Torn ACL - Out for season

[kickstand]

isnt that the guy who owns or runs whaleback now?

I just remember him saying he was retiring after those olympics so he went ahead and competed with the blown acl. ballsy move.

yes, it is. I was at the 2002 Olympics and I don't recall the crash, but I know he didn't do well. Of course, I didn't get to see replays on TV, either. And with 30-something skiers, I'm sure the TV audience got the edited version. It's hard to remember every single guy.

 

[gladerider]

sorry man, sorry...

 

[hardline]

i feel your pain. i have been without my dear old acl since 93 when a sappling off of chin clip stole it from me. after my arthroscopy the doctors informed me that there was no good way to bond the tendon to the bone(the acl was torn clean off the bone). they said they could try it but wouldn't guarantee it would last. at the time i was competing. i took a few years off and eventually started going again. i now average 70+ days a season and i don't have any problems except when go off of jumps(5 foot plus) that have to flat of a landing. im considering getting the surgury where they notch out a piece of bone and screw it in over the tendon but i just don't really miss the old guy. my knee seems to work fine without it.

 

[dmc]

I've known people that skied with a torn ACL...

 

[lerops]

Update: Surgery scheduled for next Wednesday.

I went into my appointment thinking my doctor would recommend a patellar tendon, but he said he doesn't recommend it unless the patient is bulky. The reason would be the post-op pain and long term implications. He said that it is up to me between hamstring and an allograft with no medical differences.

I am leaning towards hamstring, because there is no guarantee of a good tendon from cadavre. Donor might be old, etc.

Anyway, thanks to all for support and sharing your experiences. Will rehab religiously to get back to skiing next year. I want to be stronger than ever since my plans to really improve my skiing this year are long gone out the window. I will have more questions on this later.

 

[wa-loaf]

Update: Surgery scheduled for next Wednesday.

I went into my appointment thinking my doctor would recommend a patellar tendon, but he said he doesn't recommend it unless the patient is bulky. The reason would be the post-op pain and long term implications. He said that it is up to me between hamstring and an allograft with no medical differences.

I am leaning towards hamstring, because there is no guarantee of a good tendon from cadavre. Donor might be old, etc.

Anyway, thanks to all for support and sharing your experiences. Will rehab religiously to get back to skiing next year. I want to be stronger than ever since my plans to really improve my skiing this year are long gone out the window. I will have more questions on this later.

Hope it goes well. I'm meeting my doc again tomorrow to go over MRIs. Still hoping to ski Friday and Saturday . . .

 

[Hawkshot99]

Update: Surgery scheduled for next Wednesday.

I went into my appointment thinking my doctor would recommend a patellar tendon, but he said he doesn't recommend it unless the patient is bulky. The reason would be the post-op pain and long term implications. He said that it is up to me between hamstring and an allograft with no medical differences.

I am leaning towards hamstring, because there is no guarantee of a good tendon from cadavre. Donor might be old, etc.

Anyway, thanks to all for support and sharing your experiences. Will rehab religiously to get back to skiing next year. I want to be stronger than ever since my plans to really improve my skiing this year are long gone out the window. I will have more questions on this later.

I have ACL surgery next Friday. Tore mine in January. I also am using the hamstring muscle, whatever that is called. Good luck with your surgery.

 

[severine]

Holey Moley there are a lot of us with knee injuries!

Good luck with your surgery!

 

[skiboarder]

Good luck with your surgery. I am a PT, but don't have any to recommend in the city. Google APTA and look for a PT who is an orhopedic specialist.

 

[Paul]

Update: Surgery scheduled for next Wednesday.

I went into my appointment thinking my doctor would recommend a patellar tendon, but he said he doesn't recommend it unless the patient is bulky. The reason would be the post-op pain and long term implications. He said that it is up to me between hamstring and an allograft with no medical differences.

I am leaning towards hamstring, because there is no guarantee of a good tendon from cadavre. Donor might be old, etc.

Anyway, thanks to all for support and sharing your experiences. Will rehab religiously to get back to skiing next year. I want to be stronger than ever since my plans to really improve my skiing this year are long gone out the window. I will have more questions on this later.

Interesting. I'm far from bulky, mine did the patellar because he said it has the best long-term results. The rational is/was that the hamstring tendons can stretch over time, causing the "new" acl to get loose. The Patellar one is one solid piece instead of smaller ones twined together. Each ortho-pod is different.
Go with the hammy, use the allo as a last resort.

 

[Phildozer]

Good luck to everyone going-under the knife.

The KEY to a solid outcome is to stick to your PT plan religiously. Skimp on it, and you're only screwing yourself.

Once everything is solid and fixed, keep those leg muscles strong!

 

[Paul]

Good luck to everyone going-under the knife.

The KEY to a solid outcome is to stick to your PT plan religiously. Skimp on it, and you're only screwing yourself.

Once everything is solid and fixed, keep those leg muscles strong!

Jus' wanted to emphasize what the 'dozer said...

 

[Phlogiston]

If it's not too unpleasant to talk about, I'd like to know how you tore your ACL. Did a binding release too late or not at all?
Did it happen when you landed a jump?
This season I've started skiing very conservatively; much slower than before, to avoid injuries. I want to know how things happen to people.

 

[lerops]

Not at all. Mine was an atypical ACL tear. I did not fall. I took a hard stop and hyperextended my knee. I felt a pop and was not able to put weight on it when I got up. Some people don't even realize that they tore it and just ski away only to find out later that it was torn. It's interesting because in my case there was no way I could ski.

Did you slow down just because of a sudden sense of safety or any other accident/injury?

 

[kingslug]

Get better...next season is right around the corner!

 

[Hawkshot99]

If it's not too unpleasant to talk about, I'd like to know how you tore your ACL. Did a binding release too late or not at all?
Did it happen when you landed a jump?
This season I've started skiing very conservatively; much slower than before, to avoid injuries. I want to know how things happen to people.

I was in a skier cross race. In practice I was testing out the coarse. There was a very large "bump" that I could not see at night that I hit and became airborne going into a turn. (In skier cross the turns are banked, to allow you to go much faster through them.) I slammed into the turn like it was a wall and flipped over the back of it. My left ski did release, right ski did not.(I tore the right) There was almost no pain from my knee, it was a little sore, but nothing that would make me stop skiing. My left shin did hurt alot, from slamming into the front of my boot so hard. I finished the practice run including a 40 foot step up jump with no problems from my knee. I decided that since my shin was hurting so bad I would just take it real easy in my race(again no knee pain). I entered my heat and had the lead till the first turn when it gave out on me when I leaned over.

I later did a binding release check on the skis. I normally set them at a type III skier, but had raised them up 1 notch. They released 100% in spec, actually on the low side of it. So it was not the skis fault, just a freak incident where the angles were not right to release the binding. The left ski releasing was the first time that either of my skis released all year long.

 

[Phlogiston]

Not at all. Mine was an atypical ACL tear. I did not fall. I took a hard stop and hyperextended my knee. I felt a pop and was not able to put weight on it when I got up. Some people don't even realize that they tore it and just ski away only to find out later that it was torn. It's interesting because in my case there was no way I could ski.

Did you slow down just because of a sudden sense of safety or any other accident/injury?

For quite a while I was one of those middle aged men who didn't like to make too many turns while skiing, I'd just open it up on groomed blue or single black trails, and GO.

I began to realize that I wasn't seeing anything - at Hunter Mtn, I get from the top to the bottom in about 2 minutes, then ride back up in 7, and the whole run was a blur.
I also began hearing about all these people, mostly middle aged men, who were going off the edges of blue groomers because of one little problem; catching an edge, or hitting sticky snow or a buried rock... and dying when their heads hit something.
During the last off season I had some anxiety attacks thinking about what I'd been doing; and decided to change it when I started up again this season.
I haven't fallen once this year, and don't plan on it for the rest of the season. No intention of getting injured without falling, either. Having fun, but not getting hurt is a big priority for me now. You could say I saw the light.

 

[wa-loaf]

If it's not too unpleasant to talk about, I'd like to know how you tore your ACL. Did a binding release too late or not at all?
Did it happen when you landed a jump?

I collided with a snowboarder. Mostly my fault I was going too fast where I shouldn't have been. I hit him with my knee and then twisted around him. I had both and impact and then forward twisting fall.

 

[Phlogiston]

I collided with a snowboarder. Mostly my fault I was going too fast where I shouldn't have been. I hit him with my knee and then twisted around him. I had both and impact and then forward twisting fall.

I've been really lucky. I've been able to ski only on weekdays when it's not crowded. That's why I never hit anyone when I was skiing fast.
I realized it was just luck on my part; and got a queasy feeling; that's when I decided to slow down.

 

[lerops]

My doc mostly does anterior tibialis in the case of allografts. I never heard of that before, anybody did?

One study I came across (which is pretty much the only thing I could find on the web) said it had high failure rates. My doc said that in terms of strength it is on par with the achilles tendon, so I find it odd.

It looks like I will go with the hamstring autograft.

Thanks to all again. And speedy recovery to those who have recently hurt themselves. Can't wait to get back to skiing next season.