Need to know what to expect with acl surgery...

[Snownut]

Found out Im going in for knee surgery 2 days after Christmas.. They are telling me my acl, pcl and meniscus need repaired.. They are telling me 6 month recovery time.. Is that for real? Anyone have experience with a similar surgery and recovery time?

Ive had people tell me that after a month they were doing great, others saying they took 6 weeks off work.. Seems like a different story from everyone..

 

[Chubbydog]

I blew mine out in a motorcycle accident, and it took like 3 months before I could really walk without a limp. I couldn't do anything on it for about 9 months as far as running and puting weight on it. Good luck, there not fun, espicially this time of year.

 

[Snownut]

9 MONTHS? Thats even longer than what the doc said... did you do much physical therapy? How long til you could get back on your motorcycle? I need to be riding my bike by may...

Thanks for the reply...

 

[Spiced Wafer]

pain, lots of pain, oh and a little bit of more pain!

if you rehab, you will be up and running in a few months,

plan on at least a month out of work...first couple of weeks laying around doing litterly nothing, then you can go back to a desk job when your on crutches....

kiss this season good bye....

good luck!

my brother has had 3 of these

 

[Snownut]

I am seriously allergic to pain.. They better give me something good to help with it.. I heard that PT is the worst and most painful part..

 

[redlineguy]

My bro had his done and it was not that bad he said, I will need mine done too but not looking forward to it.

Within a year you will be back full force.

Talk to Sunridge he will fill you in very good, Prolly more than you want to know.








.

 

[Snownut]

thanks for the replies guys.. I was hoping to get some spring riding in with some serious physical therapy.. I guess all I can do is wait and see...

 

[M-ATE]

I blew mine out playing basketball in September. Had the surgery Sept. 25 and was off crutches in 8 days with a pretty serious limp. Walking pretty well at 1 month. 6-8 weeks started jogging. Did therapy twice a week for the first month and a half. Now down to once a week. Gonna go riding Dec. 22 so that puts me right around 3 months. Physical therapist says BE CAREFUL when you ride! The doc said I would be able to tryout for the college football team in February which would be slightly over 4 months. I think age and how aggressively you rehab plays a big role in it. Good luck!

 

[Snownut]

Im 41, I ride hard on a sled atv and motorcycle.. I do plan on serious PT, I want to get rehabilitated as fast as possible.. You give me some hope.. 10q

 

[Cheekster]

ANY strenght you add now, before Christmas..

will pay off HUGE after, when you start rehab..


GET TO WORK

 

[M-ATE]

The other big thing that helped me was riding a bicycle everyday. I think it was around two weeks before I did that.

 

[BowSheet]

I had an ACL repair 17 years ago. The rehab was more intensive back then, my brother had his repaired 3 or 4 years ago and his rehab was much eaiser. Thr pain comes from trying to get range of motion back, and "teaching" the tendon graft to act like a ligament. The other post is right on the money, try to strengthen the muscles in your leg as much as you can, it is amazing how fast your quad muscle melts away after the surgery.

 

[WFO]

It all depends on what they find once they get in there. If it is just tightening up, and vacuuming you should be into PT within a week. Yes PT SUCKS but do everything they tell you! When i had mine done, I had also broken my Tibial Plateau (Damn motorcycles ) I came out of "Outpatient" surgery and wasn't able to put any weight on my leg for five weeks. Talk about total loss of the muscles. Bust your balls in PT and you should be able to Spring ride at the very minimum. My Surgery was Aug 10th, 2004 and I rode at Togwotee on Dec. 10th. Very gingerly, but I was riding!

Good Luck!

jw


p.s.

Get Percocet, the Loritab in not near as good IMHO

 

[Snownut]

Thanks guys.. I know he is replacing my acl and pcl.. The meniscus is torn as well, but he said he wont know how bad till he gets in there..

Thanks for the comments.. I really hope I can get some kind of riding in in the spring...

 

[summitpeaking]

Like everyone has said, rehab the crap out of it. Had a teammate tear his during spring ball and got real lazy with it. 9 months later it still hurts him more than when he went into surgery (or so he says). Had another teammate tear his in early September and worked his anoos off getting it back in shape. 3 months later he is starting to jog on it and feels real good. Started walking on it after a week and a half or so. I had a Lisfranc fracture and dislocation in my foot in September. Talk about a b*tch of an injury. No weight bearing for 12 weeks, then in a boot for 6 more. It's been a long year.

 

[Snowlover]

ACL repair with my hamstring, first week of Jan. when I was 39. Hit therapy as hard as they would let me and rode my sled half a dozen times before snow melted in NO Utah. Went on a 60 mile 6 day hike in June with full pack to the top of Kings Peak 14000 ft + in the uintahs.

Some docs are very cautious. Mine was a sport specialist in Logan UT and encourage hard work with PT and strength training.

Work hard and remember how great it will be to start riding.

 

[Walter]

i have had both of my acl's done, my first one it took me around 9 months before i was active playing sports, my 2nd one happened in football and i wanted to play some of the season in basketball so i pushed it and was back on the basketball court in a little over three months. i dont recomment pushing it to much cause now i always have problems with it and i cant get it to go all the way straight and it is making my hips hurt all the time and my back go out all the time. it sucks especially when i am only 21!!!! good luck, remember to make sure you do all of your therapy

 

[Hammertime]

Had both replaced. The left one was a patella graph(don't get this repair). 1 year before I was back to normal. It's stable but always hurts a little. Right knee was a hamstring graph 4-6 months recovery back doing stuff in 4 months easy. Keep it moving when you get outta surgery. I had a machine that moved it for me you can rent it for recovery. I was in it 22hrs/day recovery was much easier. Get an Ice machine too run's water through a small cooler of icewater. It pumps the ice water out of the cooler into a pad place it on your knee takes the pain and swelling away...fast recovery! My insurance didnt cover this but dahm did it work well. Strengthen the knee now before surgery it will help later. Also my knees still give me trouble years later but riding a bicycle seems to help more than anything get one for rehab if you don't already have one. I ride about 1500 miles a year on a good quality road bike and my knees have never felt better since I starting riding that bike. Good luck

 

[Snownut]

Well, its been just over a week (they moved it up to the 21st) and the part about hurting like hell is right.. they used a hamstring graft which is what really hurts, and donor ligaments to make the new ligaments.. They were able to stitch up the meniscus.. amazing how they can put little stitches in like that.. They gave me a bunch of photos that were taken during the surgery.. I had it done at TOSH in Salt Lake and they specialize in sports medicine surgery.. They are the ones who do the surgeries on the US ski, snowboard teams etc.. I start PT next week and looks like they want me off crutches by next weekend.. Ive already been doing a little walking without crutches (with their special brace) and its not too bad..

Anyone having this surgery in the future let me recommend what what hammertime said.. they sent me home with a Gameready.. Its and ice/pressure machine with a cuff that goes over your leg. It circulates ice water around your injury 1/2 hour on. 1/2 hour off.. I hardly have any swelling..

So far Im feeling pretty good about it.. Im crossing my fingers for some spring riding..

ps, thanks Kim for your support.. I will take you up on talking with you about any questions I have..

 

[AkMike]

Unless you want to go thru it again don't ride this year.. Even late spring riding
Been there done that w/ PT.