ACL Tear, Surgery and Misdiagnosis

[sox 06]

and have avoided the Dr. on purpose ever since. I have finally broken down and have an appointment scheduled since my standard of living has dropped significantly in the last 2 months.

That's the best move that you could have made. I avoided the doctor for about six years and I regret it greatly. Everyday activities were painful, uncomfortable and many I stopped doing because of the discomfort and pain. Everyone was telling me to go to the doctor to which I responded, "I'll just deal with it."

I realized though that there's no reason to be uncomfortable and in pain if something can be done about it. A 21 year old shouldn't fear sitting down on a couch because their knee might lock up on them. That's no way to live life.

[sox 06]

I'm having the ACL reconstruction surgery next week on the 26th. My physical therapist was scared about how loose and unstable my knee is. It constantly gives out on me and I almost fell backwards down a flight of stairs because of it. I went to the gym with a guy that I work with this past weekend to shoot around and play some horse, 21, one on one, etc. We were there for about two hours and I wore my custom ACL brace the entire time. I could barely walk later that day and had really sharp pains in my knee.

Hopefully in about a year I will finally have a somewhat healthy left knee.

[lastingsgriller]

I'll just reiterate my statement from the beginning of this thread as it still seems appropriate..

It is a significant investment of time. also, if you are not the type of worker thats going to go all out and rehab it right, you might as well not do it at all. but, if you are willing to put the time and effort into it, i think you will be amazed what it's like to live with a normal knee again. it's easy to just live with what you've got and deal with it, but a couple of years from know you will thank yourself for getting it fixed.

blah blah blah... long story, i know.. but, you're young, get it fixed while you still heal fast and have the energy to hit the gym every day.

[sox 06]

Well, I'm about ten days into recovery and I can confirm that ACL reconstruction stinks. The pain has actually been more tolerable than I thought it would be except for the night following my surgery when my entire leg felt as if someone was pounding on it with a sledgehammer. I spent a good 7.5/8 hours total at the hospital for the surgery even though the surgery itself only took three hours. I got real sick after it, was barely with it and had a heart rate of 130 (which was a major cause for concern because I have a serious heart condition). The clumsy straight leg brace is extremely uncomfortable and heavy and the screw below my knee that is holding my new ACL in place H U R T S! But other than that, so far so good

[jake_twothousandfive]

Damn, I know what you're going through. Working hard on rehab will pay off in the long run. How's your range of motion? That was the hardest part of recovery for me. After I got past that hurdle it became more manageable.

[sox 06]

Damn, I know what you're going through. Working hard on rehab will pay off in the long run. How's your range of motion? That was the hardest part of recovery for me. After I got past that hurdle it became more manageable.

My range of motion is actually progressing a lot quicker than I expected. They told me I should be close to 90 degrees at two weeks (this Thursday) and I'm in the neighborhood of that. Something I'm having a hard time with is completely straightening my leg, but they told me that that's harder than bending it most of the time. I start therapy either this week or next week so hopefully that will really get the wheels rolling.

I've been told a million different time tables as far as the recovery is concerned. Some say 6 months, some 9 months and some 12 months. The doctor told me today that because they used an allograft (donor tissue, not a piece from my hamstring) that the recovery is sometimes up to 18 months

[jake_twothousandfive]

Damn, I know what you're going through. Working hard on rehab will pay off in the long run. How's your range of motion? That was the hardest part of recovery for me. After I got past that hurdle it became more manageable.

My range of motion is actually progressing a lot quicker than I expected. They told me I should be close to 90 degrees at two weeks (this Thursday) and I'm in the neighborhood of that. Something I'm having a hard time with is completely straightening my leg, but they told me that that's harder than bending it most of the time. I start therapy either this week or next week so hopefully that will really get the wheels rolling.

I've been told a million different time tables as far as the recovery is concerned. Some say 6 months, some 9 months and some 12 months. The doctor told me today that because they used an allograft (donor tissue, not a piece from my hamstring) that the recovery is sometimes up to 18 months

I used a graft from my hamstring for the first surgery and donor tissue for the second. With the hamstring graft I was told recovery is 9 months and with donor tissue it's about 12 months. Recovery is longer with the donor tissue but it should be stronger. I think the different recovery times you're hearing are simply because you have a lot of control over how quickly you reach full recovery based on how hard you work at rehab. If you work like a pro athlete at it, you'll probably be on the short end of these timetables; whereas, if you give it a poor effort, full recovery could take much longer.

[sox 06]

Damn, I know what you're going through. Working hard on rehab will pay off in the long run. How's your range of motion? That was the hardest part of recovery for me. After I got past that hurdle it became more manageable.

My range of motion is actually progressing a lot quicker than I expected. They told me I should be close to 90 degrees at two weeks (this Thursday) and I'm in the neighborhood of that. Something I'm having a hard time with is completely straightening my leg, but they told me that that's harder than bending it most of the time. I start therapy either this week or next week so hopefully that will really get the wheels rolling.

I've been told a million different time tables as far as the recovery is concerned. Some say 6 months, some 9 months and some 12 months. The doctor told me today that because they used an allograft (donor tissue, not a piece from my hamstring) that the recovery is sometimes up to 18 months

I used a graft from my hamstring for the first surgery and donor tissue for the second. With the hamstring graft I was told recovery is 9 months and with donor tissue it's about 12 months. Recovery is longer with the donor tissue but it should be stronger. I think the different recovery times you're hearing are simply because you have a lot of control over how quickly you reach full recovery based on how hard you work at rehab. If you work like a pro athlete at it, you'll probably be on the short end of these timetables; whereas, if you give it a poor effort, full recovery could take much longer.

I've been told that I need to take the rehab kind of slowly at first with the donor tissue because the knee/leg will feel much better right off the bat with the donor tissue versus the hamstring so I might feel like I can push it harder than I should.
I went to my first PT appointment back on Wednesday and I was able to bend my knee to 85 degrees My PT had me stand up and put a little weight on the leg WITHOUT my brace on. I wish I could have seen my face because I was scared to death to do this

[J35J]

and have avoided the Dr. on purpose ever since. I have finally broken down and have an appointment scheduled since my standard of living has dropped significantly in the last 2 months.

That's the best move that you could have made. I avoided the doctor for about six years and I regret it greatly. Everyday activities were painful, uncomfortable and many I stopped doing because of the discomfort and pain. Everyone was telling me to go to the doctor to which I responded, "I'll just deal with it."

I realized though that there's no reason to be uncomfortable and in pain if something can be done about it. A 21 year old shouldn't fear sitting down on a couch because their knee might lock up on them. That's no way to live life.

You are 21 now...6 years ago you were 15...why didn't your parents get the surgery for you at that time?

Congrats on successful surgery and good luck with the rehab!

[sox 06]

Now that I'm six weeks from my surgery, things are getting a bit easier. I'm still in the brace for another 2-3 weeks, but I've been walking without the brace or crutches while I'm at therapy. Its amazing how much better my knee feels now compared to before the surgery. Before the surgery, when I would try and balance on my bad leg, my knee would shake real bad and that was when my leg was nice and strong. I have almost no muscle definition in my leg and my leg right around my quad is 3.5 cm smaller around than my other leg. However, when I stand on it, my knee doesn't shake AT ALL