ACL injury

[Snowy]

That's good news - I know your knee typically has a lot of pain during the day, so the fact it hasn't made its presence felt is awesome!

I've had a good weekend - the big outdoor pool opened yesterday, so I've had two really good swims. The weather suddenly went from balmy summer sunshine to what my coworker is calling "Mayvember" just in time for the long weekend, which means the swims have been chilly but the pool is almost deserted. It's 137m long - almost three times the length of an Olympic size pool - and is right on the beach with an amazing view of the mountains. As you can tell, it's making me very happy. I love swimming even more than usual at the moment because it's the one place my knee feels totally normal, and I almost forget that I'm injured.

[tez27]

Hey Dan havent heard from you for a while just wondered how things were going hope all is well
How about Syd, I hope your kitty is being kind to you, and work is not too stressful, any plans for getting the reconstruction yet
Take care Tez 

[toughsteakdan]

Hi Tez.....although I havn't posted I am keeping up to date with with the 'goings on' .....Syd is yowling to be in at the moment for the third time this morning and I am contemplating ringing my dentist asap as my front tooth is chipped through eating polos...look like a pirate now...only need a black eye patch and all is well with the world.....trying not to smile too much which was hard this weekend as I was working!!!!

Going to see my OS on 17th June and PT is beginning to mention scopes and Recons!!....aaaagh...you never know .......my knee always feels odd which I have now accepted and I am doing my best to keep up the physio....I will be guided by what my OS thinks and am in no hurry for rash decisions....

Work is hetic and active but a great boost to my self confidence and it has taken a while to settle in....knee aches at the end of the day but a couple of paracetamols do the trick....

I hope Cosmic gets sorted out at Poole...it is realistic to know this can happen and be aware of the symptoms.  Thanks for dragging the thread to the top again!!!!!however do not want to block the newbie threads.

TSDx

[Snowy]

Hey Dan! Good to hear from you and don't worry - I think there's plenty of room at the top of the board for all of us. (My work involves a lot of website usability and interface design, so that's a professional-ish opinion!)

Glad to hear that work is going well. With regards to the knee feeling odd...there's odd as in "not the way it felt before" and odd as in "I think something bad might be happening." A lot depends on the fine lines between those two things. My knee never felt right after my injury four years ago, and in hindsight I should have done more to find out why. With bracing I got to a point where I could do everything I did before, but that leg remained weaker. The giveaway was my skiing tracks, which formed a C-shape rather than an S-shape because I couldn't bring the same pressure to bear when my left leg was on the outside of the turn. I suspect that weakness (thought now to be the result of an undiagnosed partial ACL tear) was ultimately responsible for how easily my ACL gave way in the end. If I'd known then what I know now I would have pushed for more investigation and would almost certainly have had the surgery back then, but then again...hindsight is always 20/20.

One thing I'm curious about is this tendency to insist on a scope in the UK. Here in Canada I've heard of very, very few people who have had a scope prior to ACLr. It sometimes means a bit more uncertainty going in - MRIs aren't 100% in terms of predicting outcomes - but I'd rather just be opened up once and agree on the course of action with the surgeon beforehand, depending on the findings.

At least if you join the KneeGeeks ACLr Class of 2010 you'll be in good company.

I've given up trying to understand my knee. It had a horrible day yesterday, which was entirely my own fault as I spent many hours standing at a party on Saturday night and it was clearly too much. This morning it felt cranky as hell, and after biking to work and doing an hour of leg exercises in the gym at lunchtime it was feeling positively murderous. Then I swam for an hour on the way home and it felt great afterwards - right now I have no pain at all. I think I should probably just be grateful for that, and not worry too much...

One kitty (Mara) is sleeping on the chair beside me, the other (Laya) is pacing between the office (spare room) and bedroom and wondering why I'm not sleeping. Meows to Syd.

[tony1233]

Hi Tez.....although I havn't posted I am keeping up to date with with the 'goings on' .....Syd is yowling to be in at the moment for the third time this morning and I am contemplating ringing my dentist asap as my front tooth is chipped through eating polos...look like a pirate now...only need a black eye patch and all is well with the world.....trying not to smile too much which was hard this weekend as I was working!!!!

Going to see my OS on 17th June and PT is beginning to mention scopes and Recons!!....aaaagh...you never know .......my knee always feels odd which I have now accepted and I am doing my best to keep up the physio....I will be guided by what my OS thinks and am in no hurry for rash decisions....

Work is hetic and active but a great boost to my self confidence and it has taken a while to settle in....knee aches at the end of the day but a couple of paracetamols do the trick....

I hope Cosmic gets sorted out at Poole...it is realistic to know this can happen and be aware of the symptoms. Thanks for dragging the thread to the top again!!!!!however do not want to block the newbie threads.

TSDx

Hi dan, how are you doing today ? Seems as though your also going to going along with the bunch of us refered to the ACLr class of 2010 by Snowy lol.  Only 2.5 weeks til your appointment, best of luck with that one!

TOny

[Snowy]

We're now the ACLr Musketeers - all three of us are heading for surgery in July! Still room for a D'Artagnan if your OS decides to send you the surgical route.

I spoke too soon on the knee last night - I tweaked it as I was getting ready for bed and it kept me up half the night then sulked all day today, too. (My decision to wear heels to work probably didn't help.) I also had to break the news of my pending medical leave at our all-staff meeting this morning, which was a bit of a harsh reality check - I have a great bunch of coworkers and I'm going to miss them a lot. I was also reminded that we have no short-term disability cover at work, so I have to hope nothing goes badly wrong as I'll be using up pretty much all of my sick leave. Life with a knee injury is not simple...

[sasha87]

i am bit new to this and i have went through many different topics but would like to get advice what is the way to motivate your self from acl surgery and best way to get confidence in what you were doin before?

thank you

[tez27]

Hi Sasha and welcome
What stage are you at have you already had surgery or is it coming up soon?
Are you seeing a good physio [pt] because that is very important for your prehab before surgery and rehab after surgery
There are a good few excellent post surgery diaries further down the board to have a read at to get an idea of what is coming up if your still waiting for surgery or if what you are feeling is normal or not if you have already had your surgery.
You will get some good advice and support on here as It has been a great help to me I have found out so much more about my injury and what to expect after surgery from other peoples experiences.
Good luck with wherever you are in this acl adventure
Take care Tez

[Snowy]

I'd also recommend checking out this guide to ACL rehab and recovery:

http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEnotes/node/775

There are tons of exercises there that you can do both before and after surgery, and it gives really good advice on being careful and not pushing yourself harder than you should. From what I understand (my surgery isn't till July) the recovery from an ACL reconstruction is really about being very patient, having a good physiotherapist and sticking very closely to the regime they prescribe. They'll monitor you and make sure you're doing the things you need to do in order to regain strength and be ready to go back to your previous activities.

Good luck!

[sasha87]

Hi Tez and thanks

My knee problems have been for last 22 months and still no where near the full recovery i had my knee dislocated twice and then i had surgery last sep to repair my cruciate with pattela ligament and that went all good but my physio appointments were disaster i had physio once every 3 weeks and all they would do is give me a page with exercise and tell me do them. Instead of 6 weeks to get of crutches it took me 13 weeks. Then goin into my exam in jan i slipped on the ice and fractured my knee which was missed on xray and os and 3 week after i came back in as i was able to slide my finger across my knee. Lucky i didn't require surgery but was in cast for 5 weeks and ever since then i have been back working in the gym but i haven't see in much improvement still had pain which they didn't know what it was and today i found out that when i fractured my knee cap. it moved so it's not in the place where it should be so now i have to find a good physio and get maltracking on my knee done.

[sasha87]

Hey Snowy

thanks for that and i know it takes loads of time to recover but having not good physio's just doesn't help they should be giving you confidence on your progress but i received none so my confidence at the moment is low

[toughsteakdan]

Hi anyone!......just an update ....saw os today and he has put me in for a scope because he wants to see if the part of ACL that is still attached is not stretched and damaged as I have now instability problems.  I have 50% of my acl left as the other half is now not attached to the femur...like Tonys.....if the attached part is stretched then he said I would need a reconstruction.   He also said scopes are better at diagnosing problems than MRI's.

The more active I become the laxity and instability is apparent...my knee rocks and trembles but does not give way as the other half of the acl is keeping it from doing so.....he also said that if it is a healthy half then I can build up the muscles to stop the rocking and the rolling!!!!

I must keep up with 'advanced physio'.....I didnt quite know what that meant!!!! but just said 'oh yes'....will ask physio what that means when I see him!!.

I am up to speed with all your posts so all I can say is be patient, keep positive and remember to do the best you can for yourself and with a little help from your friends. x

[tez27]

Dan brillient to hear from you I was just asking about you the other day, not so brillient having to have a scope but as yu said its the best way to find out exactly whats going on, any idea when that will be?
Hope the advance physio goes well you need to update me to what that entails
Glad you let us know how things are going for you cos I was worried you may have fallen off the world or something
Take care Tez

[Snowy]

Good to hear from you, Dan! We've been wondering how you were doing.

Not so glad to hear that the knee is still really unstable. It's interesting that they still think you might be able to stabilize the knee through PT if 50% of the ACL is left; here in Canada the attitude is much more "a tear is a tear" whether it's whole or partial. I don't know the extent of the tear I had back in 2006 (it wasn't diagnosed till 4 years later) but I do know the knee never felt right after that. Of course without a proper diagnosis I also didn't have any support from a PT or doctor, and I'm sure I did pretty much everything wrong.

At least if you go in for a scope you'll get some definite answers...any idea when your date might be?

Take care and keep working on that knee...

[tez27]

Hey Dan how are things going with you/ do you have a date yet for your scope?? You may have posted it before but my excuse is the memory aint what it was!!!! old age you know
How is the instense physio going do you feel as if it is helping your knee feel more stable?
How is Syd doing still giving you a hard time and keeping you on your toes I hope
I apoligise for dragging your thread up again but I like to hear how things are going with you!!!! I know so so so nosy but I cant help it!!!!!!
Hope you are doing ok take care
Tez