Post-operative nutrition
 

Well, on Aug 29th I had a nasty crash, dislocating my right knee. 10 days later I had my surgery - ACL recontruction, MCL stitiching, lateral miniscus cut. PCL and LCL are partially torn and should heal on their own.

Anyway, dows anyone know if it'll be useful to take some supplements - Calcium, aminoacids, proteins, etc., in order to help ligament and bone recovery? Also, anything for the joint itself? Thanks.

Glenn, GMP here, unfortunately, probably knows alot more... :(

But if it were me, I would take glucosamine and choindroitin. I would also take fish oil pills - which thin the blood and help circulation and helps with joints.

jeff

GMP should have some insite,, and if you do a search on "anti-inflamnatory diet" something should come up.. My chiro always suggests this but my wife is on a strict diet for migrane relief and both diets would limit her too much.. Certain vegies and fish help with body rehab.. and certain things hurt.. If I can get the diet from the chiro I'll send it to you..

If U find the info Cruiser, I'd like to see it too. I have rotator cuff surgery on the 22nd of this month. Not the answer I was hoping for either.:(

No smoking!!!

If you smoke now is the time to quit. I had pretty much the same as you with acl reconstruction using part my own hamstring ligament as the donor.

Everything I found online pointed towards more than 50% recovery failure (the reattached ligament dies) if you smoke. There is very little blood supply to the whole knee area and smoking obviously relaces some of the blood oxygen content, something like 15 percent?

I at that time quit smoking and did physical therapy for 2 months before my surgery in order to improve my odds of recovery (my choice). I also quit smoking at that time and have at this point fully recovered. (4 years?)

Sorry I can't help with the nutritional supplemant part of things. Do a google search for "Bob's ACL Board", excellent forum with tons of advice and doctors frquent the discussions.

Best wishes for a full recovery!

No, I'm not smoking, and never have.

My ACL reconstruction is with a patellar tendon, i.e. bone damage and recovery.

Cruiser, what's "chiro"? Chiropractor?

Currently I'm taking some mixture of vitamins and minerals, plus extra an gram of vitamin C. I also have now protein-based supplement called "Total Recovery". It's mainly for bodybuilders, though.

Thanks to webmaster, as of today I added a fish oil pill to the pile.

NO SMOKING! That should be obvious.

Patella tendon is the better way to go for ACL reconstruction, good choice.

High protein diet. For bone healing, 1200mg+ Calcium per day, with vitamin D. Caltrate, Citracal, etc. NO NSAIDs! Naproxin, Ibuprofin slow bone growth and healing.

This is per Dr. Mark Sanders, who fixed me, Boomhauer, and many other motorcycle rider/racers.

For joint maintanence, I have been taking Glucosimine Sulphate/Chondroiton for years and continue to do so. Dr. Mark recommended a supplement package called "Nutrex Sport", which is designed to support surgical recovery in athletes, but I have yet to find it locally.

Move as much as you can and rehab as much as you can as soon as you can, but listen to your doc, and hope he is right. Dr. Mark always says: "it all depends on who's holding the knife".

The supplements mentioned are good. If you really want to do your digestive tract a favor and get all that nutrition to your body, consider eliminating Gluten from your diet. Look up a diet for Celiac Spru. It's an awful condition which means you're allergic to wheat. My mom has it. Anyway, Gluten really slows down your ability to absorb good stuff. It also makes your core work so hard to digest, that it's detracting from it's job of holding you together.

The diet is a pain to get used to, but if you learn to make your own bread, you can make Spelt bread (Spelt is not gluten free, but has broken down gluten, which for a non celiac should be easier to digest, works for most anyway) and replace normal bread. You can also make spelt pasta, well, someone can, not me.
Spelt bread is waaaay better tasting than the wheat flour stuff, you'll never go back.

Thanks for the advice. Good info.

Thanks, GMP.
Not being native English speaker I have to ask - what are those NSAIDs? We use Iboprufin as a painkiller. Is it the same one? The only painkiller I'm taking occasionallty is Hexalgin (a liquid analgetic), and it's not for the knee.

My six-month old son is eating some gluten-free paps. May be I will start joining him for dinner? :)