Tell me that my life isn't over

Gilly

Gilly

Gilly

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I'm back baby!
Before we start, I'm not after medical advice.

Had an MRI on my long-standing knee problem last Saturday. Taken bloody months of physio and arguments with doctors to actually do an MRI, they said I just needed to increase the strength around my knee joint.

Turns out I have an ACL tear and a meniscus tear. I'm being referred to an orthopaedic surgeon.

I'm feeling very depressed. Tell me from your own experiences that it isn't all bad? Please?

No horror stories either! Can't face them yet. That's why I can't read up on it online.
 
You can come back from both, meniscus tear can be painful but is effectively a very minor issue that can clear up on it's own but surgery can help heal quicker. ACL is a pain, but you see most people who can be disciplined with physio recover just fine. But that really will be key, working hard on recovery, eating right, training right, ignoring any pain and not giving up because process is slow and you don't feel like it's getting better.

I personally would try and do a little research into recommended orthopaedic surgeons and do everything you can to get seen by them. Someone who specialises in knee's or in ACL's in particular.

I'd also have a look around for a recommended physio, maybe someone a good surgeon recommends for ACL, your physio/recovery is going to be more important in general than the surgery. A great surgery followed up by tame effort in rehab or crap advice from a physio won't help much. A good surgery and a brilliant effort in recovery and a great physio to advise you will produce a good outcome most likely.

Find a good physio and listen to what they advise.
 
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How did you injure it and what were your symptoms? I only ask as i injured my knee beginning of the year initially bruising my knee cap and then crushing the cartilage when i knelt a few times where it tightened up. It took months to heal and now i only feel it if i go on 30 miles MTB rides. You might have to take it easy for a while.
 
Pfffft. That's merely a flesh wound. ;)

Having known people with both, with a good surgeon and good, committed rehab, they will be blips in your life-long athletic career.

HOWEVER...

This is entirely contingent on how good your recovery team is from this point. Get a duff surgeon/physio or don't do your re-(and pre-)hab work, and you will probably manage walking again without a limp. Do it properly, you will probably wind up stronger than previously.

And stop playing football, anyway. :D
 
It wasn't even a tackle, it was just my studs catching in the turf and as I twisted my knee opened and POP :(

Had 3 teams ask me to join them this season as they knew I hadn't been playing. One of them I can hear the shouts from my house when they play!

I'm truly gutted.

I had an option for medical from work that I deferred because it would have put me over the 40% tax bracket and with my other benefits it'd have been a big cost. I can opt back into the medical scheme but not until January, I'm wondering if it would still be worth it.
 
Gutting but look on the bright side, at least it isn't a chronic disease of the knee or something.

My advice would be to read up on some good surgeons, choose wisely and make sure you don't rush back. I've just come back from a knee injury myself., you need to be careful with rehabilitation. Nice and controlled..
 
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Just like a lot of ACL/meniscal tears... :(

Regarding the medical scheme, you may well wind up joining a scheme that doesn't cover treatment of pre-existing injuries, meaning you'll join and then derive no benefit for your current situation.

With ACL stuff on the NHS, however, you have to be pushy as otherwise you will wind up being delayed beyond the acute phase of the injury after which point recovery is much harder and longer.
 
My dad had a bad tear to his ACL about 12 years ago playing footy. He had a full reconstruction via keyhole surgery. He was around 40 at the time and has never played since unfortunately. The knee still gives him grief sometimes, I'm firmly convinced that's down to him trying to get back on his feet too early and not listening to the physio. Yes the physio work is imperative, but it's about doing the right things to rebuild the strength and not just doing whatever you feel like and trying to do too much.

He does now play golf with a knee support and has a very strange swing to try and minimise the twisting in his knee. He's down to playing off 7 so not doing too bad at all really.

Fingers crossed for you!
 
Moses said:
Why would it have been a big cost because of putting you over the 40% tax bracket? It's a marginal rate...
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The BIK for my car alone would've been 4 figures.

mrthingyx said:
With ACL stuff on the NHS, however, you have to be pushy as otherwise you will wind up being delayed beyond the acute phase of the injury after which point recovery is much harder and longer.
Click to expand...

It's been done a year now, they told me there was no problem and physio would fix it.

BigChief said:
Fingers crossed for you!
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Thanks :) I hope I can emulate your Dad with his golfing!
 
Ok - so you're post-acute and into the chronic phase. How badly are you impeded at the moment?

If you're not going for a reconstruction (guessing the lack of immediate MRI post-injury was due to it being relatively stable) then find yourself a decent sports physio (ask around at your club/s or whatever) and a decent Strength and Conditioning coach to recover.
 
Having worked in the ski industry for years now I've seen loads of ACL related injuries. Nearly every single one of these people is back on skis.

With the right treatment and the right recovery process you'll be grand. Just don't over do things too soon and be patient.
 
mrthingyx said:
Ok - so you're post-acute and into the chronic phase. How badly are you impeded at the moment?

If you're not going for a reconstruction (guessing the lack of immediate MRI post-injury was due to it being relatively stable) then find yourself a decent sports physio (ask around at your club/s or whatever) and a decent Strength and Conditioning coach to recover.
Click to expand...

I have tried doing light exercises and tend to break down after not very long. Can't cycle or run as I used to be able to, can't play football, etc. Have put on lots of weight due to lack of exercise because my knee is knackered, meaning there's more strain on my knee.

Vicious circle.

timebomb26 said:
Having worked in the ski industry for years now I've seen loads of ACL related injuries. Nearly every single one of these people is back on skis.

With the right treatment and the right recovery process you'll be grand. Just don't over do things too soon and be patient.
Click to expand...

Encouraging words. Thank you :)
 
Gilly can I just say don't skimp on private health care. I broke my leg badly 4 months ago and got discharged by NHS doctor , referred privately and the surgeon was disgusted I hadbeen discharged.

Booked on for MRI scan on Monday physio weekly hopefully i'll be back on a bike soon.

After seeing the shower of **** the NHS is I wouldn't dream of relying on them. Granted the paramedics on the scence were out of this world but after that utter embarrassment.
 
The surgeon will more than likely want to do an arthroscopy, unless he said right away from the MRI he would like to do reconstruction. I'm not sure what the waiting times are on the NHS but it'll cost ~£5k to do it privately. Do it privately! When he mentions the word arthroscopy just jump on it and get it sorted with him.

If the physio you've been seeing isn't a sports specific physio then cut loose and find one or ask the surgeon to recommend one when you see him.
 
I seem to remember when I was looking around for second/third opinions or better treatment that a leeds clinic was being recommended a lot, having a quick look it was Stuart Calder was a name I saw recommended, but it's worth going on a few sites like ..

http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=91354

These kinds of forums tend to have a lot of guys who have ACL injuries, can give good advice, that is a kind of update thread for ACL injuries which you can get a good idea of general rehab and some people link to sports therapists, most tend to say who their doctor was and give a good idea of eventual outcome from injuries.

they are generally good stories, where I think everyone got back to skiing in 6-12 months. What a lot of it boils down to and what you've been advised here also is, rehab. The first guy in that thread had a NHS physio and they didn't seem to know what to recommend, why they were recommending it and likely slowed down his recovery. He eventually(unimpressed) got discharged from NHS physio, so went private and seemingly got far more detailed work, far more advice, was pushed far harder but in the right way and showed significant improvement.

Most of the advice here and where you'll read most places is, get the rehab right and there is no particular reason to think you won't be back to full strength.

From what I know and experienced, lots of doctors do NHS and private work, private gets you better rooms and shorter waiting times but not necessarily better surgery. NHS physio's.... do not work private, they have different goals to you, they have different aims. Do everything you can to get the best physio you can afford/find.

There is probably a particular football rehab style forum somewhere as well, don't get disheartened if you do read a bad outcome, I'm entirely not going to say that everyone with a bad outcome did a poor job with rehab, but keep in mind that a lot of bad stories could be more down to poor physio/rehab advice from often crappy NHS physio's. Lazy rehab, not willing to work through the pain or dedicate yourself to getting better are also reasons for failure. Find a good physio and work hard and the outcome will be positive for most people.
 
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Not had any ACL issues or meniscus issues personally, although my left knee was playing up for quite a while and I managed to get an MRI scan booked in on the NHS after only 1 visit to the doctor.

As for people I know, I had an ex girlfriend who popped her ACL whilst skiing and she was out of action for a year I think. As far as I know she was fine to carry on playing sports after that.

Then another chap I know done his meniscus, ACL, MCL and LCL and started this diary which you might find quite insightful.

http://my-acl-diary.tumblr.com/

Best of luck with the recovery Gilly
 
I've recently (June) had my ACL reconstructed after rupturing it last August. It took the NHS 3 examinations, one x-ray, one MRI and one arthroscopy to tell me what I already knew, wasting a lot of recovery time and money in the process.

Anyway, it's not all that bad if things go well, it's just the rehabilitation process is hard. You lose a lot of muscle mass and getting it back while being careful with the knee is tedious. They have told me it will be a year until I can even think about playing football again, never mind getting to the level of fitness required to actually compete. It's amazing how the pros (Falcao) get back so quickly sometimes.
 
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