Knee rebuild

[Weekday Warrior]

so who's had their knee rebuilt? And how's it now?

trying to jog even a little bit mine swells up and feels like a water ballon filled with gravel

ACL/MCL and miniscus tear I've been dealing with it for prolly 15 years but I'm sick of it.

any doc reccomendations in Spokane?

 

[xrated]

you talking a full out replacement?

Gonna have to look hard to find a dr that will do it at your age...or have to find a r who will take cash cause insurance won't be to keen on it at your age even if the dr is.

 

[milehighassassin]

When did you damage it? MCL will generally heal on it's own. Miniscus generally needs to be fixed (cut out) because it lacks blood flow.

ACL will heal as well, as long as you didn't do a complete tear.

Physical therapy is where it is at, it goes a long ways if done right.

 

[crix]

I have now had both of mine done First one was my right knee I did it skiing when I was about 20 delt with it for a couple years tearing it more and doing more damage over the years at 22 years old Full acl mcl miniscus. rebuilt it using my patellar tendon (sp)? Which is what my doc told me was best for over the long run also less chance or rejection. my doc was also was a / is now only a professional athlete doc... That knee now feels great no more swelling when working out kneeling squating ect no issues

The 2nd the left side Acl Mcl some miniscus and dented bones done wakeboarding all at once one wicked tear I did the same surgery using the patellar tendon after a year feels good too

You really need to take the rehab serious though and make sure even when it hurts to finish your daily workouts

26 years old 2 rebuilt knees

 

[swampwater]

you talking a full out replacement?

Gonna have to look hard to find a dr that will do it at your age...or have to find a r who will take cash cause insurance won't be to keen on it at your age even if the dr is.
__________________
"It's Canned Beer Season"-Minneapolis Brewing Co.

My dad had his knees rebuilt in the late 80's and when all is said and done he wished he never had gone ahead with it, the pain was worse and the knees were very fragile. I would try the proper supplements to ease the problem. My knee blew out in 94 and I could not even sleep at night, could find no angle to lay my leg that didn't hurt and almost had to quit snowmobiling. I just bega with the Glucosimine msn combo with lots of omega 3's and within a year my knee was pretty much back to normal and have never had a problem since. They have discovered many more substances which also help such as HA, purity products has a great HA formula I take now. There is a product called Soothonal III which will temporally relieve the pain when rubbed on until the other products begin to work, usually take 6 months to begin to feel great. If you want any info on where to get the products let me know and I can send you some links. Swampy

 

[motojunkie101]

I'm going in on the 22nd of July for some lose stuff in my knee from a torn miniscus. Dr said he couldn't see the tear in the MRI, but he is going to check it out when i'm on the table.

get it fixed right, and do all the physical therapy.

 

[crix]

I'm going in on the 22nd of July for some lose stuff in my knee from a torn miniscus. Dr said he couldn't see the tear in the MRI, but he is going to check it out when i'm on the table.

get it fixed right, and do all the physical therapy.

They just doing the orthoscopic or are the cuttin it open?

Good luck physical therapy is no fun

 

[crix]

When did you damage it? MCL will generally heal on it's own. Miniscus generally needs to be fixed (cut out) because it lacks blood flow.

ACL will heal as well, as long as you didn't do a complete tear.

Physical therapy is where it is at, it goes a long ways if done right.

acl - will not repair itself only the mcl will I had a partial tear for a few years before finishing it off you could see the original tear wasnt "green" and never healed at all It was neat to see the pictures my doc took while I was on the operation table

 

[TIM]

I have had multiple acl failures with some miniscus and mcl thrown in for good measure. 4 surguries later i am still doing good. Not shucking and jiving like i used to but still after it pretty good.

I would recommend Dr Bill Simms in Couer dalene. The guy loves knees and is a dang good surgeon.

tim

 

[Weekday Warrior]

no not a total replacement


I tore my knee out skiing, hit a jump and POW sounded and felt like a shotgun going off in my knee. Doc said I blew my ACL, he pulled the knee joint and there is a lot of gap.

I was totally laid up for a long time, huge swollen knee

Then later dirtbiking I tried to carry the front wheel off a long mud puddle, but it was frozen underneath, no biggie but as the rear tire slide out I planted my foot and POW there goes more tendons

I didn't want to do a scope because I had asperations of going in the military.. Doc said I took out my miniscus


I'm gonna try suppliments and proper strength training, I have my doubts., 2 miles today and my knee is swollen


gotta do somethin though, puttin on weight like crazy (mid 30's??) I can almost lick my own man nipples now

 

[motojunkie101]

They just doing the orthoscopic or are the cuttin it open?

Good luck physical therapy is no fun

from what we talked about, its just a scope. I dont mind the physical therapy, this will get me out of running PT with my squadron for a couple of weeks

 

[diamonddave]

I must have the bad luck. Torn/ruptored patella tendon, (knealt down to the ground to rack up a car and a cottor pin went into my knee, holy sh!t) continued to hobble and work on it so boss didn't think I was just trying to collect workmans comp and get my raise that had been put off for 3 years. Very tabboo(sp) to file a claim in my industry.

Put off surgery 6 months at the request of boss and his wife. 14 times surgery was scheduled, I would cave in and stay at work. My mistake...trying to be a company man. Very valuable life lesson! After I had surgery, they told me to take a pay cut since my physical abilities weren't the same. I told them to take a hike.

Ended up stretching out the ACL to the point of no return. Patella tendon surgery has pulled the knee cap out of alignment. Massive pain on/off like a light switch. Cannot ride anything like I used too. I've joined the "trail rider club"

Too young for replacement. No other Dr wants to touch it (why didn't you come to me first, they ALL SAY) Risks far out weigh possible gains.

Advice...don't try to be a tough guy. Get yourself fixed ASAP! I've learned that Patella injuries can be the worst to heal, etc.

Sorry, hopefully nobody will be as stupid as I was.

 

[m8magicandmystery]

i had a bad knee...i just cut the leg just above the knee and put my foot there to permantly fix the problem...i just have to be careful walking on the sidewalks that im headed the right direction so i lean into the store fronts rather then the street traffic...somedays are rough and i feel like im going in circles....but no more pain..!!!

 

[BIG JOHN]

so who's had their knee rebuilt? And how's it now?

trying to jog even a little bit mine swells up and feels like a water ballon filled with gravel

ACL/MCL and miniscus tear I've been dealing with it for prolly 15 years but I'm sick of it.

any doc reccomendations in Spokane?

FIRST mistake...riding a bike will BUILD tendon strength/flexability/muscle strength without ANY impact damage...BJ

from a guy with a couple beat up wheels...

 

[Himark]

ACL, MCL torn..

Patellar Tendon
The patellar tendon is the structure on the front of your knee that connects the kneecap (patella) to the shin bone (tibia). The patellar tendon averages between 25 to 30 mm in width. When a patellar tendon graft is taken, the central 1/3 of the patellar tendon is removed (about 9 or 10 mm) along with a block of bone at the sites of attachment on the kneecap and tibia.

^^^^^^^^^this is what i did

Disadvantages: When the patellar tendon graft is taken, a segment of bone is removed from the kneecap, and about 1/3 of the tendon is removed. There is a risk of patellar fracture or patellar tendon rupture following this surgery. Also, the most common problem following this surgery is pain on the front of the knee ("anterior knee pain"). In fact, patients sometimes say they have pain when kneeling, even years after the surgery. AND recovery was way slower than my brothers since he had the cadavor one done..see below.
My brother did this one and his pain was minimal and he was up and about in a week. I would reccomend the donor tissue one as it was quick and painless with seemingly same results. I suffer the sharp pain if kneeling on knee cap like spoken of in text. I also have more arthritus then my bro is experiencing after his surgery as well.


Allograft (Donor Tissue)
Allograft is most commonly used in lower demand patients, or patients who are undergoing revision ACL surgery (when an ACL reconstruction fails). Biomechanical studies show that allograft (donor tissue from a cadaver) is not as strong as a patient's own tissue (autograft). For many patients, however, the strength of the reconstructed ACL using an allograft is sufficient for their demands. Therefore this may be an excellent option for patients not planning to participate in high-demand sports (e.g. soccer, basketball, etc.).
Advantages: Performing the surgery using allograft allows for decreased operative time, no need to remove other tissue to use for the graft, smaller incisions, and less post-operative pain. Furthermore, if the graft were to fail, revision surgery could be performed using either the patellar tendon or hamstring grafts.
Disadvantages: Historically, these grafts were of poor quality and carried a significant risk of disease transmission. More recently, techniques of allograft preparation have improved dramatically, and these problems have greatly improved. However, the process of graft preparation (freeze-drying), kills the living cells, and decreases the strength of the tissue. There is also the concern of disease transmission. While sterilization and graft preparation minimizes this risk, it does not eliminate it entirely. The risk of complication from other factors unrelated to allograft tissue is much higher than the risk of disease transmission, but it is still there.
Summary
Many surgeons have a preferred technique for different reasons. The strength of patellar tendon and hamstring grafts is essentially equal. There is no right answer as to which is best, at least not one that has been proven in orthopedic studies. The strength of allograft tissue is less than the other grafts, but the strength of both the patellar tendon and hamstring tendon grafts exceed the strength of a normal ACL. The bottom line is 85% to 95% of patients will have clinically stable knees following ACL reconstructive surgery.

 

[crix]

ACL, MCL torn..

Patellar Tendon
The patellar tendon is the structure on the front of your knee that connects the kneecap (patella) to the shin bone (tibia). The patellar tendon averages between 25 to 30 mm in width. When a patellar tendon graft is taken, the central 1/3 of the patellar tendon is removed (about 9 or 10 mm) along with a block of bone at the sites of attachment on the kneecap and tibia.

^^^^^^^^^this is what i did

Disadvantages: When the patellar tendon graft is taken, a segment of bone is removed from the kneecap, and about 1/3 of the tendon is removed. There is a risk of patellar fracture or patellar tendon rupture following this surgery. Also, the most common problem following this surgery is pain on the front of the knee ("anterior knee pain"). In fact, patients sometimes say they have pain when kneeling, even years after the surgery. AND recovery was way slower than my brothers since he had the cadavor one done..see below.
My brother did this one and his pain was minimal and he was up and about in a week. I would reccomend the donor tissue one as it was quick and painless with seemingly same results. I suffer the sharp pain if kneeling on knee cap like spoken of in text. I also have more arthritus then my bro is experiencing after his surgery as well.


Allograft (Donor Tissue)
Allograft is most commonly used in lower demand patients, or patients who are undergoing revision ACL surgery (when an ACL reconstruction fails). Biomechanical studies show that allograft (donor tissue from a cadaver) is not as strong as a patient's own tissue (autograft). For many patients, however, the strength of the reconstructed ACL using an allograft is sufficient for their demands. Therefore this may be an excellent option for patients not planning to participate in high-demand sports (e.g. soccer, basketball, etc.).
Advantages: Performing the surgery using allograft allows for decreased operative time, no need to remove other tissue to use for the graft, smaller incisions, and less post-operative pain. Furthermore, if the graft were to fail, revision surgery could be performed using either the patellar tendon or hamstring grafts.
Disadvantages: Historically, these grafts were of poor quality and carried a significant risk of disease transmission. More recently, techniques of allograft preparation have improved dramatically, and these problems have greatly improved. However, the process of graft preparation (freeze-drying), kills the living cells, and decreases the strength of the tissue. There is also the concern of disease transmission. While sterilization and graft preparation minimizes this risk, it does not eliminate it entirely. The risk of complication from other factors unrelated to allograft tissue is much higher than the risk of disease transmission, but it is still there.
Summary
Many surgeons have a preferred technique for different reasons. The strength of patellar tendon and hamstring grafts is essentially equal. There is no right answer as to which is best, at least not one that has been proven in orthopedic studies. The strength of allograft tissue is less than the other grafts, but the strength of both the patellar tendon and hamstring tendon grafts exceed the strength of a normal ACL. The bottom line is 85% to 95% of patients will have clinically stable knees following ACL reconstructive surgery.

well put

 

[jaysonfreerider]

I also tore my ACL/MCL and meniscus! had my meniscus fixed already but am waiting for my ACL surgery when im done growing so probly next summer i'll have it done. I am doing probly way more then i should be doing but i do feel it afterwords. I had mine done in Sand Point Idaho. I would highly recomend the knee doctor up there! very good doctor. His name is Dr. Sipriono or somthing like that if you ever consider trying him.

Jayson