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skiing after acl injury

 Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
This is not the thread for this, but on the day I fell my bindings were Dynafit which do not have any means of front release unlike normal bindings, though we 're all pretty sure if I'd been using my Barons I'd still be sitting here typing this watching people out on the hill!

Yesterday I bumped into someone I know who is physio back in NZ and out here she is a Rep - she saw my knee a few days after I did it and could not really say anything due to the swelling, she was quite impressed that the swelling had gone down and had a quick look at it, and yanked it in such a way that she's pretty sure the ACL is bust. I asked her if it was possible to do other breaks and she mentioned that you can do Meniscus, ACL and MCL known as the "Unhappy Triad" !!!!

The "Unhappy Triad" is an injury to the knee. The unhappy triad injury commonly occurs in contact sports such as football when the knee is hit from the outside. This causes an injury to three knee structures: the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and the medial meniscus.
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 Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Weathercam, it is probably the most common of the ligament skiing injuries as well. If you think about how most accidents occur (slow twisting without the bindings releasing) the "unhappy triad" odds on favourite to be honest.

If you get away with "just" and ACL tear you can consider yourself lucky Confused Laughing

Take a look at Knee Guru as someone suggested - there is a lot of help there in terms of what your options are and how to pre-hab as well as what is involved with the rehab.

MCL sprains and even some tears mend by themselves as this is a ligament with a good blood supply. ACLs cannot repair themselves as their blood supply is virtually non-existant. Meniscus tears can heal themselves it just depends on where in the meniscus the tear is and how deep it is. In the edge red-zone they can heal as this is where the blood supply is, in the white zone they cannot as there is no blood supply. If the tear is not too deep or extensive a surgeon can chose to repair with a suture or a biabsorbable staple - this usually involves a long period of non-weight bearing to allow the repair to "fix". Otherwise they trim the tear by slicing off the top of the meniscus until the reach undamaged tissue.

I've been through this 5 times and am still skiing as much as I can, currently I do not go out to play in deep stuff or off-piste but I'm thinking of trying some fat skis to see if this might be easier.
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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?
Well, I have an MRI booked for tomorrow through the NHS! Only went to GP yesterday. How cool is that?

My knee has not had any significant swelling at all, so I really have my fingers crossed I've not done anything too bad. I am even walking without any support, though giving up my crutch for stairs is going to be difficult.

Sue, sounds like you're a bit of an expert. Did it hurt really bad when you did your injuries? I am surprised how little mine hurts, though not got a proper diagnosis yet.
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Clare_M, My first injury did not hurt at all - I was hit by someone while I was standing still. Unfortunately I had my race skis on with the bindings set very high and they did not release. I lost all the soft tissue in the knee - ligaments tendons and meniscii were all fooked. The injury did not hurt at all and I did ski down to the nearest gondola to get my group and myself off the mountain. I then hobbled to the hospital. The docs said that my brain had shut down the pain receptors otherwise I would have just blackout from pain.

My last rupture hurt like hell - to begin with a dull ache like I'd been thumped with a bat or something. As I tried to ski it got worse and a lot of the additional damage was done then I expect. After 3 days of trying I was throwing up with pain, so I gave up. As soon as I stop trying to do the impossible the pain subsidised.

Two of my ACL revisions were replacing snapped artificial fibre ones inserted at the time because that was the fashion then - they obviously never hurt as there are no nerves in them. The 5th was a revision of a badly performed reconstruction. So I've been through the rehab 5 times, but only boogered my ACL twice - one per leg as everyone else! The rest was just bad luck and probably stupidity on my part! Laughing
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 Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Gosh Sue, you've been through it a bit, haven't you? And it hasn't put you off skiing either. snowHead
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You'll need to Register first of course.
Got my results today. I didn't speak to the GP, just rang the surgery to find out if they had the results. Basically I have torn a bit of cartilage, so actually not as bad as I thought which is great news! It is getting better on its own, but he has referred me to have some physio on it which will help. It still aches, but is much better than it was. I am walking on it without a limp and I even went out on my bike last night and did a 7 mile easy ride.

Quite happy ATM Smile
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 Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Clare_M, good for you, that must be a great relief. You may want to think about getting the cartilage removed at some point as it might rattle around and cause issues further down the line.

Update on my sorry state; I'm in the gym twice a week now, 15 minutes on the x-trainer and 2000m on the rowing machine. High impact stuff still a month or two away, but demonstrable progress with the amount of flexation and I can get my leg straight, now need to get the hyper extension sorted out. Happy days...
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 After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
After all it is free Go on u know u want to!
Dr John, yes it is good news for me, an ACL reconstruction wasn't something I was looking forward to!

Glad you're making progress. I know my husband took nearly a year before he could ski again. Cycling really helped him as it didn't twist the knee and helped build up strength quickly. In fact, he's really into cycling and he lost loads of weight too, so that's a bonus all round.

Keep us updated!
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
Knackered Knee Update - Today went to see Doctor and he gave me a copy of the radiologist report (did Vista MRI scan privately last week).

When he rang me up yesterday he failed to tell me that not only I've torn the ACL, I've also torn the Medial Meniscus as well as damaging the posterior aspect of the tibia stretching across the tibia from medial to lateral, though the collateral ligaments are intact, almost the "Unhappy Triad" !

Now have an appointment with top knee surgeon May 12th - though trying to see if he has short term cancellations. Crying or Very sad
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 Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Is an acl injury cause lasting damage?
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 snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
@thesnowiscoming, it shouldn't if you get it diagnosed immediately and take care of it in the first few days. A lot of people don't get it seen to straight away, try to ski/walk/drink on it for a couple of days before it blows up like a football.

ps. I'm not a doc, but the above advise comes direct from Dr Alan in Val d'Isere after I limped into his surgery with a snapped ACL 5 years ago.
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