MCL/ACL complete tear, meniscus damage and fractured femur. Who’s done it. Need some timelines

So yeah, for those who haven’t, I would suggest going ahead and skipping this particular box.

Tears hurt like hell, surgery hurts worse. I’m one week post surgery after waiting 3 weeks to get it done because of worker’s compensation,and stuck in bed for two more before I can use crutches. Then hopefully walking in 6, fully recovered in 9-12 months.

Long story short, guy tried to do a judo hip throw incorrectly, came at me from the front and took my knee out. Mistakes happen, I have no ill will toward the guy. But, coming from such an active lifestyle??? This sucks!!!!

Any stories?? I have plenty of time to read them. Similar injuries?? How long until you felt normal again? I have a firefighter friend who just recently had the same thing happen. Says he wish he could forget the first 3 weeks post surgery. Totally get it.

On a fun side note, i kicked the girlfriend out 5 days after my injury because I found out she was cheating on me. 1am, I told her to get up, grab her stuff and get out! She begged for a week and finally got the point after I didn’t respond. Simply don’t need the trash in my life.

 

I suffered a MCL ,ACL , meniscus tear injury to my r/knee in the Military in 1982 during a training incident at MCAGCC 29 Palms . It took.me almost a year to fully recover from

Fast forward 31 years my knee joint was so worn out I had to have a total knee replacement in Nov 2014 at my local VA hospital . I had issues during recovery that resulted in a revision surgery in 2016

Thinking all was well I started getting sharp stabbing pain in the medial side of my knee and the pain became bad it was hard to walk . Back in October this year I had another TKR revision and now recovering from this surgery . I just now able to walk around with a cane and should be fully healed by july 2020

 

I work with orthopedic surgeons as a nurse and the full rehab is 1year for ACL. Do what they tell you to do bc it’s proven to work. Therapy is important and when you feel great at 4months don’t go do dumb shit. Re tears always happen at months 8-9 bc you feel so fine but that tendon anchor takes 1 year to scar in and ossify. Your range of motion will suck for awhile but the pain and instability will go away after a few weeks.

 

Dang!!! Keep them coming guys!! Some crazy stories! I keep reading a full year as well!!

thank you for the heads up on the 6 month mark. I would have gone and tried to bust ass the second I cold jog at 6 months

 

As mentioned once you're in Physical therapy listen to your PT

 

How has your recovery been the last couple months?

I had a meniscus repair Friday. The meniscus itself started detaching from my tibia so it had to be sutured down to be secured. No ligament involvement.

I’ve been through a broken foot surgery and a rotator cuff repair in the past. This has been the worse surgery yet pain wise.

 

dang!!

It’s going. My PT is amazing. Because of the MCL injury, I was stuck immobile for 6 weeks. It is insane just how much atrophy can happen in that time. My range of motion sucks, but I hit 90* for the first time last week which was great!

I just started walking first of the year. I was off crutches two weeks later

 

Wow. I’m already weight bearing and walking.

Crutches suck. I can’t imagine being held up that long.

Its amazing how your life becomes about these small victories you normally take for granite like being able to walk to the bathroom to take a shit by yourself, being able to shower, changing your own clothes lol.

I’m glad you are getting there. I can’t imagine 3 months of not bending my knee.

 

agreed 100%!! The only thing that kept me going was knowing I was having surgery (took 3 weeks after injury), then being able to toe touch, then starting to straighten the leg in the brace, on and on....

just focused on my 500 and got there. Then the next 500 and so on. I don’t wish this injury on anyone. I’m not good at being “helpless”, so it was very frustrating

 

Damn! Sto hear brother! Things can only go up from here!

 

Trashed my ACL in 1985. Was given the option of surgery or trying PT to build up my quads. Opted for PT. They had me walking right away, lifted to increase the quads in the front of my thigh enough to hold my knee in place. Since then, I have managed to do pretty much everything they told me not to do - softball, sand volleyball, etc. I even hiked rim to rim across the Grand Canyon in a day.

It will bother me at times and I might eventually need something done, but I am still mobile, even with a limp. Was out running one time and thought I did it in - something popped. Went to the doctor and a knee specialist - they told me I tore my ACL. I laughed and told them no I didn’t. They were confused for a bit until I told then I had done that 15 years before. LOL. They told me to get off the crutches and see how it was. If it didn’t recover, then I would have to have surgery. It was sore for a while, but I recovered.

Look at all of your options and decide what will be best for you. Good luck.

 

I tore my left ACL when I was 14 playing soccer. Took a year for me to “fully recover” as I still had to wear a brace playing soccer. Recovery was extremely hard but you’ll get through it don’t worry. I tore my ACL 2 years later playing in a tournament the same way as I did before. Recovery felt a little easier the second time but was still a big pain in the ass.

 

I am out of work for just about a year. What I am worried about is training. We spar a decent amount and I am terrified someone is going to hit the knee. I plan on wearing a full length donjoy brace for stuff like that.

 

Wear a brace and you’ll be fine. You just need to avoid twisting your knee. I tore my ACL the second time after I stopped wearing the brace and I got hit hard in the leg. I was hit multiple times in my leg while wearing the brace and had no issues with my knee having any lateral movement

 

fantastic news!! From everything I am reading, I’m not 100% out of the clear until around two years, but I will be fully “functional” so to speak at one

 

You’ll be fully functional but you’re always susceptible to a retear pretty easily

 

Doing BJJ, I had a horseshoe tear to my meniscus. Took six months to get back on the mats and at about a year, I was rolling hard again.

During an IBJJF tourney one of my training partners blew out his ACL, ripped his MCL and tore his meniscus. The swelling was so bad, they fixed one issue at a time over a month. He was off the mat for one year. He is a beast and avid cross fitter, weight lifting, etc. At about two months he was lifting, no leg work...... He told me at about 18 months he felt 100%.

In both my injury and my training parter, we both took rehab seriously, took our time and did it right. I been doing BJJ for 20 years and I have seen a dozen or so guys blow a knee out and after a few months, they are back banging again and end up blowing the knee out again......Youth doesn’t learn until its to late.

 

My downfall was the full MCL tear. 3 weeks before surgery and 6 weeks of having the leg immobile (30* for 3 weeks after surgery, then dropped down 10* each week after until I hit zero) It was another month or so before I could take 3 steps.

my quad was pretty much completely atrophied, and it’s coming slowly. I’m doing single leg squats, which help a lot, and take stairs as often as I can to help build that quad. Range of motion is coming back a little at a time

 

Well, since you are a judo guy...... I thought you would appreciate this........ Happen a few weeks ago.