So my knee is screwed, to say the least...
- Thread starter The Devil In I
- Start date
FissionFire
Registered User
I have no first-hand experience with any of those, but didn't Chelios play for something like 5 years without an ACL?
The Devil In I
Registered User
Drewr15
Registered User
First let me say how sorry I am to hear. I've torn the ACL twice and my meniscus on my right knee. First time I was a teenager and the recovery was about 6 months to get full mobility and strength back and then I did it again at 31. It took me about a year to get full but I was playing hockey within 7 or 8 months again and I personally felt I lost a step but it was my second time and well it could have been age to 
but I swear you should be able to play again. I've done it twice and have been able to keep playing. Just be strong with the rehab, the beginning hurts like a mother but once you start to see that progress you will get energized. Just keep up with it and best of luck man. If you ever want to compare notes on anything regarding rehab feel free to PM.
but I swear you should be able to play again. I've done it twice and have been able to keep playing. Just be strong with the rehab, the beginning hurts like a mother but once you start to see that progress you will get energized. Just keep up with it and best of luck man. If you ever want to compare notes on anything regarding rehab feel free to PM.
DevilsFan38
Registered User
The ACL is the one that will take longest to heal, and you're talking about months.
I don't know if your doctor told you this, but part of the reason you have to do PT before surgery is to build up the muscles so that after surgery, when your knee is swollen and puffy and you can't do anything with it, you already have some decent muscle tone so you won't lose it all before you can start rehabbing it again.
That sucks, best of luck with that.
I don't know if your doctor told you this, but part of the reason you have to do PT before surgery is to build up the muscles so that after surgery, when your knee is swollen and puffy and you can't do anything with it, you already have some decent muscle tone so you won't lose it all before you can start rehabbing it again.
That sucks, best of luck with that.
Also with the knee injury it's going to take time to heal more than if you hurt your shoulder or elbow because it's a weight bearing joint. I sprained my knee and tore/hyperextended all the tendons in my knee and ankle in August and wasn't 100% until January. Keep the PT going, sitting around makes it worse. It will feel completely different as you're healing and you'll swear it didn't feel that way before, but you should be able to play again.
I've never done the ACL but i've had four surgeries between the two knees. They send you to PT because the better strengthened and conditioned the muscles in your leg are the less they'll atrophy and the quicker you'll recover. I have a friend who tore her ACL playing soccer, plays for the ODP, and was back and playing in just over three months. She was in superb condition and recovered very quickly because of that. Basicly, DO WHAT THE PHYSICAL THERAPIST SAYS!!! and you'll be fine. Also, check out this place for great info on knees, knee doctors, and general issues with surgery and everything else that has to do with knees.
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk
http://www.kneeguru.co.uk
Nbr-17
Registered User
I tore my ACL back in the winter of 1996. Had surgery done in spring of 97. Had 6months of physio afterwards and it has been fine ever since. The key is to find a good surgeon who knows what he's doing and don't skimp of physio. My knee does hurt a bit occasionally but it's nothing I can't handle.
In my case he used a piece of my patella tendon to replace the ACL. I hear they have better ways of doing it now, but back in the day that's what they did.
I'd have the surgery without hesitation, life's too short not to be able to play sports
Good luck.
In my case he used a piece of my patella tendon to replace the ACL. I hear they have better ways of doing it now, but back in the day that's what they did.
I'd have the surgery without hesitation, life's too short not to be able to play sports
Good luck.
The Devil In I
Registered User
Yea I figured something like that, also read that it could additionally be because they typically wait to re-***** a meniscus tear. Since there's 2 different types of tears that require different treatments.
It's not too bad right now, happened on the 10th. I quickly got tired of using crutches everywhere (never needed them before), so I started limping around my studio 2 days after it happened. I still need to use the crutches for long distances though, which definitely sucks since I'm in Boston and pretty much everything is a long distance.... at least I'm gonna have huge arms and shoulders after this. I've been working on getting the knee to bend the past few days, since I couldn't bend it 6 inches off the floor if I laid on my back. Still can't believe I did all that just playing intramural floor hockey at my schools gym.
Thanks for the advice and support everyone.
Frank the Tank
The Godfather
Tore my ACL the same way, playing intramural floor hockey at college in 2004.
Like your doctor and PT will tell you, retaining/regaining muscle strength and flexibility will be important to a speedy and full recovery. Work hard and you should be physically fit to play 6 months after the surgery. Although the mental aspects took me a few more months to get back playing at full speed, which I am told is normal.
JLHockeyKnight
IMA Real American
I have 2 small cysts in my right knee, one to the left of my knee cap, and the other on the back outer miniscus. It basically prevents my knee from bending entirely. It always hurts, so far I've had it swell to the point that I couldn't move it twice in the past year and a half, which isn't fun. The cysts are really too small to remove so its not worth it, so I'm stuck with a bad knee.
I asked my friend who's torn his ACL twice to give some advice for you. Here's what he said:
I think that the reason they want him to do some therapy BEFORE surgery is so that he can build up as much muscle in his leg, because after sugery, alot of that muscle is going to be gone. The first time I tore mine I only tore the ACL, and the recovery time was 6 months before I could start playing sport (with a brace)...but eventually i got back to full srtength and felt 100%. The second time, I tore my ACL and my Medial Meniscus, and once u tear ur meniscus, u are looking at a longer recovery period, because u can't even bend ur knee past a certain point for a good month at least. so my advice is to take things slow, don't push urself, and do exactly as the doctors and physical therapists tell you. because one false move, and you can re-tear it in a second.
I'd say he's right. Take your time. You've got plenty of time in your life to still play hockey. If you still want to get involved, try coaching a team or something, that's a good start.
Best of luck with everything.
I asked my friend who's torn his ACL twice to give some advice for you. Here's what he said:
I think that the reason they want him to do some therapy BEFORE surgery is so that he can build up as much muscle in his leg, because after sugery, alot of that muscle is going to be gone. The first time I tore mine I only tore the ACL, and the recovery time was 6 months before I could start playing sport (with a brace)...but eventually i got back to full srtength and felt 100%. The second time, I tore my ACL and my Medial Meniscus, and once u tear ur meniscus, u are looking at a longer recovery period, because u can't even bend ur knee past a certain point for a good month at least. so my advice is to take things slow, don't push urself, and do exactly as the doctors and physical therapists tell you. because one false move, and you can re-tear it in a second.
I'd say he's right. Take your time. You've got plenty of time in your life to still play hockey. If you still want to get involved, try coaching a team or something, that's a good start.
Best of luck with everything.
Heat McManus
Registered User
best of luck man. I had major knee surgery to realign my knee last June (Tibial Tubercle Transfer - they saw the tibia in half where the patellar tendon attaches then move it before screwing it into place).
It was a rough rehab, but i was back on the ice within six months.
Best of luck.
It was a rough rehab, but i was back on the ice within six months.
Best of luck.
If you really need to take the surgery, do it. You will regret it if you don't my left knee has almost zero cartlage left, and whats left is detorating. Years of ignoring serious problems has caught up with me.
I went knee on knee once. I think I sprained it, but I haven't torn an ACL or anything like that.
Tore Rt ACL in 1975 and Rt lateral miniscus in 1981. I took 5 years off from hockey due to Navy but played for 28 years after. I never had any related issues but I absolutely lost a step but was always a gym/fitness rat so I was usually faster and quicker than most all the way through. I got fitted for an athletic knee brace a few years ago but it robbed me of more speed so I scrapped it.You'll do fine but do not rush it!
I only went to Annapolis on a visit. Most of the new officers on my ship (USS Moinester-FF1097) were Annapolis Class of 1976 and 1977. I was a sophomore in college post Navy in 1983. You should be mighty proud of your Dad as Annapolis might be the most demanding,challenging and prestigious institution in the nation.
I'm in the process of recovering from a ACL tear. Had surgery about 3 months ago and original injury about 7 months ago.
Word of caution....minimize impact in the pre-surgery stage. It's a catch 22 of course. You need to maximize your muscle growth so your recovery time is shorter but you can do real (additional) meniscus damage in the period between injury and surgery.
Water sports is great for this. I unfortunately had to learn the hard way doing more damage to my meniscus in the "in between" time and I had a good portion of it removed during the surgery.
Ask a lot of questions regarding hamstring vs. patellar method. Some docs go one way, some the other. I had patellar, (the older method), but best to be as informed as possible.
The Devil In I
Registered User
A few questions here...what do you mean by "impact"? I'm certainly not gonna be doing any running/sports, but I've been walking around lightly on it without crutches for short distances. I'm assuming you mean high impact activities, since the doc said the goal for pre-surgery PT is to get me walking fine, with a knee brace on.
Are you talking about the post-surgery recovery stage when saying water sports are good?
And for the hamstring vs patellar method, is that the two different types of surgery for meniscus repair? I read there's 2 types of tears for menisci (?), requiring different surgeries.
Unfortunately we have school pretty much year round at Northeastern. So when I'm done with my current internship in June, I'll be through the 6 weeks of pre-surgery PT, but I'll have 7 weeks of summer class coming up. They say I need to put no weight on it for 6 weeks post-surgery, so I may have to skip summer classes this year and stay home in NJ for after the surgery.
I guess I should have qualified.
I'm in Canada. The wait for surgery was 4 months (and this is very good, knowing the surgeon from a contact). In Alberta, average wait times for this surgery is 10-12 months.
In these types of time frames, you can get pretty active again. I was able to jog (albeit lightly) with no ACL at all weeks before I went into my surgery. So here is where you can do more damage to your meniscus.
Water sports (IE: water running, swimming) are great for pre and post surgery but I was speaking specifically before having surgery as a low impact way to improve muscle strength going into the surgery. After surgery it's obviously great also.
Regarding the patellar vs. hamstring method, this is talking about ACL replacement. They harvest either the middle third of your patellar tendon or a portion of your hamstring tendon.
In terms of menicus repair, I've got limited knowledge from my case. My surgeon simply removed about 33% of my meniscus (along with bone fragments which were causing further agravation to the cartilage) so what was there wouldn't get torn up further. There was no talk of repair or replacement.
It sounds like from your case you may have had more damage done to your meniscus than I had, and this is truly the limiting factor in trying to judge time in recovery.
After surgery I was walking (with a limp) almost immediately. (My understanding is that the patellar ACL reconstruction is immediately full weight bearing whereas the hamstring method you have to be more careful). I was at work (in an office environment) in a week. But with more damage to the meniscus your range of motion targets will probably take longer to attain and the process may be more stretched out.
The Devil In I
Registered User
Little update here, got my full radiology report the other day:
Menisci: Deep large radial tear of the posterior horn of lateral meniscus, near posterior root. Complex tear involving peripheral 1/3 of posterior horn and posterior horn budy junction of medial meniscus.
Ligaments: Complete tear of ACL. Distal fibers of ACL curled over the tibial spine. PCL is intact (hooray
). Tear w/ retraction of anterior fibers of MCL from femoral insertion site.
Bone: Bone contusions of lateral femoral condyle. Bone contusions of posterior aspect of medial and lateral tibial condyles. Small osterochondral fracture involving posteror rim of lateral tibial plateau.
And on top of hearing from posters who've come back from ACL tears, I found out Heatley suffered ACL, MCL, and lateral meniscus tears in that accident. So if he could come back at 100% to score back to back 100 pt seasons, I should at least come back to play rec league hockey. Good stuff.
Menisci: Deep large radial tear of the posterior horn of lateral meniscus, near posterior root. Complex tear involving peripheral 1/3 of posterior horn and posterior horn budy junction of medial meniscus.
Ligaments: Complete tear of ACL. Distal fibers of ACL curled over the tibial spine. PCL is intact (hooray
). Tear w/ retraction of anterior fibers of MCL from femoral insertion site.Bone: Bone contusions of lateral femoral condyle. Bone contusions of posterior aspect of medial and lateral tibial condyles. Small osterochondral fracture involving posteror rim of lateral tibial plateau.
And on top of hearing from posters who've come back from ACL tears, I found out Heatley suffered ACL, MCL, and lateral meniscus tears in that accident. So if he could come back at 100% to score back to back 100 pt seasons, I should at least come back to play rec league hockey. Good stuff.
