 Poster: A snowHead
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hi guys
we've just got back from an exciting week's skiing.
after 20 minutes on the piste i managed to somersault over the front end of my skies, snap something in my knee and have mountain rescue out.
seems if have ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament, so i am hobbling around on crutches and going to the hosp later today.
i hope it gets better and i will be able to ski again.
don't know yet if i'm going to be in a full leg plaster or have it operated on yet.
insurance co were very good at organising new flights back, and an ambulance transfer to the airport!
ski safely everyone who's going out soon.
and hopefully they'll be some new snow soon to soften up the pistes
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Sorry to hear that blueberry! Sounds a terrible start to a skiing holiday! Were you able to enjoy any time out there at all, or did you fly back immediately?
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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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blueberry, rotten luck. Hope the operation goes well if you have one. Take heed of the physio - and don't try to rush back before things heal. Best wishes to you.
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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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blueberry, sorry to hear about your injury.
A couple of points occur to me:
Were they your own skis and what were the DIN settings (it strikes me that the bindings either didn't release at all or released late?)
Who is your "good at oragnising" insurance company?
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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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blueberry,
Sorry to learn of your accident & hope you have a speedy recovery.
Sounds like your insurance company were okay..............who did you have your insurance with.............I,m currently looking for a policy for an upcoming holiday & was after recommendations for a hassel free provider ( who pays up when needed)
Ta
Mitch
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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blueberry, Hope things work out.
If you have snapped your ACL the repair will require an OP.  Hope its not that bad.
Make sure you get the best medical advice, it can vary quite considerably in the UK.
I had to have an MRI scan on my knee, reported wait on NHS 3 months, I paid privately and it happened within a few days!
I'm another one who's interested in your ins company name.
Good luck!
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blueberry,
Bad luck, but don't worry you should be fine.
I did the same on New Years Day 2008, one year later I am skiing again on the local snoslope and heading out to Austria a week on Friday.
You will get a lot of conflicting advice from all sorts of people. The most important piece of advice I would give you is to try and make sure that you get to see a specialist in sports injuries to knees . If you have private medical insurance you will be able to choose who you see without any problem, if not you might have to do a bit of pushing.
The specialist I saw does both NHS and private and is a general orthopod in his NHS time, but does knees only in private practice. So even if I had not had the private cover I could have arranged to see him, albeit things would have taken longer.
My advice would be to talk to your GP or to your local private hospital and find out who is who? You dont give your location on your banner but if you let us know where you are I'm sure there will be a local  who'll know who you should be asking for?
I would be very surprised if you get a leg plaster as mobility is very much the way nowadays. I had an MRI scan once I got back to establish the full extent of the damage. In my case the initial thoughts were to stabilise the knee and then decide on surgery. By late April it had become clear that the knee was not sufficiently stable (for sports or skiing) and the surgery took place in late May. I was signed off in early December with the surgery being 100% successful.
Purely a personal opinion but if you want to get back to skiing I would make this abundantly clear in your conversations with all the Medics that you see. I was never entirely convinced that in view of my age (41) and the fact that my knee was sufficiently stable for normal daily activities, that I would have got the surgery on the NHS - if I had said that I accepted that my skiing/sporting days were over.
My surgeon confirmed that in his view, had I been prepared to give up skiing and other sports, that we would then have had a much longer discussion on the need for the surgery?
On the other hand he said that for a person in their 20's or early 30's who was active in sports that the surgery would have gone ahead much quicker than was the case with me.
One other piece of advice is to stick to the Physiotherapy you are given. Yes it will be a real pain in the a**e (maybe literally) but it is absolutely crucial to rebuild the strength, flexibility and proprioception (communication between your knee and brain) of your knee.
Reply or PM if you want to ask anything else?
Good luck!
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 6-01-09 0:42; edited 1 time in total
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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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Some good advice here - it is possible to manage without an ACL for some people, personally just done 18 days skiing/boarding over 3 weeks at 5.5 months post recon. Not always bell to bell everyday & definitely weaker/lazier turning on the "new" knee side but no real adverse effects (& even without the benefit of Vitamin I  ).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Condolences, blueberry, and best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.
A friend of mine had a similar experience. First day of the holiday doing our warming up runs after breakfast before being put into ski school classes. First run down, fell and ended up with his knee in plaster.
That was topped, though, when we went back to the same hotel later and our group leader, seeing the hotel manager waiting for us, walked over to greet him - and promptly fell into the cellar area, breaking his leg. Hadn't even seen the slopes
Join the club!
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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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Bad news - my comiserations. My wife was a nervous 3rd week novice. On the first morning we were just getting a bit of gentle practice - she had said "I'm a bit tired - just one more run and then we'll stop for lunch" skis went different directions round a small bump on a gentle blue and "ping" went her ACL. Fortunately (or not) it just snapped so no great pain - I suggested she try skiing down - first turn she felt as if knee going to fall apart so walked off slope. Had we been away just the two of us it would have been a real disaster but we were with a big family group over Christmas including 3 non-skiers so she had company while the rest of skied. The moral I take from her story is beware tiredness and stop well before you feel tired. That first morning/ day, for us less experienced skiers, should be a gentle warm up. Having said all that I am sure come 8th March I shall be getting as much use out of my lift pass as I possible can - "do as I say not as I do".
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| lampbus wrote: |
| ......Still not quite as-new but functional. |
Bit like most of us as we grow older. 
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You know it makes sense.
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thanks for all the replies and links.
paid to see someone at bupa last night, and have the splint off - horray. v suprised as the orthopod i spoke to on the phone initially said i would be in plaster for 3 weeks with my leg totally striaght to allow the tendon to reattach. but the consultant yesterday said it never reattaches so best to get the knee moving asap - which fits with the rest of the advice i've had here. very confusing with so many conflicting opinions......
he suggested giving it 2-3 months and seeing how i get on. if it is giving way he will repair it, but said many people manage with acl deficiency with no probs, even skiing etc. so i guess we'll see how things go on for now.
i'm getting started on the physio - amazing how much muscle wasting has occured in just 8 days of splinting.
re the insurance co - we are with direct line.
have yet to see how quickly they pay up.......but their telephone helpline was pretty good. they paid directly for the new flights and taxi transfers both ends, and tickets were awaiting us at the airport when we arrived. we just need reimbursement for the mountain rescue, doctors, pharmcy and blood testing fees.
i still don't quite understand how the accident happened. i was doing a warm-up blue run, which turned out to be harder than i expected, more like the reds i have skied on before - but we've never been to france before. they are my own boots which are pretty new and were starting to get quite achy and crampy, and hire skis which were 10cm longer than i was used to. i was finding it hard to control my speed, and although my husband said i looked like i was skiing really well, it felt too fast and a touch out-of-control. i wobbled, over corrected, then the next thing i new i was heading over the front of my skis. i think one got stuck in the snow as i was upside down when i felt the crack. once i landed, my husband released the binding from one ski (he recons the good leg but i'm not sure it was) and the other one had already relesase. they both appeared to be set on 4 or 5 which is what i usually have them on.
oh well, off to do some more knee stretches now....
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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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blueberry, Sorry to hear about that and hope you get fit soon.
This type of accident seems to get reported quite a bit on Snowdeads, is it happening more often due to new ski technology ? or is it just one of those things ?
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Poster: A snowHead
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| rayscoops wrote: |
blueberry, Sorry to hear about that and hope you get fit soon.
This type of accident seems to get reported quite a bit on Snowdeads, is it happening more often due to new ski technology ? or is it just one of those things ? |
ACL injuries have always been part and parcel of skiing (& rugby and football etc) as far as I am aware. Probably reported more as the population becomes more medically savvy and actually understands what's wrong with them (thanks to the internet etc) rather than having a sore knee.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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fatbob, I think you're probably right. A friend of mine did his ACL about 10 years ago and just thought he had 'hurt' his knee, he skied the rest of the holiday and even went climbing whe he got back from skiing. He only discovered the problem when he eventually went to the doctor as he kept falling over when he turned sharply to the left!
blueberry, Glad you got sorted out for now, please post again to let us know how you get on. The next major part will be once you reach decision time about having the op or not and I'll be glad to relate my experiences if you wish?
Interestingly my fall was an 'over the handlebars' one as well -I wonder if it is something beyond the limitations of the bindings to detect that you are falling as opposed to jumping until it is too late???
My lesson from it all is not to try and be Bode Miller and recover the impossible but just to go down in as safe and controlled way as possible. A bruised bum is much preferable to a bust ACL!
I have also moved my bindings down one for this season until I get my confidence back, no speed, steeps or bumps is better then no skiing at all!
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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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| rayscoops wrote: |
This type of accident seems to get reported quite a bit on Snowdeads |
I'm not dead!
I'm feeling better!
I want to go for a walk...
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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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I've caught the disease ... at least, I feared so, having been following this thread.
On the last run of the day yesterday, down into Ellmau, on a hard, icy piste, I felt a sudden gentle "pop" on the inside of my right knee, no fall or anything (though I had had one fall on ice about an hour before). There was nothing much more at the time and I skied on down into the valley without any problems (or even stopping). However, in the evening the knee was sore and it didn't get any better overnight. When it was still pretty sore this morning, I thought I had better have it looked at. Having been following this thread, I had horrible visions of having injured my ACL (Kreuzbandriss it's called out here). I worried that this might put an end to my skiing career  .
So I drove to A&E at the hospital in Traunstein this morning. The doctor there soon put me somewhat to rest, saying that my ACL seemed to be ok. After the knee had been x-rayed, he pronounced that the meniscus was maybe slightly out of place and that there was bruising. I was given a pain-reducing dressing and painkillers to take at home. Actually, the pain is not at all bad and I only feel it sometimes when I turn on the leg. It was all over and done with within 45 minutes.
I hope the knee will recover within about a week. I have to rest at present. I'm off skiing for a bit but mostly I had been worried about my holiday in L2A at the beginning of March. I trust I'll be fit again by then.
This is my first serious skiing accident in 47 years (I classify an accident as serious, if it keeps me away from the slopes when I want to be there). So I guess I've been lucky and will just have to be patient for a week or two  .
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