Health Ruptured ACL

[BigBadCam]

Reckon it should be ok, but then, public system - they seemed pretty average. They ****ed up the operation a bit, or the painkilling part of it, and I've got no feeling in my right leg from my ankle to my knee on the non-shin side, all the skin is numb.

Also, they made me wait from July to March for the op, not a good idea - meant to get it done within three months at most.

Still, I've done all the physio (got a private physio even though it meant paying cash) and had the Surgeon look at it a few times. All seemed to go relatively well and its getting better in my opinion.

Hoping to play basketball again soon.

I lost feeling in the front part of my knee and a little bit down the shin. It came back after a few years. The common line from surgeons is that they can give you a new knee but it will never be as good as your old one. This gives them room to **** up a bit.

 

[estibador]

Reckon it should be ok, but then, public system - they seemed pretty average. They ****ed up the operation a bit, or the painkilling part of it, and I've got no feeling in my right leg from my ankle to my knee on the non-shin side, all the skin is numb.

I just had an op to remove torn cartilage a few weeks ago and they warned me beforehand that that could happen if they accidentally nicked a certain nerve in the knee.

They said it doesn't happen very often though so you must have been pretty unlucky.

 

[BigBadCam]

I just had an op to remove torn cartilage a few weeks ago and they warned me beforehand that that could happen if they accidentally nicked a certain nerve in the knee.

They said it doesn't happen very often though so you must have been pretty unlucky.

Numbness in the front of the knee is very common in ACL surgeries. Everybody I know who has had the surgery has had some degree of numbness, but feeling usually returns over time. Was your surgery arthroscopic?

 

[estibador]

Numbness in the front of the knee is very common in ACL surgeries. Everybody I know who has had the surgery has had some degree of numbness, but feeling usually returns over time. Was your surgery arthroscopic?

Yeah arthroscopic. Pretty minor compared to an ACL - I was off the crutches after 4 days and have started slowly jogging (limping/jogging) at footy training this week, 3 and a half weeks after the OP.

I didn't get any numbness at all personally. But it wasn't numbness of the knee they warned me about, it was that specific patch of skin on the side of the shin that sounds exactly like RJ described.

 

[BigBadCam]

Yeah arthroscopic. Pretty minor compared to an ACL - I was off the crutches after 4 days and have started slowly jogging (limping/jogging) at footy training this week, 3 and a half weeks after the OP.

I didn't get any numbness at all personally. But it wasn't numbness of the knee they warned me about, it was that specific patch of skin on the side of the shin that sounds exactly like RJ described.

OK, here's my tip for you. I had a similar operation. They removed a floating bit of bone that had chipped off, a little section of busted cartilage, and then they scraped where there was no cartilage to get scar tissue to form. Pretty soon afterwards, I rushed back into physical activity and my knee has never been right. In fact, years after, it is worse than my fully reconstructed knee. Your knee feels alright, but you need to rest it for as long as possible. They say 6 weeks is about right for arthroscopic surgeries of this type. If you start going to soon, the scar tissue will not form properly and you'll still have big problems.

 

[rick James]

OK, here's my tip for you. I had a similar operation. They removed a floating bit of bone that had chipped off, a little section of busted cartilage, and then they scraped where there was no cartilage to get scar tissue to form. Pretty soon afterwards, I rushed back into physical activity and my knee has never been right. In fact, years after, it is worse than my fully reconstructed knee. Your knee feels alright, but you need to rest it for as long as possible. They say 6 weeks is about right for arthroscopic surgeries of this type. If you start going to soon, the scar tissue will not form properly and you'll still have big problems.

Yeah, this is why I've taken it so lightly - I was warned just to let it heal properly, even it means taking a year before really getting into running again.

I ride my bike around a bit, and go swimming - that's as physical as it gets on my knee (and even the bike I don't ride very far).

I do find that my knee is fine for walking, even around steep areas I can walk hours and feel no pain from it. But I wonder if I'm walking poorly on the other knee instead, because occasionally that gets sore.

I've heard the real problem with an ACL rupture, is that even if it feels fine over the next 5-10 years, if you aren't walking properly on it and you're overcompensating on one leg, you can be a full blown cripple within 20 years.

 

[estibador]

Well the surgeons told me after 3 weeks I could try light jogging if there was no pain, which there isn't - my knee just feels weak, so I've been pretty much sticking to the doc's time schedule.

I'm not doing anything heavy though. Just swimming in the mornings and then twice a week at footy I spend the whole session doing laps by (very) lightly jogging down the straights on the wings but walking around the pockets and goals.

 

[BigBadCam]

Yeah, this is why I've taken it so lightly - I was warned just to let it heal properly, even it means taking a year before really getting into running again.

I ride my bike around a bit, and go swimming - that's as physical as it gets on my knee (and even the bike I don't ride very far).

I do find that my knee is fine for walking, even around steep areas I can walk hours and feel no pain from it. But I wonder if I'm walking poorly on the other knee instead, because occasionally that gets sore.

I've heard the real problem with an ACL rupture, is that even if it feels fine over the next 5-10 years, if you aren't walking properly on it and you're overcompensating on one leg, you can be a full blown cripple within 20 years.

Guaranteed to get arthritis. Almost all the other injuries I've had since could be attributed to the knee reco as it was the first major one I had. It wasn't just a rupture though - it was a full tear.

 

[rick James]

Guaranteed to get arthritis. Almost all the other injuries I've had since could be attributed to the knee reco as it was the first major one I had. It wasn't just a rupture though - it was a full tear.

Rupture is worse than tear I thought? Tear implies its only been torn, rupture means its been snapped.

Whatever the definition, mine was snapped, as in, the top part of the ACL and the bottom part weren't connected at all.

Yeah I knew I'd be heading for Arthritis anyway, I had major hip surgery as a kid. Was never expected to run, let alone become a stupidly awesome footballer/cricketer/swimmer all around local sporting hero - so sometimes I think its best to take what doctor's say with a grain of salt.