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UFO · 05-02-2011, 10:29 PM

I tore my right ACL, partial on MCL, and also tore medial meniscus in 2004. Lucked out and saw a surgeon within 2 months, got scheduled for surgery 8 months after that but got in only 5 months after my initial injury due to cancellation. I'm glad I got the surgery over with quickly, but it also shafted me in the big picture that I was not aware of at the time.

I was on crutches for about 3 weeks after injury due to immense swelling and poor advice/management. I started physio about 4 weeks post injury to try and get my range of motion back. The downside to getting surgery so quickly is that you don't have enough time to rehab your muscles especially your quads. So I suffered muscle atrophy from my initial injury, got into doing a bit of rehab, then went to surgery to repair the ACL and clean up the meniscus. And then I suffered further muscle atrophy post surgery. The first week or so was complete hell, thought I would never walk properly again. But as swelling goes down, improvement and range of motion gets better very quickly. I was back to playing hockey (ill-advised) after 3 weeks, but obviously not at a high level. Cryocuff and regular icing is absolutely key post injury and post surgery. I knew nothing about this when I was injured

I also slacked off with my rehab because the injury was on my strong leg and I figured my strong leg would take over on its own--it didn't. Took me a year post surgery to figure out why I had bad knee pain still. I got into isolating the right leg, worked on the muscle groups rigorously, and pain was 80% better within 3 weeks. My physio probably should have done a better job pushing me to rehab post surgery, but the priority was to get the range of motion and ultimately it is my own fault that I did not see the strengthening through.

Now almost 7 years post surgery, I can do everything I used to BUT I am also a lot more careful now. I used to feel like Superman before the injury, fall down brush myself off and go on with a bit of pain. But then I realized I can break. My right leg muscles are still weaker than my left, but it is good enough. My knee is not as good as it was, there is a bit of instability in the joint but I would do everything in my power to avoid going through surgery and rehab again including cutting out some of my sketchier sports and activities.

05-02-2011, 10:29 PM	#7
UFO I heart Revscene.net very Muchie Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Van, BC Posts: 3,666 Thanked 728 Times in 435 Posts Failed 33 Times in 19 Posts	I tore my right ACL, partial on MCL, and also tore medial meniscus in 2004. Lucked out and saw a surgeon within 2 months, got scheduled for surgery 8 months after that but got in only 5 months after my initial injury due to cancellation. I'm glad I got the surgery over with quickly, but it also shafted me in the big picture that I was not aware of at the time. I was on crutches for about 3 weeks after injury due to immense swelling and poor advice/management. I started physio about 4 weeks post injury to try and get my range of motion back. The downside to getting surgery so quickly is that you don't have enough time to rehab your muscles especially your quads. So I suffered muscle atrophy from my initial injury, got into doing a bit of rehab, then went to surgery to repair the ACL and clean up the meniscus. And then I suffered further muscle atrophy post surgery. The first week or so was complete hell, thought I would never walk properly again. But as swelling goes down, improvement and range of motion gets better very quickly. I was back to playing hockey (ill-advised) after 3 weeks, but obviously not at a high level. Cryocuff and regular icing is absolutely key post injury and post surgery. I knew nothing about this when I was injured I also slacked off with my rehab because the injury was on my strong leg and I figured my strong leg would take over on its own--it didn't. Took me a year post surgery to figure out why I had bad knee pain still. I got into isolating the right leg, worked on the muscle groups rigorously, and pain was 80% better within 3 weeks. My physio probably should have done a better job pushing me to rehab post surgery, but the priority was to get the range of motion and ultimately it is my own fault that I did not see the strengthening through. Now almost 7 years post surgery, I can do everything I used to BUT I am also a lot more careful now. I used to feel like Superman before the injury, fall down brush myself off and go on with a bit of pain. But then I realized I can break. My right leg muscles are still weaker than my left, but it is good enough. My knee is not as good as it was, there is a bit of instability in the joint but I would do everything in my power to avoid going through surgery and rehab again including cutting out some of my sketchier sports and activities.