Latest posts for the topic "Ski injury - update"

Ski injury - update

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 17:58:15 GMT

Some of you may remember my post from January describing my suspected ACl rupture?

Well after a lot of 2ing & fro-ing and differences of opinion my MRi resluts clearly show that my ACL is completely bust (almost totally atrophied) and my medial meniscus is badly torn.

So it's surgery for me later this year (can't be before August as we've a major sailing trip planned and I need to be reasonably fit for that) and no skiiing till Jan 09 :cry: What on earth to do......I can't believe it and I'm still haunting the weather sites...

Maybe I can get my forecastitis treated at the same time.....Anybody out there who's returning to skiing after a long gap through injury? I need to talk to you whoever you are.

Sharon

Re:Ski injury - update

Tue, 20 Mar 2007 22:12:50 GMT

Sorry to hear that!!!

Thats bad, no skiing till Jan 2009. Try get out to the resorts even if you dont ski so you get your snow fix and ski resort atmosphere! there are many ways to have fun even if you cant ski, but obviously it will never be quite the same as skiing!!

Hope the operation all goes well, and they bring the "skiing date" forward considerably!! Good luck :-)

Re:Ski injury - update

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 07:39:47 GMT

Sorry Sharon there is no cure for forecastitis ...

For getting you your snow-fix, would you fancy having a go on one of those scooter things that adaptive skiers use? Like this :

I've always thought they looked like fun, and you could ski with your leg strapped up... just a thought.

Ski injury - update

Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:09:59 GMT

They look like good fun...I'd feel a bit of a fraud coz by next season I would look to be in good shape, it's just that the graft would be no where near strong enough to support skiing.

But I just can't bear the thought of not going at all so although I swore I'd never do another ski trip and not ski (had a girly weekend in Morzine 3 weeks ago was torture!) it looks like I will be next winter. So will be looking for recommendations of places with good non skiing things to do or at least with good pedestrian access to mountain resturants to meet my family for lunch.

So I may be out, but not down and will still be lurking and asking questions.

Sharon

Re:Ski injury - update

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 10:38:39 GMT

So sorry to hear your knee news - Jan 09 - arrggghhh! Can just imagine how you must feel!!

Is there really no specialist physio that can speed things up in terms of regaining your strength?

You sound like a positive soul so fingers and toes crossed that you'll be up and running (errrr rather skiing), sooner than the Doc's say.

Best of luck!

KP Ski

Re:Ski injury - update

Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:23:49 GMT

KP Ski wrote: Is there really no specialist physio that can speed things up in terms of regaining your strength?

You sound like a positive soul so fingers and toes crossed that you'll be up and running (errrr rather skiing), sooner than the Doc's say.

KP Ski

Sadly there's no amount of exercise you can do that will speed up vascularisation of the ligament graft and until it is fully vascularised it is not totally secure - this can take 12 months. My physio (who is a skier and competitive sailor herself) has recommended that if I have surgery Sept 07 I will be at least 16 months post op and there should be no issue with the graft faililng. Although it hurts to contemplate it hurts more to consider going through surgery and extensive re-hab only to have it fail because I'd been impatient.

I am a positive soul but in the wee dark hours of the night it is sometimes tough to hang on to. But as my little girl said when i told her my scan results 'well mummy, at least you've still got the leg'.

What could i say?

Sharon

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:46:48 GMT

I'm new to this - only joined because I'm desperate for information and advice relating to my injury first week in Jan 09 (fortunately on last day - last run down, lifts were closed!). French clinic diagnosed ruptured ACL and possible MCL, said I should start physio 3 days later. On returning home, in a brace, my physio said to do nothing for 5 weeks, except for ice/heat and try to keep my muscles twitching (no such luck), and said she would refer me at that time because she only trusted one surgeon locally (oh great). Decided to get referred by GP after all - intially she referred me to wrong clinic (my confidence slipping), then when referred to correct clinic (and fortunately with same surgeon my physio recommends)could not get NHS appointment for 13 weeks (come through now as 1st April) - but I have got a private appointment end of Feb. Met an acqaintance today who had a similar injury 2 years ago and has absolutely slated my physio and chosen surgeon for not getting it right! She eventually went out of the area to a specialist for a second opinion and of course thinks he's the only answer. My husband is berating me for listening to everyones opinion, but it's all so confusing and I'm so worred I won't ski again.

So I was hoping you may have some update 2 years later - have you done your first skiing since your injury yet? I'd really like to know how it went and what worked for you ?

Thanks

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:09:04 GMT

Slamb, I feel your pain :cry:
I had a 100% acl tear in my right knee last april skiing and had the reconstruction opperation 8 weeks ago. I had the hamstring graft and even now I feel great. The reason I waited so long to get the job done is cos it gave me a great chance to build up my leg muscles pre op and started a new job so had to put it off for a while.
I went to the gym 4 or 5 days a week and uses a exercise bike for as long as was possible (about 30 to 40 mins) and this has made a huge difference to my recovery. I was off my crutches in 4 days and was walking without a limp in about 2 weeks. Now I can cycle for about 30 mins and the leg feels strong but I cant ski untill December. I know the graft takes a long time to bed in but I have a lot more movement even after 8 weeks than I have had in the last 8 months.
Its Sh1t but give yourself a while to let the swelling go down and get working on the leg muscles before you have the op.
Best of luck

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:11:21 GMT

:shock: I'm sorry to hear about that

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:45:46 GMT

Gareth,
hope you don't mind questions - did you feel the need to go private? Did you choose a surgeon or take whatever was available? Before the op you say you went to the gym - could you drive? Did you wear a support - what sort if you did? What mobility did you have pre op? Got a riding/walking holiday in Cyprus booked for end July and can't decide whether to try to get the surgery privately before we go , or change to a lying in the sun holidya! Did you swim? Where do you stand on glucosamine/other supplements? I feel such a wimp - there are people far worse off but I just want to get an idea of the immediate future. Did you have an MRI to diagnose and did you have to have arthroscopy before the reconstruct?
Cheers

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:59:04 GMT

Hi Sue and welcome to the forum. One of our lady members has just got her ski legs back almost one year after her op,Her name is Caron-a.
I`m sure she will give you a more detailed insight as to what to expect.She`s a champion to the sport and a very brave lady.
Gareth glad to hear your on the mend. :thumbup:

AJ Adele

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:07:45 GMT

Sue,

I work for a pharmaceutical company so my orthopaedic surgeon was a customer of mine so i had no need to go private. I could drive no problem and had good mobility but reduced strength and use of the knee. I could not run or do any exercise except the bike and i did swim but not a lot as when I kicked it hurt. I play golf and had to take Difene (diclofenac anti inflamatory) before I went to play as the walking was uncomfortable.
The MRI scan is never conclusive and a surgeon will always need to do a arthroscopy to find out the extent of the tear (100% in my case).
I know another consultant who tore his ACL many years ago and did nothing about it and he is fine but if you want to ski you gotta get it done.
If your fit and keep doing whatever leg exercise you can manage it will be a huge help.
Dont worry, its a long process but not very painfull. :wink:

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:08:34 GMT

Thanks Adele :D

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:05:53 GMT

Gareth Fair wrote:Sue,

.
I know another consultant who tore his ACL many years ago and did nothing about it and he is fine but if you want to ski you gotta get it done.
If your fit and keep doing whatever leg exercise you can manage it will be a huge help.
Dont worry, its a long process but not very painfull. :wink:

Actually that's not always 100% correct. My OH damaged a knee in a dumb, "I dropped my motorbike on the kerb" incident over 20 years ago. He never sought medical attention, and in 1984 learned to ski, and has skied every winter since. Usually does 3 to 4 weeks on snow each winter.
In the mid 90's he decided to get his knee looked at, as it used to "switch off" occasionally and he was fed up. MRI Scan, examination and Arthroscopy to confirm, that the ACL had been long gone. Learned to ski without it, didn't know it was missing so didn't worry.

Surgeons advice, "you have survived this long without it, get a brace and get back out there".
He uses a Cti2, which was supplied by the NHS (at the time). He's skiing in the top photo here last month...

http://www.j2ski.com/ski-chat-forum/posts/list/5288.page

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:24:51 GMT

I've been reading this thread and think it's better if I post in more detail tomorrow if you can wait, sue. I've had two glasses of wine (having not drunk all week!) and I'm more inclined to look at men in lycra at the moment :lol:

seriously though, in the meantime, take heart... I was you in January last year, left mcl and right acl. however, nine months and one day post op I was on the slopes. there is light at the end of the tunnel...

and the people on here helped me through it big time :thumbup:

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:25:41 GMT

Gareth Fair wrote:Thanks Adele :D

ditto :D

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 21:57:22 GMT

I can wait - thanks everyone it's really encouraging (Gareth I work in vet pharmaceuticals and spent all of last year working on a clinical trial of pain relief for dogs undergoing ACL repair!! how ironic! none of my clients will fix my knee unless I start barking, which may be likely). Looking forward to post drinking replies - I've also got a glass in hand and will close for tonight after learning how to do a smiley face :twisted: not sure thats the right one!! Men in Lycra here I come (does anyone else play "bad 80's suit spotting" when they ski? Perhaps a ruptured ACL is my comeuppance)
G'night.

Re:Ski injury - update

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:08:24 GMT

Sue

Wow, been a while since I visited this site....but I got an email prompt telling me that this thread was active. I'll give you a brief reply here and if you wnat to know a bit more send me a pm and we can chat it through.

I didn't have the op in the end. Found a great knee man in Portsmouth (he fixes the football team) who also has an ACL deficient knee so knows where I'm coming from, he recommended a conservative approach initially. I worked really hard in the gym (the local hosp. run a great knee clinic) and we reveiwed my case in Sept 07 when I was booked for an arthroscopy to clean up the damaged tissue in my knee. At that appointment the surgeon put me through a whole load of tests and recommended that I not even have the scope. He felt that my knee was very good and was worried that a scope would mess it up. The crunch came when he said that if it was his knee he wouldn't be going in at all unless it was absolutely necessary.

Well I skied that Christmas - tentitavely and slowly and pretty much stopped after lunch each day, but this year...well we had a week in the Dolomites last month and I was on the first lift up in the morning and the last lift back at night and skied my little socks off.

I do wear a brace - a CTi from Technology in Motion in Wimbledon - it cost me around GBP400 but has been worth every penny as I also use it for dinghy sailing. I have good stability in the knee and have never suffered from it collapsing or giving way. But I still work hard at keeping the muscles strong and I work on proprioception all the time and I know that it is something that i will have to do for ever more, but it saves me from surgery so for me, it's worth it.

Go look at the kneegeeks forum on www.kneeguru.com a really useful site with loads of skiers with this injury.

Any questions, drop me a line.

Sharon

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 06:07:00 GMT

((hugs)) I feel your pain with what you went through .
So Glad your feeling better ,thats great news.
I am waiting for mine to be fixed at the moment.

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 13:24:29 GMT

Hi Sue. I have a clear head now :mrgreen:. Sorry, it's a bit epic…

So, from this thread you can see that you can have a good result either with or without surgery [slamb :thumbup:] so, if you're given the choice, it's down to personal preference. However, I know of a lady that came to my knee class for 6 months to try and avoid surgery but saw no improvement and ended up having the op. On the other hand, someone else that comes had the op and it failed and had to be done again. There's no right answer.

My experience was that it was my left (mcl) leg that gave me the most trouble and I was, initially, wearing a brace given to me by the french doctor. I came back home and booked in with my gp who immediately referred me to a private consultant who had operated on 6 of the 8 doctors in that surgery (good recommendation I think!). A few weeks after the accident my right (acl) knee started to give way. This was the point when my consultant decided to do an mri which confirmed the tear.

He gave me the choice of whether to operate or not and I spent a few weeks deliberating. However, after reading a Pavel thread on here one day I knew I wanted to have the operation. The knee was giving way at regular intervals by this point. [I did do a teeny weeny little bit if skiing in tignes in march but both knees were very, very sore afterwards. don't tell anyone ;)]

So, I had the op on 18th April 2008 and was told 9-12 months total recovery. Unlike Gareth I didn't have an arthroscopy and mine was a patella graft so my experience was a little different.

Nine months and one day post op I went to niederau for three days with the intention of sticking to the nursery slopes. That didn't happen! Within half an hour I was up the mountain and gradually (and with the immense help of a few of the fantastic guys from this site) I skied as well as, if not better. Life is once again normal :thumbup:

In answer to your questions: I would definitely go private if you want to ski next season; I couldn't drive on my mcl leg post injury for about 4 weeks (borrowed an automatic), post op I couldn't drive on my acl for 2-3 weeks; I didn't wear a support after coming back from france; pre-op I was limping badly on my mcl but not acl; hmmm, not sure about the riding/walking in july; I could swim on holiday (4 months post op) but wasn't too comfortable with breast stroke; I take glucosomine and chondroitin sulphate and cod liver oil, who knows whether they're doing anything but it can't do any harm (apart from to the pocket!).

I really, really feel where you're coming from. Any help I can give you would be a pleasure.

Re:Ski injury Comments

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 14:09:48 GMT

Slamb,
May I add some comments and observations.

First you must learn to "listen" to your body! You and only you know your limits. Do not let anyone tell you you can not do skiing!
I have had several minor knee operations and few persons told me "correct" information or up to date information!

I work in finding correct information so I know how to get to "original" sources ,,,many many physicians are great "technical surgeons" but have no idea about "follow up" information about skiers!
I can send you well over 50 studies on post-operative cases relating to knee operations!

The common thread in all studies is the attitude of the skier and how he/she skis after operation! Assuming you have a good competent surgeon you will be better AFTER operation. You will have better overall life style but also you will no doubt be a better skier!

The key is to prepare for operation and never never give up! What no one will not tell you is the pain level after the operation! You must take pain killers and you must "exercise" right after operation,,even if it is causing you to have tears in your eyes! Yes,you must move right after operation!

6 hours after my knee surgery I was flexing knee via a machine! Yes it hurts,,but you must!

After 3 months,,I was skiing on beginner hill with my surgeon since he did not believe me when I told him that I had "sneaked" off without family knowing (they had hidden my skis)! I was prepared and had some other skis at friend's house!
You must not others limit your skiing,,but you must "listen" to your body! Slow steps,,,,

My biggest barrier was my mind! I was afraid to "fully set edge" just in case!!! That is dangerous. In skiing you must get fit and then get on slope with "assurances"! Sitting back or holding back will cause you many falls , many problems!

Do not give up,,,trust me you will be a better skier!

Hope this helps you!

Respectfully,
Pavel

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 15:08:56 GMT

I injured my knee on only my second ski holday back in the early 90's. We had gone to Bulgaria and hired equipment! Bad idea.....oh well. Live and learn. Damaged medial, later and cruciate on right knee and medial ligament on left. Being Bulgaria they didn't have so much as a crepe bandage. I did ice it, but I had a knee like an elephant by the time I got home 4 days later and couldn't straighten my knee. Arthroscopy showed that my cruciate was "hanging by a thread" and the other ligaments were just like over-stretched rubber bands. The consultant told me to work hard on my quads, go ski next season and his words were "suck it and see" Because I had imobilised my knee immediately after the accident due to the pain, it took me 3 months of intensive physio to even get it fully straightened........however, I have managed to ski every season since then, but not without the odd twinge. I "tweeked" the medial ligament 3 years ago, but I started exercising it immediately despite the pain. Always carry my own bandages and ice pack and of course Ibuprofen just in case.

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:55:30 GMT

Maybe I'm repeating something that others already been written elsewhere, or that folks already know and I apologise if that is the case, but just read an interesting article.
It says that at altitude less oxygen gets to the muscles and research suggests the highest risk of accident is after 3pm on the third day of the holiday. This is because muscle fatigue reaches its peak 48 hours after the start of the holiday.
I'm sure we all know that it's famously that last run of the day that is the most dangerous. That's what happened to me. Was talked into doing one more run, when I should have given up with a vin chaud.

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:02:36 GMT

Eljay wrote:Maybe I'm repeating something that others already been written elsewhere, or that folks already know and I apologise if that is the case, but just read an interesting article.
It says that at altitude less oxygen gets to the muscles and research suggests the highest risk of accident is after 3pm on the third day of the holiday. This is because muscle fatigue reaches its peak 48 hours after the start of the holiday.
I'm sure we all know that it's famously that last run of the day that is the most dangerous. That's what happened to me. Was talked into doing one more run, when I should have given up with a vin chaud.

There's a lot of things we shouldn't do but life is for living, I normally have six days of skiing in a normal holiday
I'm gonna go for it big time lactic or no lactic acid. :lol:

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:13:10 GMT

There's a lot of things we shouldn't do but life is for living, I normally have six days of skiing in a normal holiday
I'm gonna go for it big time lactic or no lactic acid. :lol:

I'm with you on that one............. :D

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:14:21 GMT

Eljay wrote:There's a lot of things we shouldn't do but life is for living, I normally have six days of skiing in a normal holiday
I'm gonna go for it big time lactic or no lactic acid. :lol:

I'm with you on that one............. :D

Do you mean that you do not agree with me all the time :evil:

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:18:47 GMT

Ian Wickham wrote:

Eljay wrote:There's a lot of things we shouldn't do but life is for living, I normally have six days of skiing in a normal holiday
I'm gonna go for it big time lactic or no lactic acid. :lol:

I'm with you on that one............. :D

Do you mean that you do not agree with me all the time :evil:

I do seem to remember you saying in another thread that you were never wrong...........so how could one disagree :twisted:

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:20:24 GMT

Eljay wrote:

Ian Wickham wrote:

Eljay wrote:There's a lot of things we shouldn't do but life is for living, I normally have six days of skiing in a normal holiday
I'm gonna go for it big time lactic or no lactic acid. :lol:

I'm with you on that one............. :D

Do you mean that you do not agree with me all the time :evil:

I do seem to remember you saying in another thread that you were never wrong...........so how could one disagree :twisted:

See thats where you go wrong you read my threads :oops:

Re:Ski injury - update

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 23:28:17 GMT

Ian Wickham wrote:

See thats where you go wrong you read my threads :oops:

Cheeky monkey )