Well looks like I blew out my ACL.

Went to the doctors for my knee thats been bad since Feburary. He thinks I blew out my ACL...so I have to go get an MRI on tues. I hope its not too bad, he says it takes 6 months to recover fully from the surgery....... If it is "that bad" I might be wearing a dead guys ACL.
Has anyone gone thru this?

 

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it's either from a dead guy, a pig i believe, or the more popular method of replacing your ACL with a small portion of your knee tendon (the tendon that connects your knee cap to your shin bone), leaving a 3-4" scar in front.

<--talks from experience

and I was told about 9 months for a complete recovery, but i was playing basketball at 4-5 or so.

 

ouch, good luck cyco

 

The other option is to take a ligament from another part of your body. I forget which one. This is safer, but that part of the body will now be weaker.

I haven't gone through it yet, but fear that I will soon. I have a suspected torn ACL/MCL and/or Meniscus. Haven't been able to jump since early December. Walking straight and riding is about all I can do right now.

Good luck and healing vibes to you for a quick and complete recovery.

 

Have you had problems with it since??

 

Sorry, to hear that. I tore my ACL and 3/4 of my meniscus playing soccer 4 years ago. I did 16 weeks of Physical Therapy. My Doc grafted part of my hamstring, so I actually had to rehab my knee and my hammy. Not a fun experience. I wasn't riding yet when that happened, so I can't tell you how long it may take you to ride again, but I riding a stationary for 20 mins or so was part of my rehab. Hope your MRI comes back good.

 

serious problems? nope. Can I feel a difference some days? Yup. With the amount of therapy I did it actually became stronger than the other one. Nowadays it feels funny sometimes, and clicks every once in a while, but i have more confidence in that knee than the other.

I had physical therapy for 2-3 months afterwards. The first week after surgery was a living hell. My knee swelled up 3 times its normal size, I would constantly have to ice it, which i neglected to do, so they had to drain it with 3 vials full of blood/water/etc one day at the hospital.

The first week doing anything was hard. It wouldn't bend AT ALL, except on accident which hurt like crazy. It was wrapped it all sorts of stuff and blood could still be seen through the ace bandage.

I had to go to the doc maybe once a week or twice maybe, just so he could bend it and measure my progress.

Make sure to ice it, and move it when they say to.

 

There's three main ways of doing it, the cadaver graft, the pateller tendon (below kneecap) and a more modern way of doing it is the hamstring graft. I had the latter and I'm 100% now. There's only subtle differences between all three, including risks.

 

Always sorry to hear of injuries. Good luck and happy healing!!!

 

I went thru this a few years ago. I twisted my knee badly in a crash and thought I felt something pop. I had to crawl down parts of the trail with my friends help while he carried my bike. I went to the ER and they told me it was only sprained, come back in 6 wks if its not healed. It did get better to the point I was able to start riding at around 5-6wks. I could tell something was wrong as I would feel sharp pain sometimes if the knee twisted the wrong way, though this became less of a problem over time. What really clued me in was that the knee would totally collapse if I suddenly put weight on it while stepping back.

Around 6mos later I finally went to see a doctor - he got me a referral to a specialist. It took the specialist about 3 mins to tell me I had a torn ACL. He gave me 3 options:

1) Do nothing. The muscles had grown strong enough to compensate but I risk blowing out the other ligaments.
2) Get a brace for around $1000. It would give me 50% stability. Not covered by insurance.
3) Have surgery. It would give 90% stability and be 100% free thanks to public health care in Canada.

I elected for surgery. They took a piece of hamstring to replace the tendon. Its from a part of the hamstring you don't use much so it has little impact except for the invasion to cut it out. The recovery was a bit rough as you are really laid up for a few days. My balance was so off the first few days I couldn't stand up without nausea. But after the surgery your knee is mechanically strong - its all about getting the swelling down to get your range of motion back. Around 6-8 weeks mine was pretty good, but the major improvement didn't happen til I got back on the bike to commute. It was a good 6-8mos before I got back on the trails.

If you do go ahead with surgery get your hands on a Cryo-cuff. You can probably get it covered by insurance or you can get one on ebay. It is the best thing for ice when you're laid up.

Final outcome is I've now gone 5-6 years with no problems - can't tell anything ever happened except for a 1.5" scar.

good luck

 

Not that it matters much for you if you've got insurance, but a good ortho will be able to tell with 99% accuracy (and that's an actual success rate) if you blew your ACL just based on the physical test. They tug on your knee and compare the movement to the other knee.

But they've got to pay for the MRI machine somehow.

 

I have a donor ACL that I've been rock'n since '04. Surgery is nothing compared to physical therapy. That was the worst thing ever.

 

Sorry to hear it. Heal well, and rehab it properly.
Dirty Boo tore her ACL last year, had a hamstring graft, and healed and rehabbed for a full six months before the doc gave her the OK to get back on the bike. Jan.15th was the day she was allowed to ride again. But the ACL is now stronger than before the original.
So take your time and heal it right, get well.

 

I have had my ACL replaced twice on my left knee. Once with the patella and once with my hammy. The Hammy was a much better deal and easier as far as recovery.

Good luck.

Also, why does everyone call it a patella tendon? Isn't it a ligament? Tendons connect muscle to bone and ligaments connect bone to bone. The patella ligament connects the Patella and the Tibia... So what gives?

 

You have two things going for you in this one,, You are young,, and male..
I tore mine and my meniscus and had a very long recovery.. I was able to ride, but with pain and ended up getting a baker's cyst on my other knee due to over use.. I was in PT for one year,, 3X a week. I feel I never really got my strength back.. But, Hey we are all different. They used my patella tendon.. I hear a cadaver tendon heals faster but you take the chance of rejection. then you have to go through it all again.. Ugh!! Since you are an athlete, I recommend getting it fixed as it will always hinder you. Especially if you like to jump or do downhill. I am bone on bone on that knee. The doc always says take it easy.. That for me means I can never run again.. But I can ride my bike.. I had a second surgery 3 years later for another meniscus tear.. Since I had that done, my knee feels much better.
Heal fast! ride the stationary bike to even out your strength.. Happy Trails!

 

Sorry to hear that. Hope you heal up well!

 

Heal well and quick. :beer:

 

6 monts isnt reasonable. 1 year it will be 100%. 6 months you will feel 100% but wont be. I have had both knees done. Use your own pattellar tendon for the graft as that is the gold standard assuming you're young. If you are older a cadaver may be better.

Best surgeons in the united states if not the world. Dr. Gambardella was my doctor and I cant say enough good things about my knees and im a BIG dude.

www.kerlanjobe.com

You want a doc that will have you in PT and up and walking/hobbling ASAP/within a week. You want one that will also be giving you a CPM machine and an donjoy ice cooler. I was at 90 degrees my first night out of surgery and was 110 by the time I went back to the doc 5 days later. If you are gung ho and motivated you will be up and around with relatively low pain in no time. A ligament takes time to regrow into your body and there is no way to accelerate that but you can definitly accelarate your feeling.

I started biking 4 years ago to try to fix both my knees. I wasnt able to get out of the saddle without my knees hyperextanding or buckling out or inward. It was terrible pain. I finally gave into knee surgery with 1 leg dec 06 and then did the other june 07. the bike is an awesome compliment although the doc hates my pedals. Im strong like bull now, playing raq ball like champ, riding aggressively, just purchases a single speed.

Get your knee fixed, build your quads, calves and hamstrings like an animal before going in so you can recover faster. The few weeks of pain and the medical bills are way better then having to worry about hurting yourself or always protecting that knee and eventually damaging the other knee like I did.

 

A 32 year old buddy of mine just had this done in October. They took part of his hamstring to repair his knee. He was back to work, no restritctions, as a firefighter in March. But, he was feeling almost good as new by early Feb.

Granted, he packed on a few pounds during his recovery time. He said the worst was sitting at home, strapped to a machine the simply extended his leg, for 8 hours a day.

Best of luck on a speedy recovery!

 

Man... good luck with that. Hopefully everything will come back good and strong and you're not down for too long. I've never had any experience tearing anything. Just the usual breaks and sprains. Surgery scares me though. I'd much rather... yikes, forget that, wouldn't "rather" anything. Best of luck and heal well.