My ACL and its journey

Birdweezey · Newbie Joined: 05 Feb 2010 Posts: 12 City: Norman

Feel ya man! Tore my meniscus a couple years back on a backroll, not quite as intense as your ACL. Sucky thing though, got misdiagnosed by a stupid egocentric doc and basically screwed up any future tennis career I had, but not bitter about that haha. But I did end up having surgery about a year later and from that I learned rehab is crucial, and they gave me one of those CPM machines, and it was awful. I had to do it at night while i "slept", but it definitely helped get movement back quickly! Good luck on the recovering man!!

utb · Newbie Joined: 10 Mar 2010 Posts: 12 City: Dallas

mseller · Outlaw Joined: 05 May 2010 Posts: 220 City: Charleston

Lantzvillian · Posted: Jul 20, 2010 12:02 pm Post subject:

Hey guys, totally forgot about this and decided to do a minipost.

So after a few long months - I think it is near 6.5 now. I have been wakeboarding and surfing for the past few weeks. BUT before everyone gets excited I'll talk about some background.About 2 months ago I was working out fairly solid, doing one leg presses with 135 pounds - 60 reps and running 2 km on a treadmill. Things were going great until one night I went out with a few friends and a group of random teens jumped me( I didn't provoke it.. wrong time wrong place). I ended up having to run for my life and got shin splints..

That fu**ed up my rehab real good and I had to take some time off work. I guess the pushing from running screwed up my lower calf muscles and the bone took the abuse. That took about 2 week to heal.So about a month ago it was all better and I have been running on the treadmill at a fast pace 4 km 3 times a week. I can hop on one leg, but the real problem wasn't strength:

So what was it:

Timing and teaching my body to use the knee without thinking about the good one!

The physio therapist was really against me going riding and shes probably right for most of you.. but here is what I have been doing and have seen a noticeable improvement in my knee..

1.) Surfing - I started with a brace and now I don't wear it. 3 weeks later
--Initially, it hurt like hell on quick wake slashes and airs.
--Its 'quick' and not slow to respond to when I want to do something.

2.) Wakeboarding - start off slow.. no high impact tricks. ride for about 2-3 minutes and STOP. I would take off my brace and my knee would be pink and puffy.

-- The trick here was stop at the fine line. I knew the swelling would go down if I stopped then and I could go the next day. Ride when its dead calm or you will regret it. PS shorten your rope I got a new boat X2 and the wake at 65 feet is wider than my old X1s at 75 feet. Long story on that boat (POS wake in my opinion, sexy boat)

I went riding last night, did some rolls, some wake to wake tricks, a raley, a couple 540s and stopped. My knee was sore and I knew it was time to quit - this morning no swelling. Smile

Overall, I am way ahead of my rehab schedule. My knee feels stronger than it has for years and I think by 8-10 months I won't even notice it. On uneven ground it will give a little bit.. so warning there. Listen to your body.

Also the graft will be tighter than your old, real knee. You won't have 100% movement ever apparently! I am very happy with my knee so far, but you have to be vigilant on your rehab and exercise. Diet too! I weigh 165 now and I had weighed before the operation 195. I think I lost over 40 pounds of flub and gained muscle. Almost the best thing to happen to me actually.

Paul W · Newbie Joined: 12 Jun 2007 Posts: 36 City: Lake Zurich

How you doing now, how about an update??
Thanks

Lantzvillian · Posted: Jul 22, 2010 11:07 am Post subject:

Hey Paul,

I went over it a bit in my previous post, but in a nutshell my knee is doing really well and ahead of schedule. The scars are almost invisible (unless there is swelling) and I can go jogging on the treadmill. Surfing isn't a problem now, but wakeboarding I have to be careful.

The hardest part was getting my knee to 'think' for itself and for it to be as fast/explosive as my good knee. The knee was lackign in that department so I did a bunch of insane exercises every day and surfing really has fixed it.

Uneven ground is still a killer though, and my knee gets tired. The good thing is that if it swells, the swelling goes down. My knee feels tight and strong, but I won't have as much movement as a natural knee. My knee doesn't bother me at all unless I sit for extended periods of time.

In 3-4 months I think it will be close to 100%. Right now its maybe 75-80%.

k9fxr · Outlaw Joined: 07 Mar 2003 Posts: 199 City: MI

Lantz,
Wow, I read your thread, same ACL timeframe as you, and you are in a dreamworld.
If you think that just because you landed some rolls and the knee didnt swell
that you know how it is healing is absurd. I think it is great you are working out hard but you are working your support muscles (important) the ligament is going to take time to strengthen and just because you havent blown it again, doesnt mean it is at full strength
Good luck, be careful, I hope for the best

mseller · Outlaw Joined: 05 May 2010 Posts: 220 City: Charleston

day after surgery in the cpm machine. hope my recovery goes as good as yours...
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs111.ash2/38910_761475020918_12713759_42395783_304813_n.jpg

Lantzvillian · Posted: Feb 01, 2013 1:46 pm Post subject:

Thought I'd bump this in case anyone is interested in ACL repairs and what happens over time. It has been almost 3 years since I got the surgery done so I thought an update was in order and I'll post up what the scars look like on a relatively good day later.

After I had surgery, the people I was working with said I'd eventually be able to sit on my knees and the tingling from where the graft was taken would eventually stop - this has not been my case. I can barely rest on my knees much less lean back on them to stretch... Every tried giving a backrub to your gf from a squatting position ? Sad

The tingling is still there, and on some days its worse if you touch it. They also said I'd be able to bend my leg (behind me as in stretching your quads) and it would touch your buttocks... finally did it last Wed... 1st time and I was excited, but I had to stretch the hell out of it for 25 minutes at the gym.

As per lasting effects in your day-to-day life, I know that my injury is there and it will be with me for the rest of my life. That said, it doesn't stop me from doing the things I love (autocross, wakeboarding, running, diving, snowboarding etc...) but what it does is: you have to know the fine line where if you continue that day, you will regret it.

If its getting tired f'ing stop or it will tear again or you will rip something else... I tore my meniscus twice last summer and pulled all of my leg muscles because they were protecting my knee... luckily the ACL and ligaments are okay and that was a scare.. I also got hit by a car crossing the street and did a interpretation of super man shortly there after, but I escaped that with just back damage and a broken arm. Shocked

Always stretch before you do something, in men your hamstrings and quads are tighter than females - I have heard that knee injuries are higher in males because of this (and other factors I am sure), so I bike for 5 minutes lightly and stretch before I do anything extraneous like soccer, running or wakeboarding.

Another note is - find your limits and start easy. Don't go all out trying to get back into your regular routines or doing 5 sets shredding. Do one shred, stop, ice, relax.. see how it feels the day after.. if it hurts.. you pushed it too far.. if it doesn't.. try a bit longer next time. My limit is only 3 days of riding in a row with about 2 sets or (1 hr and 20 minutes of riding each day) before it hurts... in terms of running, I started at a slow pace and ran for 10 minutes... now I'm up to 2.4 Miles in 17 minutes and I'm just starting to get a throbbing pain in my knee when I wakeup... hell it is throbbing now...

Last, but not least.. be leery of new things.. your body does weird things to protect you knee.. my one hip and good leg take most of the brunt of impacts so they are getting messed up.. I have to go get massaged, and take regular stretch breaks at work. This also means that skydiving and other fun things are/ will never be able to be removed from my bucket list.