Blew out my second ACL this weekend

OP - way to hang in there ! Sounds like the worst is over. The first day really sucked for me as well. I would drift in/out of sleep for about 30 minutes at a time. Every time I woke up, PAIN. I wished I could take more meds every 30 minute. Agree that the pain meds don't seem to catch up until sometime between day 2 and 3. I was surprised that after 1 week I could completely stop using pain meds.

Tried to go down the stairs on day 2 and wiped out - fortunately it was only like 2 steps until the bottom. Talk about un-graceful.

The second week was all about getting my energy level back. It would only take a few hours or moving around before I felt completely exhausted. There is still swelling in the repaired knee and I am at 90 degrees ROM like yourself. I went back to work for the first time today. Hitting PT 3x/week now and doing my exercises. Now I can look forward to Vegas with my buddies in June

That second week is so much smoother - keep up the hard work!

 

Tore my ACL back in late January doing jiu jitsu. Haven't had the chance to get the surgery because of life circumstances, but I am looking to get it done by the end of this year. Since then, I've put on alot of weight (around 20 lbs) to be exact because I am not able to participate in activities that I used to do. Still really haven't decided on what type of surgery/where I am going to get it done.

I'll keep checking in on this thread for more info and moral support.

 

Best of luck to you Juan01 - it's been 7 weeks now since my surgery. I've been walking without a limp for a couple weeks. Going down stairs is a bit shaky but I went on a 2 hour hike up and down forest roads last week without any issues. I should be on an elliptical in the next couple of weeks. I had the patella graft and feel it was the right decision for me. Negative would be some occasional soreness in the patella region but this seems to be decreasing over time.

 

Well I have now had the experience of doing both a patella graft and a hamstring graft and if I had to do it again I would definitely go with the patella graft. Mind you, I haven't had any pain where they took the patella graft like many other people have had (knock on wood), so I could have just gotten lucky.

If you are under 40 years old and active, I would probably stay away from cadaver grafts because they are more prone to rejection/failure than grafts taken from your own body. The other option is just doing rehab without surgery. Many people have had good results from that. Good luck man.

 

Glad to hear things are coming along with your recovery. Cool that you were able to go for a little hike! I'll be at the 6 week mark tomorrow and things are going pretty well overall. My recovery started off great in the first couple of weeks, but then plateaued (and even slipped back a bit) in weeks 3-5 -- lot of aching/pain and stiffness in the last 5-10 degrees of extension in my reconstructed knee, and couldn't shake the limp. But I've been feeling WAY better in the past week or two. Finally walking normal without much pain or anything. I still can barely get down a small flight of stairs though.

I've been doing elliptical and stationary bike since week 3. Elliptical has been the best thing IMO, and is even more comfortable than the bike. I'm kind of an exercise nut, so lack of cardio for those few weeks was killing me... but now I'm able to do 15 minutes on the bike and 10 minutes on the elliptical, which gives me 25 minutes of cardio every day. Better than nothing.

 

I did mine two years ago. Went with the hamstring graft. I wasn't comfortable having body tissue from another person implanted in me. Don't know, just my thing.
I only had 3 months of therapy afterwards, probably since there was no meniscus damage.

 

I've never had any kinda procedure like that done, but from one snowboarder to a skier, I truly hope you go through the surgery and that its 100% successful, and that you can go through the rehab program with your mind set on being fully recovered!

 

I work in Physical Therapy, we see a lot ACLs, I wish you the best. Be smart about it, and do your rehab. PM me if you have any questions

 

Good to hear you're doing well, Ben.

I ruptured my right knee junior year in high school wrestling. I didn't know it at the time (despite the loud snap and the pain...) and went a year and a half before popping it again during freshman football in college.

I blew the left one out playing semi-pro after college (got clipped on a kickoff return) and I haven't had it replaced. It's been 10 years. I backpack regularly, and I've been snowboarding for the last 5 years, and playing soccer and baseball off and on, so it's held up. I wear a neoprene brace when I do active stuff.

I just try and keep in good physical shape and let up if it gives me issues. It does flare up on me and get cranky, but overall it's been fairly sturdy.

Interesting to hear about the patella vs. cadaver arguments. I had a patella graft on my right and I was thinking that if I ever had the left one done that I would go cadaver. Maybe not anymore....