ACL/Meniscus tear questions

[Mud-Ectomy]

Hello folks, kind of bummed out right now. Planted my right foot like I do 50 times a ride and pop! Torn ACL and Meniscus.

Part of my bummed out issue is that my 4 month old 2011 Nambo is sitting in the garage beside my 1 month old 2012 300 Raga with one tank of gas through it. I was so excited to get these bikes and now????????

My question is it has been over 3 weeks since my injury and I still can barely walk with a cane. Is this normal?

I live in Canada so I am on a long wait list to see a surgeon and to get a MRI to confirm the extent of my injury. I have only dealt with the emergency Dr. and my family G.P. to date.

I purchased two Custom Donjoy Defiance braces, one for the bad knee and one for the good knee.

I am currently working out of the country trying to hobble arround until I return to Canada at the end of October.

When do you guy's with experience with this expect I will be able to walk normally again and have any of you guys (or gals) continued riding without a ACL repair.

Sorry for the Rant but I am just trying to figure out what is in my future.
Martin

[GasGas]

You need to get yourself into physio therapy as soon as possible. They will get you walking again and maybe even riding again if you do what they ask you to. I know a few guys that ride without acl's and have done so for many years. They just keep the muscles strong and wear good knee braces. Both of my daughters have had acl replacements and know all about the wait to get it fixed. But with physio and the gym you should only need the braces for sports and riding. Good luck.

[phoenix]

Sorry to hear about your injury. I have also suffered an ACL/miniscus tear while riding. It seems like everyone's experience is a little different, but I was able to hobble on my knee a few days later and could walk on it fairly normally within a month (prior to surgery - then the process started over).

Here's my advice...get on the list to get it fixed. I elected at the time to just get my knee "cleaned" up and not have the ACL replaced. Big mistake. My knee has never been the same since (obviously). Though they say you can strengthen the rest of your leg to compensate, I think that is only moderately true. Forget jumping down off anything ever again, and walking/jogging on uneven ground is an annoying experience. Your knee will easily slip out of place, sending you stumbling or worse. If you don't get it replaced, you will eventually learn to deal with it and make the proper motions to land on it without tweaking it. I can still jog on even ground, run up stairs, wakeboarded (with braces) and I certainly haven't given up bikes (though I am now far less likely to stick that leg out).

I also had the miniscus tear, and that is nothing to take lightly. The miniscus basically keeps your bones from rubbing together, so you want that healed (and its hard to heal because it doesn't get much blood flow). My tear was stitched up and required a month on crutches. With a simple ACL replacement, they usually have you up and walking in just a few days.

I just recently decided to go back and get my ACL replaced. I've come to the conclusion that if I don't get it fixed, I'm just doing slow damage to my knee due to all the extra lateral movement. I don't mean to be a debbie downer, but you will be much happier in the long run if you just get it fixed now. Do it now before you change your lifestyle. As funny as it may seem, I wonder whether I will ever regain the confidence to do the things I used to do without a second thought (jumping off a tailgate, etc.) even after I get the ACL replaced.

[jostby]

+1 on the therapy. I detached my ACL riding about 7yrs ago, also damaged/tore the meniscus. After I could get around OK (about 1 month, the first 2wks on crutches) on advice from my surgeon I spent the following 2 months in Phys therapy building my quads up before having the reconstruction. Used a donor ligament from my own hamstring for the rebuild and they cleaned up the meniscus at that time also. Recovery was about 10wks before I was 100% to be back to work but was about 6 months before I was riding again. I used the DonJoy brace for the first year but finally got tired of it and ride without now. If I still raced I think I would invest in a good set of knee braces made specifically for riding but there's pro's and con's to using them. Many think they can transmit force and possibly break your femur in a bad accident.

My surgeon also said the ACL replacement wasn't necessary but if you lead any kind of active life it will suck (like Phoenix said). And the low blood flow/supply to the ligaments and meniscus in the knee make healing slow. Over age 40 doesn't help either. If you smoke, stop smoking now to improve blood/oxygen flow for improved chance of 100% recovery.

Google "bobs acl board" a forum with tons of info (if it's still around).

Good luck with the rehab.

[Mud-Ectomy]

Thanks for the info, unfortunatly PT is not available to me for about a month. I have been working on range of movement exercises. I will get things rolling on the PT as soon as I get home.

Thanks again,
Martin

[jgas]

I've torn my MCL and Meniscus 3 times in the right knee, but it never tore 100
% so I've gotten by with just Arthro surgery. ACL has to be fixed surgically though. No way around it. And don't rush the rehab, or it can tear again. They have excellent results these days with ACL reattachments though. Don'tdo too much rehab on your own either! Your knee is very uustable, and you can cause more harm than good with self rehab.

Unfortunately, ACL rehab takes a long time after surgery, but you just have to put up with it and be patient. I recently had a 4 hr surgery on my shoulder, doc said there was 6 different things he had to fix once he looked inside. Rehab was 6 months, and even after that it was 9 months before I could ride hard but it was well worth the wait. I can ride all day without pain now. In my shoulder that is. Everything else hurts, but my shoulder's great!

[nambo-trev]

I've got custom cti's to account for some cartilage damage under my knee caps. They are absolutely great!

[Pepperami]

I have got myself some OTS CTI braces! Bike is now finished (thanks Henrik Schmidt) I have been doing an hour a day in the gym so now lets get dirty

[Pepperami]

Well the day is getting nearer! My first race since injuring my knee in two weeks. It's a very tight Forest race the same one I snapped the lateral ligament in my little finger, a couple of years ago! I'm really excited! The gym work has been going great I will be the fittest I have been in a long time. The only bad point is I appear to have dropped 2 inches off of my waist in a month of training,
Bad? losing 2 inches off of your waist I hear you say. My MX Pants are a little loose!

Any advice guys? for the race not the pants!

[houndog]

Good luck pepperami! At only 48 there's nothing to worry about! Wait until you get my age (57), then maybe you'll slow down and worry a little, maybe not . You only live once.
Ed