 Poster: A snowHead
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Corky, my insurance company were fantastic when I was in the same boat last year- Direct Travel. Only just got the heli invoice last month a year after the accident and they took care of it straight away. I hope your wife is doing okay now and all the best with her recovery and rehab.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Poo, 8 months in to my rehab and I have been flying up until about ten days ago. I seem to have gone backwards over the last couple of weeks, a lot more clicking and I'm not convinced it's as stable or strong as it's been. Physio wants me to carry on working as usual for next week or so but throttling back a bit. If I don't improve he suggests going back to surgeon. I had ACL reconstruction but also shredded MCL so he thinks that with the extent of damage sometimes you need to go back in just to clean up. I have to confess I am not feeling great about it, I've put in a he'll of a lot of graft (original injury was Feb 09) and am praying it's just a blip. Anyone else have any blips at this stage and at what point did your knee feel normal? I can run and jump around on it but it still feels like I had an operation 8 months ago?!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Gsyfreerider, I can empathise with what you are feeling. Mine was an ACL rupture and small fracture injuries on 1st January 2008 and I skied again in January 2009 so it took me more than a year and even now I still have moments when it think it is not stable. In the end I came to the conclusion that my problem was/is mainly psychological?
At my last visit to the surgeon in Dec 08 he told me it was physically as good as new, in fact that it was better than what had been injured a year before because it did not have 40 years of wear and tear.
The problem is that it still feels 'wrong' sometimes and strangely this feeling is worse in damp weather. The other symptom I can relate is when I mis-place my foot in whatever circumstances and feel the knee flex backward there is a kind of momentary panic reaction as if my knee is trying to tell my brain it is going to happen again?
After about three months post injury and just pre op I changed my physio to a private practitioner who had been the physio to a SPL football club. I believe that because of his background in getting injured footballers back on track he was much better versed in helping me deal with the psychological aspects of the injury as well as the physical recovery.
There was still bad moments to come. On day two of my first skiing trip after I completely froze with fear on a steepish and bumpy blue slope, to the extent that my wife who is a much less experienced skier had to rescue me and more or less talk me down turn by turn.
I then got hold of a skiing coach who completely transformed my skiing both physically and mentally. Admittedly there are still times when it bothers me, but never when skiing and I have always been able to utilise mind over matter to deal with it.
Hope this helps?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Cheers robboj, I always knew it was going to be a year from the op, never had any illusions about that, this is probably just the first time I've lost a bit if confidence, I'm just in touching distance of going skiing again and it just feels like it's going a bit pear shaped. Maybe I just need to give it more time
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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RachelQ, glad you found it a good read.
Lampbus update : 4 weeks on snow this season (so far) and my repaired ACL is even better than last season. (This included 21 days in a row of skiing off piste adventures in all sorts of snow conditions, with a heavy wide, long ski flapping about on each foot) Still no brace or bandage or mojo in use.
Now I can't tell any difference from the other knee; sometimes they both let me know I am using them, mostly they both give no problems.
Actually, I still notice my knee after sitting on a chair or sofa in an odd position...skiing is a holiday for it 
THere is life after ACL repair. Yay.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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RachelQ Sorry to hear that. Hang in there - my repaired knee is about the best bit of my lumbering carcass and with the power of tubigrip and a little naproxen (viagra isn't the real miracle little blue pill) I'm still managing bell to bell days (when there's powder). Lots of people here can recommend good surgeons to ask for referral to.
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You know it makes sense.
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AndAnotherThing.., if you can move it without pain, then do gentle heel slides, ankle pumps and straight-leg raises. Keeping the ROM is fairly important as is getting any swelling under control. A regime of rest, ice, compression and elevation is the usual start point. Ice for 15/20 minutes per hour, ankle pump like you are in a slowly sinking life raft surrounded by sharks and elevate above the level of the heart, especially when ankle pumping, to help return the excess lymph fluids into the system to reduce the swelling.
Another point, if you can avoid it do not support your knee under the knee itself in a slightly bent position. I know this is the most comfortable position but it is sadly counter-productive. Learnt that the hard way myself. It is better to support along the entire length, or if you can tolerate it, under the foot/ankle and let the knee hang passively. This helps to maintain full extension which you need to walk without limping.
Be careful about doing anything that can impact on the joint itself, especially any rotational movement, as until you know exactly what you have damaged in there, it is better to concentrate on keeping mobility as passively as possible.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Poster: A snowHead
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A forum search for ACL shows that Genepi, backhojo, RachelQ, ianmcd, markspur, AndAnotherThing (and a couple of snowHead friends, a daughter and a dog) have all done theirs this season. Unfortunately I'm in the 2011/2012 Season ACL Club too.... anyone else? Let's hope it stays a small and exclusive club!
Good news is there's another much larger club consisting of people skiing again after doing their ACLs, both with and without the op. Hope everyone manages to get back on skis at some point next season (except possibly Toby the dog) 
It is actually quite interesting to hear the different recommendations at this stage. It was 10 days before I got the go ahead to shift the position of the screw in the brace - it wasn't a full leg one and so not too cumbersome and I was immediately weight bearing and no crutches - so I could bend my knee and do some very gentle exercises. The doctor here in France was pretty keen to remind me that it wasn't ready to do much before then but he also told me he wouldn't let me have the op until 3 months and 20 sessions of physio had passed and I'm sure other doctors would disagree with that as people going private in the UK seem to get it done 4 weeks after injury. As it happens, the timing works well for me to do it at the end of the season anyway so I didn't bother to get a second opinion. I was actually going to leave the op until a fair bit later than that but my physio has convinced me otherwise because of the risk of it giving way whilst hiking etc. and making "a massacre" of my knee. So for the next few weeks I'm doing some exercises at home and going to physio and in general am trying to be kind to my knee despite the urge to go snowshoeing.
I started physio after 3 weeks and been having it 3 times a week since then (through the French healthcare system). I was in a substantial but more sports type brace after 6 weeks which I now just use when I go outside, or doing anything where there's potential for my knee to twist but not when just padding about my apartment.
Hope your journey home is comfortable enough for you AndAnotherThing
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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I recently damaged my knee and this thread is so helpful!!!!!! wish I read it before I went skiing doh! 
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I 'did' my acl last season. Not intending to have it replaced. Skiing OK, so far. I ski,cautiously, with a CTi brace. I was told by Mojo that it was very feasible to use a ski mojo in conjunction with the brace - it isn't! (AFAICS)
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@noggy, it is, I use a CTi brace and a mojo. it took a bit of fettling but it's fine
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@holidayloverxx, can I pm you, please?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@noggy, certainly
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@noggy, out of interest, why have you decided not to have it replaced? Might well have mistaken you for another poster but I am associating the username 'noggy' with a super-sporty off-piste person from previous years... (either way, interested in why you don't want it replaced!)
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Jonpim, thanks for that - got to go to work now but will read that with interest later. From my own experience, I don't know anyone who's said that they went back to being 'as if it never happened' who went for conservative management v my own experience and others who've had it replaced, so it's interesting that there's still a debate as I've always been very pro replacement (based on my own experience) so should read the current counterarguments!
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@miranda,
Must be a very different Noggy! The only time I've been off piste is in error 
I was 60 when I snapped my ACL . I had already had surgery 10 years earlier on a meniscus tear on the other knee, and the surgeon then said that I would be needing a new knee sometime in the next 10 years as it was showing signs or significant wear. It had been getting sore and I used a basic brace, but it had been OK. The ACL tear and then rupture was in the other knee. The surgeon went in and confirmed the rupture, but also said that knee was in any case very worn. He wouldn't give hard and fast advice, but said that I should think very carefully having it repaired, as a) it would be a 1 year hard re-hab, with no guarantee of full function, and b) that knee would need replacing at some not too distant future. So really an ACL reconstruction could be rapidly obsolete by the requirement for a new knee, and in any case I would probably require a new knee on the other side first. That led to the prospect for 3 ops (ACL, TKR, TKR) in short order and given I reallistically only have a limited number of 'very' active years left in me, it was probably best to at least see if I could get by for a few years without surgery. Makes sense to me, unfortunately.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@noggy, ha, yes, obviously got it wrong... wondering who it is I have you confused with? The rationale for you not getting a replacement makes total sense - if it helps at all we've had a few guests here who've had TKR operations who ski pretty damn well afterwards (not going to pretend that they've said it's 'as if it never happened' but certainly still skiing extremely well and better than younger and non-injured people). Keep us updated (only) if you feel like it - the ACL repair threads really helped me and they are more frequent injuries than what you are potentially contemplating, so actually your input would probably be very helpful if you do progress to the TKR stage. Until then, hope holidaylover's brace advice helps and you enjoy some good skiing soon!
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FAQ
and there's loads of friendly advice there. Really helpful...
