For those of you who may not want to go down the long road of an ACL repair here's my story from popping my ACL to getting back to full skiing and a higher level of fitness and agility.
Pop goes the ACL
Skiing and a slow fall backwards. I was lucky. I didn’t twist, it wasn’t fast, and I didn’t rip or tear anything else. It didn’t really hurt, just the dislocating pop of the knee and a feeling that something fairly bad might have happened.
Of course, I didn’t really know what an ACL was, or what happens when it snaps so, no worries I thought, and shaking off the dull ache I skied to the T-bar for one more slow run before heading down on the chair to sort out my ‘sprained knee’.
And so the journey begins.
Day 0:
At the bottom of the chair I walked a few hundred metres and a stairway back to the car. Slow but not limping. Racked the skis on the roof, rounded up the tribe and set off on the four-hour drive home. The knee looked puffy and was stiff after the long journey but nothing a good night’s sleep wouldn’t sort out.
Day 1:
The knee was a bit stiff and a bit swollen around the quad with a stiffness at the back. I could walk and use the stairs and there was some aching and occasional jangling nerve pain.
I couldn’t put my sock on. Bending my knee fully just wasn’t happening. Being a man I immediately called work to take a day off. So RICE time (Rest Ice Elevation Compression) and a boxset to watch on Netflix.
A physio appointment in the afternoon wasn’t great. His opinion was probably a torn ACL but he wasn’t sure because of the swelling. I think he was being kind and breaking the news to me slowly. I left with an appointment for an MRI and a sudden desire to consult Dr Google and find out what this ACL actually did. Or in my case probably now didn’t.
Day 2:
More RICE. More boxsets. More YouTube ACL videos. I was getting a bit concerned. I need to be fit for my job and didn’t fancy a few months of desk duty.
Day 3:
Back to work with sick note for a few days of desk-based work. I have a tight compression bandage on my knee reminding me all is not right. Still a bit puffy round the patella and quad. I can walk without a limp but having taken two days off work I feel the need to move slowly so they don’t think I was wagging a couple of days off. I’m not up to running or jumping; and putting my boots on is a bit of an issue but other than that I seem to be recovering well. Maybe the Physio was wrong and it is just a sprain.
Day 4:
Walking round the office is no problem. Not quite up to getting out and about on the road and carrying gear. I’m concentrating on a proper walking gait; heel to toe, no limping. All is going well. I have a physio appointment after work for a leg massage. He’s 80% certain it’s a blown ACL. I’m 80% certain he’s wrong, but I know he’s the expert and now I’m getting worried. We’ll wait for the MRI. I don’t feel any major instability in the knee. My bit of arthritis in the patella is playing up from the swelling and the inside of my knee is a bit tight, but I can squat, walk, use stairs and the swelling is almost gone. Still can’t put my sock on.
Day 5, 6 and 7:
No change. The swelling has gone. Doing a few of the gentle exercises from the physio; clenching the quad, bending the leg fully to the glute.
Week 2:
The week starts with the MRI. The results are in and the physio gives me the good news, “Yea, yea, nah, it’s gone,” (Aussies have a way with words). It’s a grade three tear of the ACL. A complete rupture. But he goes on to say I can manage without an operation if all I want to do is bike and gym but skiing is probably out. “Can I snowboard instead?” I ask. He thinks not.
The operation to replace an ACL sounds like a long and painful rehab road. There are however a few articles and blogs by people who have managed without an ACL and continued skiing. Some even showing better results than those who have had the op.
I go down the gym. The physio says I need two weeks of strength work to build the muscle and clear out the after effects of the swelling. 30 minutes gym work goes well. Lots of alternate leg squats, extensions and weight work. All my usual gym work but without the running and jumping. Definitely a bit tender after 30 minutes but no dramas. I take the next day off from the gym and feel the improvement. Almost no discomfort until the end of the day.
One more gym day to end the week. I’ve booked in with a sports science personal trainer to sort out a plan to get my leg work more focussed. I come away loaded with a heavy programme. Leg pressing 70KG, more extensions, glutes, calves and hamstrings; all high weight and low reps. My bad knee is performing better than my good knee and there’s no real discomfort – pain level 1 out of 10.
The Personal Trainer blew her ACL nine months ago and has just completed six months post-op rehab so we have a long chat about tendon grafts and hospitals.
Week 3:
14 days ago I blew my ACL. I’m back in the gym and I have a plan. I’m going to build up my leg muscle, improve my agility and lose 10kg (22 lbs). I’ll add in four months at the local F45 (boot camp) gym and then book a few days skiing in Japan. If I can’t ski when I get to Japan I’ll opt for the op.
I feel better. I’ve taken all of our skis out to the garage for an end-of-season wax. I look at the race bindings on my skis and wind back the DIN setting. I think I might have to trade down on these.
I have a plan. I’m 90% back to my general fitness of two weeks ago. I have no pain, just a little discomfort when I push it in the gym, and there’s no swelling. Maybe I’ll be fitter and healthier as a result of all this.
Weeks 4 and 5:
Two more weeks of gym work with four to five days a week at the gym to strengthen my legs. All’s going well and I can feel the strength building. I realise I was getting a bit unfit before the accident.
Week 6:
This is the last week of the Aussie ski season. Six weeks after the accident. I decide to head up to Mt Buller for a ski day. I’m anxious about not being able to ski.
I head up the main chair. There’s a fair bit of snow remaining for this time of year but it’s heavy and slushy. I ski. I can ski, I ski like a beginner. I am so nervous of my knee collapsing at any moment. It’s about an hour of slow turns before my confidence returns and I begin to push through the slush and carve some real turns. The morning goes well. I build up the speed. It’s a blue-sky day and I begin to enjoy myself. The knee hasn’t collapsed and there’s no discomfort. Time for lunch.
After lunch my skiing gets faster and more confident. I start to smash a few of the bigger slush bumps on the black runs and things start to get fun.
Sitting on the chair in the sun knowing I can ski is an awesome feeling. I knock off early so I don’t overdo it. The only time my knee was giving way a little was in the bumps. When I got the bumps right it was all good but when I was thrown out and had to fight for a new line or pop out to the side of the run then the knee would feel weak; mainly when I was out of position and leaning back too much.
Week 7:
I join the F45 Gym and start some hard boot-camp gym work. Sprints, squats, twists. Lots of functional and dynamic leg work. I’m taking it easy on the twisting and jumping and all goes well.
Week 8:
I sign up for the F45 Challenge. Eight weeks to lose 10 KG (22 lbs). I’m scanned and weighed and plan my diet and gym sessions.
This is the week I get my hospital consultant's letter saying I will probably get a consultation in 11 months for the ACL op. I could go private if I paid but I’m thinking $10,000 could pay for a sweet little ski trip to Colorado next winter. I’m still not sure I need to go through with an op.
Weeks 9 to 16:
Eight weeks later I finish the F45 Challenge. 120 people joined and I came second in the male category. Six intense gym sessions a week. 13KG (29 lbs) of fat lost, 4KG (9 lbs) muscle gained. Two sizes less on the waist. I’m fitter and leaner than before the accident. The knee is strong. It’s stable and hasn’t given way. Dynamically I can do a lot more than before the accident.
After 4 Months:
I booked in for a final physio. Top marks. His advice was that if I can do everything I want to do then don’t get the op. Post-op is a long hard road, and research shows having no ACL doesn’t increase the arthritis risk.
To sign off
So, I’ll keep the op consultation in 11 months but at this stage I don’t have any pain and my knee is functioning a lot better than before the accident. I will need to maintain my knee strength, so for me this will be motivation for some life-long fitness. Getting back in the gym regularly has been a real silver lining to the accident and a wake-up call about my slowly declining fitness.
See you all in Colorado in 2020. Bring skis.
----------------------------------
If you want to see what the F45 gym is all about follow the link and click on the video https://f45training.com.au/
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
My ACL ruptured completely after 20yrs of having a lax knee with a partial tear. After waiting 4months to see an orthopod hNHS), he arthroscoped it and stressed it under anaesthetic, polished the condyles an snipped off a bit of torn meniscus.
He reported that the stump of the ACL had fused onto the PCL, resulting in a more stable knee than if he had performed a reconstruction, which he promised he would if I needed one.
Back to skiing with a properly fitted metal knee brace and DIN setting to 4 as I’d rather the binding released than my knee!
A self-healing knee is great.
I have a specific exercise routine in the gym, which I do for 3 months prior to skiing, that strengthens all of the leg muscle groups and the core, with lots of flexibility at the end.
I’m 66 and off to Val Thorens in 10 days!
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?
"He reported that the stump of the ACL had fused onto the PCL, resulting in a more stable knee than if he had performed a reconstruction, which he promised he would if I needed one" - whhhaaat? What in the world does that mean? Had never heard that before
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
@ItaloSkier, Mine did too, though it's probably (definitely?) not as good as having an op. But at my age (63), it's hardly worth it. My knee surgeon, a keen and apparently good skier (and golfer) reckons no one should have their bindings set beyond 5 on piste, and advised me to have 4. Mind you he can't weigh more than 160 lbs himself. As the name suggests the ACL and the PCL cross over each other. Where they touch they can fuse, or something like that. No doubt someone with more knowledge (not difficult) will expand.
@oz, 13KG (29 lbs) of fat lost. just wow. that, in itself, is hugely impressive. you must be chuffed. enjoy Colorado!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
ItaloSkier wrote:
"He reported that the stump of the ACL had fused onto the PCL, resulting in a more stable knee than if he had performed a reconstruction, which he promised he would if I needed one" - whhhaaat? What in the world does that mean? Had never heard that before
Pretty much what my doc and physios guess might have happened to me, too (though no further investigations, so no proof); certainly have heard about it happening for some (ACL reattaches itself where torn to the PCL or any other structure or tissue nearby; if lucky, it stays and doesn't cause problems).
I certainly also got the surgical consultant saying at about 6 weeks that he could not give me any better a stability in either knee (I took out both ACLs completely, apparently) than however they had sorted themselves out, whatever they had decided to do. (Long may that last.)
After all it is free
After all it is free
.
Update Feb 2020 (18 months after)
I've just returned from a week in La Rosiere. It's good to report the knee was great with no problems. I was regularly skiing some long sustained runs with a fair amount of bumps and the occasional icy patch. I threw in a little powder on the side piste now and again and the knee never caused a problem.
My fitness is still looking good. I've improved my diet and I'm still getting to the gym at least 3 times a week for the boot camp.
The surgeon's appointment came through after12 months and it was a good feeling to cancel it.
So for me it has turned out well. I'm increasing the exercise and I have a plan.... 2022 Haute Route Alps. 7 days cycling with 20,000 metres of elevation. And maybe a quick lads ski trip to Japan next year if the OH gives it the green light Always got to have a plans!
I know some people may have different experiences with injuries may not all have the same outcome but I hope my post helps to show that if you pop your ACL you can give rehab a shot and it is possible to get a good result.
----------
And if anyone wants to join me on the Haute Route cycling....
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.
ItaloSkier wrote:
"He reported that the stump of the ACL had fused onto the PCL, resulting in a more stable knee than if he had performed a reconstruction, which he promised he would if I needed one" - whhhaaat? What in the world does that mean? Had never heard that before
When the ACL is injured its worth considering that not all patterns of rupture are the same. The majority rupture in the proximal (Nearest the hip) half.
About 15% come directly off the bone and the ligament is not too badly shredded. In many cases there are a few strands holding the ligament to the bone it came off( the femur).
This pattern typically occurs, in my experience, during hyper extension injuries of the knee. These are the ones that are worth considering for repair. This pattern of injury is a bit more common in skiers than other sports.
More frequently the ligament comes away completely and the ends of the ruptured ligament end up quite frayed. The ACL is very close to the PCL , which it crosses, hence the name.
As these frayed ends try to heal they shrink back a bit which means the proximal end of the ACL is mm’s from the PCL and the ACL then fuses to the PCL. This can mean the knee is a bit less unstable on examination but the stability will be a long way off that of the uninjured, or successfully reconstructed, ligament .
The degree of instability in the knee following ACL injury is quite variable hence why some can manage without surgery. Typically those that manage without surgery will not be that unstable on a test called the Pivot shift. The more frequently cited and talked about test- the Lachman test- is a surprisingly poor predictor of who will cope without a functioning ACL. Confusion exists, in part , because of this difference as the Lachman is an easy test to perform and easy to measure so gets talked about in scientific appears a great deal. The pivot shift is a much more difficult test to perform and very difficult to measure so isn’t often “overlooked “ in the scientific literature.
When an ACL sticks down to the PCL it will improve the Lachman but less so the Pivot shift. However, some will still cope without surgery, in spite of this.
Jonathan Bell
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
I completely ruptured my ACL some 20 years ago. I had an arthroscopy, and the surgeon reported that I had a strong knee joint and would probably be OK without having it repaired.
I have given up running because it is a high-impact activity, but 20 years later I am skiing (with a knee brace), cycling and rock climbing with no significant pain.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
Hi, I am 46 year old advanced tele skier who just completely tore their ACL 3 weeks ago skiing at Perisher, after landing a 180 aerial backwards in the terrain park, a small child on a snowboard cut across the landing area, where I tired to avoid the collision by spinning my up body quickly to stop to avoid the collision. However, since I was going backwards in slushy conditions my skis stayed straight and I fell and heard 3 separate tearing sounds. I missed the kid but tore my knee apart.
After lying for 10 minutes on the ground the mum came over and ask if I needed ski patrol. I was so angry and said no. Eventual I timidly skied back with my son to where my wife and daughter where having lunch, I didn’t ski after that, knee was too sore.
It swelled up over night and the next few days but not massive. I went to doc and got the MRI 2 weeks later and was nearly crying reading the results, as I have complete torn my ACL plus other meniscal damage. Doctors and friends recommend surgery, but I have already booked and paid for the trip of life time with my family skiing Switzerland, Austria and Italy for 4 weeks straight in January and February. 3 months time.
So, I don’t have enough time for surgery, and I am going to take the rehab path myself, daily strengthening exercising and cycling. Decided to eat as healthy as possible, take the following vitamins
- 2-3 fish oil tablets a day
- Glucosamine with Chondrotin
- Collagen
- Zinc one day, multi vitamin the next
- Magnesium
Use a tens machine on my injury knee for at least 1 hour a day.
Ride atleast 15 minutes a day
Do between 30 – 1hour of rehab exercises a day eg squats, lunges, planks etc.
Also switched surfing to body board with a knee brace, twice a week. And will also stand up paddle board surf with a knee brace once a week. If the knee feels good might also do some light windsurfing, and kiteboarding and mountain bike riding with a hinged knee brace.
Hopefully the ACL will re attach or attach to the PCL, or my muscles will be strong enough.
Once in Europe in 3 months, I still plan to be skiing off piste on steep runs and doing small to medium jumps with a metal hinged brace. Hopefully my knee is strong enough. Anyway, no skiing or landing backwards on the teles, was teaching my 13 year old son spins, not anymore, I will be skiing forwards from now on.
It would be great if anyone would reply with stories of success without having ACL reconstruction surgery and their strategies for success.
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.
I am a very different skier to you - alpine rather than tele, and no park stuff / jumps (other than the smallest straight air) and limited off piste so this may not be relevant…
But.
I’m now about 15 yrs out from an (unreconstructed) ACL injury.
At the time I was on my very first ski trip. I hope to have passed my BASI 2 ski by the end of this season.
I do not, and never have, ski with a brace.
My strategy was simply to treat physio as my new religion. Do everything my physio said, exactly as they said. And then hit the gym with a trainer who seemed to understand knees.
It has “gone” on me maybe 5 times in all that time. 3 of those involved crazy high heels and a not small amount of wine. One was inexplicable.
The other - trying clip into my (injury side) downhill ski on a steep red / easy black.
So I don’t do that any more. In the event I fall, I re-orient so that leg is uphill prior to re-clipping.
I would say my issues have been more in my brain than my knee.
The fear of “getting a matching pair” can be quite restrictive. I’m mostly over that, but from time to time the gremlins pop up - usually a good signal that I’m pushing my comfort envelope.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@mathomm, I ruptured mine totally in Jan 2019. Tore it off the bone, confirmed by mri and X-ray. No operation, lots of physio, back skiing Nov 2019 (snow dome) and early Dec 2019 in the Alps. Was offpiste and touring (including difficult terrain and snow) in Dec 2019 after a couple of days gentle warmup. Could have been back skiing earlier but that’s how work/ seasons fitted together!
I made an effort to find a physio who understood knees and skiers (she worked with UK Alpine team members), followed her programme very closely (my new religion, as KNoceros says!), and since then have maintained a focus on strength, flexibility and balance work on a regular basis. I don’t always do everything I should but I’ve come to recognise the early signs of weakness and then work hard to back where I need to be and certainly aim to be focused for the 2 months before the season starts or a big trip. I climb mountains and run up and down them when not skiing so the knee has coped well with all that. Since ending the rehab period, I’ve found the Chamonix mountain fit programme via uphill athlete website really good as the basis for my weekly strength & conditioning work, topped up with extra hamstring-specific stuff drawn from the rehab programme and elsewhere (eg trx hamstring runners, kettlebell Bulgarian split squats etc).
Mainly as living in a resort all season we tend to come across many people we know who have had an ACL "incident", and it's not just the more mature profile of Geezonaires, but right across the spectrum of age and ability.
And like reading here, some seem to be able to manage their ACL trauma without an op whereas others have had to go down the reconstruction route.
It's certainly interesting reading @oz, @mathomm, @Inboard, and @KNoceros, accounts, and their disciplined approach to both pre-hab and re-hab which is so often NOT the case for those that maybe are not active sports people who don't tend to put the necessary time in thinking that their one hour NHS physio session will suffice etc
I've always said based on my experience and then after having seen others that there are certainly different degrees of severity of an ACL injury.
When I did mine I was at circa 2,200 above the treeline, having climbed from 1,550 up to 3,000, skiing lovely N facing powder in Spring to then come out onto a sun-baked plateau and a major change in snowpack at speed as my ski went out sideways I felt the horrible pops.
After trying to gain some composure my friendly guide who knew me well asked if I could try to ski, which I did, managing a few tentative turns before the ski again shot out sideways and I heard yet more pops.
I've always said that was when I really fecked it, and additional tears, completely 120%.
After the heli trip to Hospital and the usual x-ray and the experienced prognosis of the local resident, Dr's who see ACl injuries all day long I went back to the Hotel where my mates were.
In the hotel was a physiotherapist who was very interested in my situation, and I said how hopefully it was not too severe, but I had my doubts after the second load of popping.
She then asked if she could carry out a test to see how bad it was explaining to me how it might be painful and that she was going to test the injury, so not quite singing The knee bone's connected to the thigh bone , and in my case the The leg bone's was not connected to the knee bone she performed the Lachman Test, which @Jonathan Bell, talks about above.
And she proudly announced that I had done a fine job, given the amount of movement and mobility in my leg from my knee!
Since then when I meet up with people who have done their ACL I often ask if they were given the Lachman Test and the vast majority say no, so be interesting to hear from those on here if they were given it or not.
For a good month afterwards, I had to be very careful of the knee, if I was not wearing a brace, as it really felt very loose, even though as a runner / cyclist I had well developed leg muscles etc
And as I've mentioned here before, during a subsequent arthroscopy on my other knee, my friendly surgeon announced on the video he was recording that in the past I must have torn the ACL in that knee, and that was totally unbeknown to me!!
The only knee injury I knew of was what I thought was a knee strain, I can't ever recall a pop at the time, so in my books that confirms that there are different grades of tear etc
@Weathercam, I've lost track of how many people have pulled on my knee to some degree - starting with the paramedic/sports therapist friend I was climbing with when I fell off the wall and bust the ligament in the first place. Since then I've been seen by the nurse practitioner in A&E, 2 different consultants, a senior reg, and 2 different physios. I think everyone of them except the senior reg probably pulled my knee about to see how much it moved. However, I couldn't tell you how many of them did the Lachman test or the Anterior draw test, since none of them actually gave it a name, and I didn't know what the different tests were.
MRI showed complete rupture, but my most recent consultant visit, and the private physio, have both said that the degree of movement isn't too much greater than in the good knee, so they have said the rehab only route is quite likely to be ok for me. The test will be skiing in March, 11 months after I did it.
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
Have not posted here in quite some time... was active pre-Covid but not as much since clearly. You can see me commenting up above.
Completely ruptured my ACL in March 2018 at St Gervais Les Bains plus a few other injuries (MCL tear, meniscus, fracture etc etc). Only did PT - no surgery.
Since then the knee is usually fine. It feels normal most of the time but maybe twice a year, it gives me little troubles but I don't know how to describe them... like minor feelings that "something is off" but they usually go away. Maybe summer 2020 it was a little more annoying but for the most part I hike, ski, mountain bike, workout without too many issues.
Since the rupture had a good trip to Saas-Fee in 2019 followed by quick late season ski trips to a couple of mountains in Colorado. 2020 was a giant miss unfortunately but went skiing in Purgatory, Colorado in spring of 2021 which felt fine. This past year was really pleasing... March 2022 went to Crested Butte which has a great deal of double-diamond terrain and had a chance to explore quite a bit of it without any issues... yes, I always wear a brace even if more for mental reasons that physical reasons but I don't know that I would ski without it. After Crested Butte, hit some late season skiing at Arapahoe Basin and Winter Park which included a 45 minute bootpack hike at about 3300 meters to some double-diamond terrain... knee felt fine. It was more of a mental/lung battle than anything.
BUT... it's always in the back of my head. On days that might get a bit too slushy, I am quick to say, "maybe I need to quit" since I know there is always a potential issue lurking in the background. Definitely was the case this past May at Winter Park when we quit by midday due to slushy conditions.
March 2023... Montgenevre is on the books. May hit a place in New Mexico for a day or two in December and I might be able to set up another mini-trip before Montgenevre. Time will tell.
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Really useful to get these updates from similar ACL injured skiers especially with the looming ski season. I ruptured my ACL in March this year which was a bit of a surprise when the MRI results came through as I had near full range of movement, no swelling or pain and my physio was 99% sure I hadn't ruptured it but the scan showed otherwise. 8 months on and it's been fine, I've done loads of walking on some tough terrain, lots of spin classes, body pump, home exercises (prescribed by my physio), leg presses and lifts in the gym etc etc but I'm getting more and more apprehensive as my 4 days in Chatel approach in January. I plan to go to the SnoZone in MK next week just to have a little pootle about and see how it is but would appreciate any advice on knee braces. A few people have mentioned the Donjoy brace which at around £500, I have to be convinced I need and at the moment I'm really not! I have no stability problems with my knee at all and wouldn't know that my ACL was an issue at all if it weren't for the accident and subsequent scan. There are so many braces on the market, hinged, unhinged, cheap, mid range, expensive, extortionate and I really don't know where to go. Any advice/comments always welcome!
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?
@bumble66, i would ask your physio. Thats what I did.
I have a Mueller HG80 hinged knee support due damaging my ACL recon. But that isn't fully stable. After damaging the recon, it collapsed under me while doing a sprint at a hockey training session and caused other further damage to my cartilage. It was when they went in to sort that out and get me weight bearing again that they discovered that damage. I keep my muscles strong to make-up for lack of stability but a hinged support while skiing just in case.
Really useful to get these updates from similar ACL injured skiers especially with the looming ski season. I ruptured my ACL in March this year which was a bit of a surprise when the MRI results came through as I had near full range of movement, no swelling or pain and my physio was 99% sure I hadn't ruptured it but the scan showed otherwise. 8 months on and it's been fine, I've done loads of walking on some tough terrain, lots of spin classes, body pump, home exercises (prescribed by my physio), leg presses and lifts in the gym etc etc but I'm getting more and more apprehensive as my 4 days in Chatel approach in January. I plan to go to the SnoZone in MK next week just to have a little pootle about and see how it is but would appreciate any advice on knee braces. A few people have mentioned the Donjoy brace which at around £500, I have to be convinced I need and at the moment I'm really not! I have no stability problems with my knee at all and wouldn't know that my ACL was an issue at all if it weren't for the accident and subsequent scan. There are so many braces on the market, hinged, unhinged, cheap, mid range, expensive, extortionate and I really don't know where to go. Any advice/comments always welcome!
To be honest, I would get a brace, if anything, for peace of mind. We know how much skiing can be a mental sport... it is a nice mental "safety cushion"
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Fear raises risk of injury. If a brace will reduce fear than it has a place.
Jonathan Bell
I had a pretty big accident skiing around 1992, massively swollen knee, was told by a German doctor it was almost certainly an acl tear. Did loads of physio and rehab, and went off piste skiing, mountaineering and climbing for years. Injured it again in 2015, had an MRI scan which confirmed no acl. Gave up skiing, took up boarding (much better!). Just about to be 60 and managed a few days pretty hard ice climbing in Scotland, carrying big loads, it hurts like hell after this sort of thing, but reckon a reconstruction would have been worse!
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Jonathan Bell wrote:
Fear raises risk of injury. If a brace will reduce fear than it has a place.
Jonathan Bell
Was in Montgenevre two weeks ago... spent 6 days skiing across Via Lattea and Briancon. Really pushed HARD on day five in Sestriere since I met up with Italian friends... one of which is an excellent snowboarder, one is his son - a teenage snowboard racer - and one is an instructor at Sestriere. We went flat out... and it was a blast! Knee held out great. Six days went well - was super happy.
Funny story... we landed from the US in Geneva early in the morning... about 6:30 AM... passport control, bags, customs, car rental took about an hour hour... then 2:40 minutes in the car from Geneva to Montgenevre. Unpacked and had lunch. At 1:30, my youngest and I were already up on the mountain and skiing. That was a first for me. Anyway, about 2 hours in I realized that in my rush, I had forgotten to put on my knee brace. Honestly, everything was just fine.
I wore it the rest of the trip but, yes, I think it really is more of a mental brace than a knee brace.
After all it is free
After all it is free
I’m delighted to hear how good your outcome is.
Always have to manage the head- not just the physical injuries !!
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.
Jonathan Bell wrote:
I’m delighted to hear how good your outcome is.
Always have to manage the head- not just the physical injuries !!
It was the first time I had been on the mountain without a brace so, while it gave me comfort that everything was fine, I'd still rather ski with the brace on, thank you
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@ItaloSkier, I found myself not using (or having very loose) my wraparound, spring sided braces for the first time this year; one 1 leg anyway. Very nice to know that I could. But the extra reassurance and general 'feel' of support is still nice: I think I might like to wear them even if I didn't need them.
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
Always got to have a plans!
she performed the Lachman Test, which 
unfortunately but went skiing in Purgatory, Colorado in spring of 2021 which felt fine. This past year was really pleasing... March 2022 went to Crested Butte which has a great deal of double-diamond terrain and had a chance to explore quite a bit of it without any issues... yes, I always wear a brace even if more for mental reasons that physical reasons but I don't know that I would ski without it. After Crested Butte, hit some late season skiing at Arapahoe Basin and Winter Park which included a 45 minute bootpack hike at about 3300 meters to some double-diamond terrain... knee felt fine. It was more of a mental/lung battle than anything.
