I think I’ve done my knee in!!! One bad ski crash (and bad Basketball Jones) later, I’ve gotten this awful prognosis.
Who else has been through this and what kind of rehab/recovery time did it involve until you were back to triathlon or other active sports?
Nobody else has been through this? I am trying to plan for recovery and hoping not to miss the outdoors all Spring and Summer!!!
Very sorry to hear about your injury. There are a number of sports doc and/or orthopods on ST - and I’m sure their input may more insightful. There have been a couple of threads along similar lines over the past 6 mos. Did you try the search function?
My wife had this injury in Oct 09, and she was back on the tennis court in about 12 months. There are a ton of variables, however, ranging from which type of ACL repair you have and your age, etc., that will directly impact recovery time and prognosis.
My overall pieces of advice from watching someone very close to me go through this:
(1) Listen to your medical and PT team, and take the long view on what recovery means.
(2) Follow your recovery/physical therapy religiously. This is (IMO) the single most important part of recovery from an injury like this. Treat your PT as seriously as you would your tri- or multisport training. Its THAT important.
(3) Be patient. Your body will heal, but you have to listen to it and to your healthcare providers to give yourself the best odds of a positive outcome.
(4) Cultivate some other hobbies. You’ll likely have a good deal of sitting around time on your hands post-op. You may be in a brace for several days or weeks which will limit your mobility – so find something that you like or want to do that will be comfortable and do that.
To be frank, from my n=1 experience, this summer is going to be focused on recovery from surgery and the start (emphasis, start) of re-hab. Unless you are under ~ 25 and a pro athlete or prospect, recovery will take some time.
Best of luck and stay positive!
Maybe more than you were asking but…
I’ve been there and it’s been a long road. After 6 months or so I was getting around ok. Not great but getting around. It’s been 10 years now and my leg still gives me trouble from time to time. Basically, I have conditioning routine (core work mainly) I do as part of my workouts. I had a hamstring graft and I really need to keep on top of it (stengthening/stretching). I still favor my “good leg” and can get out of balance fairly fast.
Having said that, I know a few people that have done well 6-12 months out. As you probably know, there are way too variables to tell you how long the recovery will actually take. I kept getting the “Well… lets see how you’re doing in 6 months” They knew it would shut me up and eventually it did. I just gave into the fact that it will “take what it takes”. Which is a good mind set going in. Just keep your head down and listen to your body. It’s not worth a setback because you’re on a time schedule. Trust me.
Anyway, I think it took me ~3yrs to run again. Here I am 10 years later and doing olympic and HIM and racing fast enough to place in my age group +. The thing is you’ll get back to it, you just need to be really patient and try not to get discouraged.
Finally, the best piece of advice I can give you is to find the best PT availilbe and get on their schedule ASAP. The awful PT’s at the hospitol nearly broke me and after 9mo I was ready to quit. After a visit to another Ortho, he recommended someone that was amazing. In 2 weeks she had me 10X farther along than the first 3-4 clowns did in a year. I actually felt like I had a chance to recover and mentally/physically everything turned around. If you don’t like how its going demand someone else. It’s your recovery and $.
Hope this helps. If you have any questions feel free to send a PM.
I’ve posted my experience with ACL/MCL/med meniscus before on ST. Briefly, I had a patellar autograft 10 years ago and have had no problems since. I competed in a sprint tri four months after surgery and managed top three in my AG. I have done numerous marathons, triathlons, centuries, XC skiing trips, days surfing etc. without sequelae. Of note, I was a 28 y/o, single grad student so I had the time and energy to rehab as much as I wanted. Good luck- there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Unfortunately very true… It’s the one thing I really struggled with. I thought by having it done it April I’d be running again by summer. Again, I was getting way ahead of myself. After all, I had a schedule to keep. 
Although, I think having a good PT from the start would have really helped.
To be frank, from my n=1 experience, this summer is going to be focused on recovery from surgery and the start (emphasis, start) of re-hab. Unless you are under ~ 25 and a pro athlete or prospect, recovery will take some time.
One other thought, the nice thing about this sport is theres always swimming to keep you occupied. It might not be everything you want but at least it’s a way to keep your fitness. Water walking or running might also be a possibility relatively soon after surgery. During the times when my knee is giving me trouble I always head to the pool and pull. It’s always good to burn off some bad energy.
I’m an orthopaedic surgeon who specializes in ACL reconstruction. Have done over 3000 in 22 years of practice. I have also blown both my knees out masters ski racing. Left one in '96 (ACL/MCL) which was reconstructed by one of my buddies and then the right ACL as well as a tibial plateau fracture and lateral meniscus bucket handle tear in '99. Also ski racing. I got the message and now I cross country ski instead. There are a lot of variables but if your injury is recent you need to see a good sports medicine ortho ASAP. Ideally you want one doing more than 100 ACL’s a year (but that might cost you in the US!). They will usually brace you, get your range of motion back and then reconstruct your ACL. You should probably have a hamstring ACL if you are a ski racer (flexed knee sports like skiing do better with a hamstring graft). It will take you 6-8 weeks to run with a limp. You should be able to bike reasonably well within 4-6 weeks and you can swim at 4 weeks. Your knee will feel funny swimming at first. No pivotal sports for six months and most surgeons recommend a brace for the first year back at pivotal sports. After my first knee (ACL/MCL), I was skiing in six months, racing in 8 months and won a few races at the end of the first season back. I ran my first post ACL reconstruction marathon 2 years post-op. I took up tri’s last year and did my first half in Montreal with a bit of knee pain.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Thanks for all the replies so far, all the input is comforting since it is better hearing this than hearing nothing!
Here’s my perspective as a PT that currently has about 7 ACL’s on my caseload currently, and sees about 50 a year:
Regarding the MCL, that essentially gets ignored as it will scar over and heal. That aspect won’t affect your recovery other than you may feel a bit more pain over the inside of your knee.
Depending on who does your rehab will depend on how quickly you get back out there. I’ve gotten kids back out to 100% (including jumping, cutting, agility stuff) in as quick as 4 months, but DO NOT like to rush it like this. Generally it takes 5-6 months. I’ve had a few cases where things didn’t go as planned and it took 8-10. I’ve heard of cases where it took 13+ months, but I seriously question what they’re doing in their rehab. Getting back to biking and swimming will be the quickest. You should be able to get start getting back up to speed with this training at about 2 months. I usually start my athletes running at about 8-10 weeks, but wouldn’t like for them to be doing any actual distance training until about 4months or more as I don’t want to have to manage overuse injuries that developed because of muscle imbalances and other stuff that we’re trying to manage.
In regards to overall recovery, I’ll tell you what I tell my patients (and their advice may be different as it depends on the surgeon and the PT, so YMMV): The first 2 weeks is really focused on getting the quad firing again and getting the range of motion back. They’re braced in full extension and can progress off crutches as they get more comfortable weight bearing. They’re usually off crutches by 2 weeks. From 2-6 weeks, the focus is on getting the rest of the range of motion and you’ll be done with the “post surgical” brace by then. In regards to exercise stuff, I REALLY hammer proper squat and deadlift technique during this time frame in addition to a lot of core work. At 8-10 weeks I’ll usually do an isokinetic test to make sure their strength is where I want it and if there is less than a 40% deficit we’ll start running. The goal during this phase is to get the running gait back to normal and to start getting strong. I use a lot of single leg stuff - single leg squats, single leg deadlifts, lunges, rearfoot elevated split squats, and other variations as single leg training is criticial. Once they have less than a 30% strength deficit (usually about 12-14 weeks) we’ll start plyometrics to go through jumping and landing techniques. Of course, we’re still trying to get strong here as well. This will continue, in addition to the introduction of some agility ladder training at 5 months until they return to 100%.
The meniscus is the wild card in the whole scenario as it depends on where the tear is, whether they take it out or repair it, and how significant it is. My overall plan doesn’t really change, but the progression is a bit more unpredictable. Overall, the surgery is very successful. In regards to finding somebody to do it: As was said above, look for a surgeon that does a TON. The two I work closely with do over 50 a year, every year. In regards to looking for a PT, don’t hesistate to ask questions. The clinic I’m in sees a ton of ACL’s, and we often get ACL’s from other clinics as they aren’t managed correctly. Make sure the PT isn’t going to waste your time with a bunch of mat exercises, and that their idea of a full recovery is the same as yours. I’ve seen some folks “cleared” that looked like garbage with their strength and were never taught to jump or cut.
If you have any further questions, feel free to send a PM.
Good luck.
From experience, the following are important.
Surgeon used to dealing with sports orientated individuals.
Decision on graft type for ACL depends on a number of things so don’t go too much on our advice (general ST’ers with acl history as opposed to ortho ST’ers), pro’s and con’s to all options so discuss in detail with your surgeon.
Make sure that you are in the best possible shape prior to surgery, strength and range of motion.
Treat your rehab like a training programme ie, work smart aswell as hard to ensure that impatience doesn’t undo the good work of your surgeon.
Re- the ‘training programme’ rest is just as important to your body as the work because no matter how fit you are there are certain clever physiological things going on in the healing and repair process that you just can’t rush so enjoy those feet up with a beer times too.
See the following thread with some personal viewpoints on options and rehab:
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/…_reply;so=ASC;mh=25;
I’ve had ACL’/meniscus reconstructed and fixed on both knees between 13-15 years old (24 now). Took about 6 months with rehab to get back to almost normal. I say ‘almost’ because overcoming the mental aspect takes a little bit- a year at most to be completely back to normal in any capacity. That will obviously differ between people with their rehab, age, etc. good luck!!
I had my ACL done a couple years ago (I was 30). Worst experience of my life.
Forget sport for 8 months. Its not worth re-injuring yourself before it mostly heals. Its common for people to return to sport at 6 months and just re-injure themselves again.
Do the physio. Religiously.
While u wait for your surgery do physio ahead of time to keep the muscles strong. It will make recovery easier NOT faster.
You will feel fine at 6 months. You are not. Don’t tempt re-starting the whole process cuz u were impatient. Wait the full 8-12 months, then u can resume normal activity. I cannot stress this enough.
The custom brace is worth every dime. U will feel like u dont need it, like it is not doing anything. U WILL slip/fall once during recovery, ie. ice, stupidity etc, and the brace will pay for itself in that one incident where it saved you.
Oh and when you go in, write in big black sharpie marker your good leg that ‘THIS IS THE WRONG LEG’. I’ve read stories where there was a mixup after they put you under. I kid you not.
Oh and if it is your right knee that is damaged, make sure that when the surgeon comes to do his pre-surgery talk with you - be sure to tell him its your LEFT knee, not your right. I got a good laugh seeing the nurses face as if someone just made a huge mistake. Nobody else in the room laughed though… but still
I had my ACL done about 8 years ago. I had the hamstring graft done. I wasted the first two weeks going to a brutal physiotherapist who disagreed with the recovery plan of the surgeon (surgeon said be super aggressive with rehab, PT was extremely passive, light stretching only). I switched PT’s to one whose goal it was to make me cry at each appointment. She succeeded several times. I was cleared by my doc to go back to full activities (including contact, twisting and cuts) at 4.5 months. He was going to clear me at 4 months but there was still a bit of swelling in my knee that he didn’t like. The strength was better than it had been pre-surgery. At my last physio appointment I did 300 (6 sets of 50 per leg) single leg squats on a wobble board. As a previous poster said, lots of jumping/landing, lateral/diagonal movement, range of motion work.
The things I had going for me going into it that allowed me to recover so quickly is that I was young (24), relatively fit before the injury, had surgery pretty quick after the injury (1.5 months, which prevented a lot of the muscle loss that I was told is the biggest issue with recovery), had a surgeon that is one of the top in the world at that surgery, and I was extremely motivated to get healed up and get back to work.
Well, I had my ACL repaired with a partially torn meniscus and an Achilles tendon tear repaired. For the ACL, I was walking a day or two after the surgery. It took me about 8-9 months to feel pretty comfortable, but I took a year before I began to compete again. I was about 26-27 years old at the time. However, I did not listen much to the doctors and skipped rehab assignments. If you want a really fast recovery, I would listen to doctors and do all the exercises they want you to do without skipping rehab date If you do that then you should be ahead of schedule. My knee and Achilles tendon feel great and I dont have any regrets about the surgery. I can function as well as I did before the surgeries. Hope this helps.