ACL surgery

[mxrider1001]

Last year i racing and i came down off a jump and almost ate dirt but saved it but when i ut my foot down my knee buckled and went in toward my other knee. well now that i have insurance im getting it checked out because it pops out of place. well yesterday the doctor told me that i tore my acl and some cartlige and i think he said mcl . well anyway he said i need surgery and their going to basiclly reconstruct my knee. they have to either repair or take out the tore cartilige and reroute my acl by drillin through my knee. he said it will be about 6-8 weeks recovery. well im only 15 years old and my question i, is this something thats goin to bother me for the rest of my life? how painful is recovery? and how long till i can race after surgery? Thanks for any info

 

[DWreck]

I tore my ACL and cartilage when I was 12 years old so they couldn't repair it until I was done growing. Just cleaned it up because the cartilage was floating around and locking up the joint. I had reconstructive surgery on it when I was 20 and it was a year before I really trusted and started testing it. I was playing it safe and probably over did it on waiting. I didn't start riding until I was 27 but can tell you after going 8 years with no ACL I learned how to be very protective of my knee and have had absolutely no problems with it since then. Basketball, tennis, MX. etc. I try and keep my feet on the pegs and usually do the turtle roll when the bike starts to get away from me. The recovery sucks but if you are like me the frustration of not being able to do anything is the worst part and after a couple of weeks you learn to block out the pain and start pushing your rehab. When you can start weight training DO IT. Make it part of your life. Leg extensor and leg curls. Strong muscles help protect the knee. I'm very careful about how much weight I use and don't get too crazy on leg press.

 

[oldguy]

At DW last year I did almost the identical thing you described. On Oct 5 I did the damage and it was all confirmed by MRI by the 15th. My surgeon had me hold off on surgery until dec3 so I could work on strengthening my knee and leg as much as I could before surgery.
On Dec 3 I had surgery to replace my ACL, and repair the Lat and MCL. I also had a fracture in the tibia that he pinned together. I had a piece of my hamstring removed to make the new ACL.
The recovery was not as painfull as I thought it would be but the first 10 days was not fun. I was able to get around on crutches within a day of the surgery and used a motion machine for several hours each day to keep the knee mobile. At about 30 days I went from the knee immobilizer to a smaller brace and began walking without crutches. I had a problem in that the would not go down and one incision would not heal so on Jan 30 I went in for another surgery- turned out I was allergic to the screws they used. Once the screws were removed I was healing much quicker and in less then 2 weeks was finally able to return to work.
As of right now I feel I could ride again but still will use my newly aquired asterisks as insurance. I still can not kneel down on my repaired knee and I have some swelling by the end of the day. There is very litttle pain day to day and I have been walking as much as possible to keep it getting stronger.
Keep in mind I am 49 years old and as my surgeon told me it is rare to do this at my age but I refused to change my lifestyle to adapt to the damaged knee. At 15 your recovery should be much quicker and easier altho I would definately say do not rush it. You have a lot of years ahead of you to screw up the surgeons work.

 

[altagirl]

Physical therapy is the most important part of recovery. Take it seriously and do exactly what your doctor and therapist tell you to do. It's tricky getting your muscles and joints to work correctly again without some professional assistance. You need to build up your strength but you have to be careful to use good form and don't overdo it.

As far as pain goes - people react differently. Expect it to be pretty painful for a few weeks and consider yourself lucky if it isn't! Hopefully you'll be one of those people who wonder what other people were complaining about! :)

Also ask your doctor about knee braces. After your surgery, most insurance companies will cover at least a portion of the cost for a brace. You'll definitely want one to get back into riding again.

Good luck!

 

[GAnderson]

I had mine reconstucted when I was 16 (16 yrs ago). While it took some time to get full flexibility and strength back, follow what you are supposed to do and it will be stronger than before surgery. I have not had a problem with that knee since - and it has stood up to numerous M/C, skiing, wakeboarding hits and twists. As for bothering you for the rest of your life - if you don't get it fixed -YES. With a good surgeon and PT program (and your age) the fix is the best option.

 

[savage]

I'm just getting into dirtbiking but snowboarding is my winter passion. While I have been lucky and have original knees at 39, I know way more people with ACL surgeries than ones that haven't had it done. My wife got her ACL done in January. The biggest thing you can do is get a CPM (continuous perpetual motion) machine that you set up at your house before you get your surgery. When you get out of surgery, you will probably go home a few hours later and strap yourself in. The machine slowly moves your knee, from 0 to 40 degrees. every day you up it 10 degrees until you get it to 125 degrees. Get your Orthopedic to write a scrip for it for three weeks, don't just do it for 10 days. And get your anestesioligist to give you a block prior to the surgery. It will entirely numb your leg from 12-36 hours. You'll have that knee moving well before you can feel it. Be on the machine every waking hour and preferably even when you sleep. Hopefully there isn't any meniscus reconstruction or you cant put any weight or walk for 6-8 weeks. In any event, you're looking at 9 monthes of no piviting sports: skiing, tennis. Dirt riding should be scaled back to where if you ride before the 9 month mark, you don't want to crash or a pivoting injury could put you right back in surgery again.

The CPM is a new advance in the last 7 or so years, and healing now is way better and faster with this technique.

Good luck with your knee

 

[rfs mike]

I tore my ACL in March but doc said I was to old unless I really wanted to re-construct. I went to re hab and don't even notice it with every day activities. I ride w/ a brace and only feel it if I catch it or drop it down wrong. Yes you will probably know it's there the rest of your life but stay up with the re-hab and keep your knees strong and you'll do fine. Good luck and be tough.
Copy and paste this site. It gave me a lot of info.
http://www.eorthopod.com/eorthopodV2/index.php/fuseaction/topics.main/area/17

 

[rfs mike]

Sorry that site may not have worked too good. Try this.

www.medicalmultimediagroup.com
then go to the "Orthopaedic patient education collection" then to "knee".
Hope that works. Lot of info. Good luck.