess? Hence the restructure?

Ranchero_1979 wrote:I think one thing to remember that ACL surgery is reconstruction not repair. If your ACL is ruptured yes you can do physio but you still do not have an ACL.

You do - they replace the ligament with a piece of hamstring tendon (or patellar tendon or donor achilles tendon) which is much the same in terms of make up. In time that develops a blood supply and generally functions much the same as the original. (unlike the early days of carbon fibre reconstructions)

You technically don't have your original ACL but within a week or two of injury is little more than soggy frayed string attaches at either end with nothing in the middle.

Any way my elder daughter has now followed her Mum's example and done her ACL skiing although if the amount of bony bruising on the scan is any clue as to her speed when she wiped out she's lucky to have ski'd off the mountain under her own steam and carried on for another 4 days!

andymol2 wrote:
Any way my elder daughter has now followed her Mum's example and done her ACL skiing although if the amount of bony bruising on the scan is any clue as to her speed when she wiped out she's lucky to have ski'd off the mountain under her own steam and carried on for another 4 days!

I'm sorry to hear that :(

Is she having the operation to replace her bust ACL?

Yes, but she want's to put it off so she can ski over new year. It will take 9 months for the repair to be at full strength and if she doesn't ski this winter, she'll not be able to go for the next 2 years after that until she's done her finals because she won't have time off in the ski season.

Whether the consultant agrees with her plan is a different matter!

andymol2 wrote:Yes, but she want's to put it off so she can ski over new year. It will take 9 months for the repair to be at full strength and if she doesn't ski this winter, she'll not be able to go for the next 2 years after that until she's done her finals because she won't have time off in the ski season.

Whether the consultant agrees with her plan is a different matter!

Now that is a novel approach to the problem!

Will it make any difference if she waits that long before having it done? I mean, is it likely to heal just as well as if she had it done now?

And perhaps, if she finds she can walk and ski etc. just fine without that particular ligament, she won't bother with the operation.

I am waiting to see if my torn rotator cuff tendon (in my shoulder) will heal on its own, or whether that will need to be repaired. At the moment my physiotherapist seems pleased enough with my progress, but if it gets to a point where I can't improve the mobility of the joint any further, then she will refer me for an MRI scan with a view to surgery.

It doesn't seem that straightforward a decision, whether to go for the surgical option with the ACL (or rotator cuff), or not. I think there are a lot of things to consider, and I suppose each surgeon/GP/physiotherapist has their own point of view on this.

There is some pretty strong evidence that if you don't reconstruct your ACL then you will have 2ndary long term problems, arthritis, hip problems etc. From a functionality point of view I think biggest question is what level of sport do you wish to continue at. No ACL means that offpiste, moguls, any start stop sport will need to be considered carefully. I didn't think for a second about having mine done but I think full rehab is an 18 month process. Yes I can ski (in measured manner), and jog but you would not catch me playing football/tennis etc at moment. 18month is almost 2 ski seasons depending on your timing which basically sucks.