Author Topic: I have really messed up my knee (Read 3087 times)

Paul · « **on:** 16 June, 2022, 08:33:25 pm »

I went skiing in April (I know, I know). Twisted my knee resulting in:

Full thickness tear of ACL
Ditto tibial attachment of MCL
Grade 1/low grade 2 sprain of LCL
Medial meniscal tear

I don't understand all of that, but the upshot is that I can't run and I can only walk carefully. Physio says I can (and should) use a turbo trainer but should stay off the roads pending surgery.

I am feeling very sorry for myself.

hatler · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 June, 2022, 08:55:37 pm »

Bugger. I sympathise.

Had my ACL rebuilt in '94 following a skiing accident. I tentatively returned to skiing about three or four years later expecting it to be my swansong.

Cautiously approached the first run and got 100 yards before being wiped out by one of our party (and really, she should have known better). Picked myself up, dusted myself down, popped the skis back on and carried on. It was only a few minutes later that I realised i hadn't once thought about my knee.

Never looked back. Have skied every year since (without ever once being worried about my knee), discovered cyclo-commuting (and thence yacf), continued sailing, etc etc.

You'll be reet.

ETA And, needless to say, techniques have moved on a bit since then. The chap who did mine pioneered the process, and when accompanying mini-hatler to see a knee doctor about four years ago he spotted my scar and commented something along the lines of

Doc: Oh, we don't do it like that any more. We've made massive improvements since Mr Dandy at Addenbrookes worked out how to do this.

Me: Yup, he's the chap who fixed my knee.

Doc: What ?? That's a Dandy original ? I'll have to tell my colleagues.

Who'd have thought I had a collector's item in me ?

T42 · « **Reply #2 on:** 17 June, 2022, 07:34:14 am »

I think my duff ankle was "fixed" by a bloke from the Beano.

DuncanM · « **Reply #3 on:** 17 June, 2022, 08:49:06 am »

The LCL is slightly unusual, but the ACL, MCL, medial meniscus is know as the unhappy triad, and is really common. I have partially torn them all individually, so missed out on the reconstruction, but modern surgery is really good. Expect a certain amount of rehab afterwards, but once you're through that you're good to go...
Cycling is good while injured because you keep your knee moving in plane (and maintain the muscles that support the joint) - don't do stuff that will put a twisting force through it (especially bent). I'm guessing cycling indoors is recommended so you aren't tempted to throw the bike around under you and do that.

hatler · « **Reply #4 on:** 17 June, 2022, 10:45:16 am »

My physio was start on a bike, and then slowly build up to everything else, except swimming. If I recall the numbers it was a 3 month delay for most things but 6 months for swimming.

Op was middle of Feb and by the middle of May I was very happy climbing up the rigging on a tall ship (though for about the first month a particularly arduous bout of climbing would result in the knee swelling for a bit).

One thing sticks out. When I asked the surgeon if he had a recommendation for a knee brace for when I went skiing again he was adamant that a brace was a Bad Thing. "It's your muscles that will keep your knee safe in future, you need to build those up. Wearing a brace makes the muscles lazy. Don't wear a brace."

I still walk up stairs two with my left and one with my right.

Kim · « **Reply #5 on:** 17 June, 2022, 01:07:30 pm »

Quote from: DuncanM on 17 June, 2022, 08:49:06 am

I'm guessing cycling indoors is recommended so you aren't tempted to throw the bike around under you and do that.

The other thing about cycling indoors is that you can just stop when it hurts.

Paul · « **Reply #6 on:** 17 June, 2022, 02:41:18 pm »

Thank you hatler and DuncanM. That’s reassuring. I have a gp appointment on Friday next which - I hope - will just be confirmation that I’m being referred for surgery.

Little Jim · « **Reply #7 on:** 17 June, 2022, 03:43:50 pm »

My mate Paul (another one) did his ACL skiing about 6 or 7 years ago, so he would have been about 50 at the time. Skiing once a year was his main form of exercise, although he had just bought a cheap second-hand bike to try out road cycling. After the surgery I lent him my turbo so he could use the bike to get his knee working again. He now does Iron Man triathlons as his hobby.

mike · « **Reply #8 on:** 21 June, 2022, 05:51:24 pm »

our now 15 yr old did hers quite badly skiing when she was 13.
Operation after 9 months + 12 months of ACL-specific weight training (it's worth investing in a trainer who knows what they're doing for a couple of sessions) and she's now absolutely fine and playing county netball & tennis.

Paul · « **Reply #9 on:** 21 June, 2022, 09:09:18 pm »

hatler · « **Reply #10 on:** 06 October, 2022, 11:53:22 pm »

What news on the knee's progress ?

Paul · « **Reply #11 on:** 07 October, 2022, 09:35:48 am »

Glacial developments. The positive thing is that a consultant reckoned I was a candidate for repair despite my age (how dare he?) but he couldn't do it so referred me to a colleague, whose secretary rang me to arrange an unrequested private consultation, which I couldn't afford, so I'm now trying to chivvy along an NHS referral. I'm not even on a list yet.

But my knee feels a bit more stable than it did. I'm trying to use it more, but carefully.

Thanks for asking.

hatler · « **Reply #12 on:** 07 October, 2022, 12:09:48 pm »

Bugger. That's far from optimal. Keep nagging. If you have a job for which knee stability is an advantage then do mention that. It played a big part in my getting mine done in fairly short order on the NHS (though as explained above this was a few years ago)

Paul · « **Reply #13 on:** 08 October, 2022, 10:53:17 am »

And as if the universe was listening, I came home yesterday to find a letter with an appointment to see someone on 31 October

canny colin · « **Reply #14 on:** 08 October, 2022, 11:13:22 am »

Good news Paul . I would put a pound on the lottery .

Paul · « **Reply #15 on:** 02 November, 2022, 05:50:57 pm »

Well, the consultant I saw on Monday made me very happy.

First of all he said I was fitter than most 57 year olds (cue "But doctor, I'm only 45!" gag).
Secondly, he reckons my full thickness tear of the MCL has fixed itself (which I didn't even realise was possible)
And thirdly, he says he'll reattach my separated ACL. It won't be for 18 months or so because lists, but it's still brilliant news to me.

Finally he reckons I'm okay to cycle - which I'd been doing a bit of against orders.

hatler · « **Reply #16 on:** 02 November, 2022, 08:25:03 pm »

Wahey !!!! Great news.

A word of advice though, and not wanting to piss on your consultant's parade.

Do a bit of research and check out how many of these ops he does a year. If he's a general sawbones then I'd strongly recommend that you thank him profusely but ask him for a recommendation of someone who does only knees, and in particular ACL reconstructions.

DuncanM · « **Reply #17 on:** 03 November, 2022, 07:42:07 am »

I second the caution. Also, re-attach? The usual process is to "reconstruct", by chopping a piece of tendon from elsewhere* and screwing that into the right places in the knee.
It's good news anyway, there are people wandering around with varying levels of ACL function, but if the MCL is also buggered then it's pretty unstable, if the MCL is good then you stand a fighting chance.

*Used to be quad tendon from the injured leg, now it's hamstring, or maybe the other way around.

hatler · « **Reply #18 on:** 03 November, 2022, 08:36:28 am »

*Elsewhere* in my reconstruction was half the patella tendon.

Paul · « **Reply #19 on:** 03 November, 2022, 09:20:50 am »

Re-attach was my word, sorry.
I was referred to this guy because he does only/primarily this work.
He suggested using donor tissue: more to work with and less collateral damage (it would be my hamstring otherwise). He says he has had no failures using this technique.

hatler · « **Reply #20 on:** 03 November, 2022, 09:54:10 am »

OK. Sounds like you are in good hands in that case.

FifeingEejit · « **Reply #21 on:** 03 November, 2022, 10:35:49 am »

Quote from: Paul on 03 November, 2022, 09:20:50 am

Re-attach was my word, sorry.
I was referred to this guy because he does only/primarily this work.
He suggested using donor tissue: more to work with and less collateral damage (it would be my hamstring otherwise). He says he has had no failures using this technique.

An ex-girlfriend had that done after she bollocksed her knee skiing, took her a bit of arguing with the various surgeons around Scotland to get it rather than the original plan of live with it...

hatler · « **Reply #22 on:** 03 November, 2022, 12:06:31 pm »

A long time ago, in a hospital far far away, someone came up with the bright idea of using carbon fibre as a replacement ligament.

It worked a treat, for six months, at which point the synovial fluid rendered it distinctly snappable.

Back to the drawing board.

My chap came to the conclusion that own-tissue was the safest bet.

Wowbagger · « **Reply #23 on:** 03 November, 2022, 12:16:42 pm »

My Dear Wife's sister is in a pretty bad way, knee-wise. I'm not at all sure of the full extent of the damage, but there's a lot of arthritis there. She's also in a pretty bad way from long covid, and has been told that her brain is "that of someone 20 years older". She's 61 and is not having a great retirement.

Jethro · « **Reply #24 on:** 05 November, 2022, 05:14:36 pm »

I think most of us have had some sort of knee problems at some point. When I had knee problems I was told to go and get some Cryotherapy treatment. I did and my knee's have been fine ever since.