I have never tore one myself but had many mates who have. One just had surgery. He had 5 weeks off work and is walking around on his leg now. Although he can't run or put any amount of heavy pressure on it I'm amazed how fast he is recovering.

If it needs surgery, which it sounds like it does, then that's not a real drama, give it 6 months and she'll be back in the water. From my understanding of doesn't take alot to tear if you catch them right. My mother in-law tore her's playing 10 pin balling, when down to release the ball and her leg just gave away from under her and it was all over.
She on the other hand has never had surgery, she just avoids lateral movement and she's fine. I had a mate play out the rest of his football season with a torn ACL by using the same method, would only run in straight lines. I myself would opt for surgery however.

Simondo how long did your wife rest her knee for - she is keen to get back on it again, she also competes with the horses and she's got a big show in 3 weeks - I keep telling her to stop but she's starting to climb the walls ..... we've got another appointment with a Sports specialist on Thursday ..

I thought you were just joking about the divorce part... Sorry

jas

I've done both ACL's the last one 3 or 4 years ago i started sup as a recovery measure(flat water only).

If she has only torn it she may be able to recover, if its ruptured it she's toast .it takes about a year to recover after a reconstruction.

When mine was gone and before the op i would just collapse in a heap when ever i turned my knee the wrong way. i had booked a snowboarding family holiday to boot, what i did was i invested in a good quality carbon fibre brace it this allowed me to snowboard with the kids and surf while waiting for the reco. i also used it extensively during the recovery and still use it today on my dirtbike.

Hope it works out
Andrew

I'm currently out of the surf with a Grade 2 MCL tear and have torn my PCL in the past. It sounds like she doesn't have a complete tear, so it should pull up ok in time, with the right care. For my MCL injury I'm looking at around 3 months, which pretty simply is how long it takes for the fibres of the ligament to regrow (at a minimum). ACL and PCL you're probably looking at a bit more.

Most important thing, see a good specialist and follow their advice to a tee. As with my knee, one big part is going to be that she shouldn't be loading up that ligament until it's repaired. Keep on loading it up heavily and it'll end up being "sloppy". If that means no surf, no riding horses etc for three months, then so be it. It's better that having a sh&t knee for the rest of your life! It'll drive her nuts I'm sure, but there's always something else you can do.

If you like, I'll pass you the details for my sports physio back in brisbane. I've been through many physios before and no one has even come close to how good this bloke is. Really knows this stuff inside out, very focussed on getting you up and running again quickly, and no BS. I happily make the drive back there from the coast whenever I'm in need. I've had some simply awesome recoveries from serious injuries working with this bloke.

Sh1t it must be in the air ,my wife is off to get an MRI.Stepped of the the sup in shallow water fell over staight away i laughed thought it was the funniest thing i'd ever seen her do.That was until she came up swearing,then i knew something was up because she doesn't swear.So now i'm the house bitch,nannie,nurse,cook, and washerwoman.hahha,

Thanks Jas,everythings cool sounds like youv'e got way more bitch duties than me, haha

jasdeking said...

rodriguez said...

Sh1t it must be in the air ,my wife is off to get an MRI.Stepped of the the sup in shallow water fell over staight away i laughed thought it was the funniest thing i'd ever seen her do.That was until she came up swearing,then i knew something was up because she doesn't swear.So now i'm the house bitch,nannie,nurse,cook, and washerwoman.hahha,

oh know hope its ok for her

i also am all the above plus the bloody stable hand ... have to muk stables and be nice to the horse :( more like a big dog

rodriguez said...

Thanks Jas,everythings cool sounds like youv'e got way more bitch duties than me, haha

jasdeking said...

rodriguez said...

Sh1t it must be in the air ,my wife is off to get an MRI.Stepped of the the sup in shallow water fell over staight away i laughed thought it was the funniest thing i'd ever seen her do.That was until she came up swearing,then i knew something was up because she doesn't swear.So now i'm the house bitch,nannie,nurse,cook, and washerwoman.hahha,

oh know hope its ok for her

i also am all the above plus the bloody stable hand ... have to muk stables and be nice to the horse :( more like a big dog

believe it brother killing me btw who you callin bitch....bitch

i have had ACL reconstructions on both knees, one in 2001 and one in October last year. i have also had an arthroscope for a 'scrape' clean up on the meniscus in the one done 10 years ago, which gave a great result but is minor stuff (i walked out of the hospital 5 hours post surgery) compared to an ACL reco. so with the benefit of these 'experiences', i offer some advice or reassurance.

i was really reluctant to get the reco done last year because of the intense pain and long rehab i had following the 2001 rebuild. man, it was nasty and i was not looking forward to a return to that. but the MRI showed a 'disrupted' acl, medial meniscus damage etc.....generally it was a mess. but thats what happens when you fall off a roof at 3 in the morning, drinking scotch with Masai in Tanzania right?! long story.

the surgeon i saw (sports medicine specialist in Perth dealing with elite athletes..... and the plebs like myself) told me straight up that if i didn't have the acl graft, my knee would remain unstable and continually grind away on the meniscus. i would be arthritic and need artificial knees within a decade. at 42, thats not really something you want to entertain.

so i said to him, 'if i get you to do this, will my outcome be better than last time' and he quietly told me 'yes, he was sure as he had done a lot of knee operations.' so i asked how many and it turned out to be 6000 acl reconstructions and 16000 knee surgeries!!!! i guess that confidence comes with experience, but the outcome was i had a great result, pain was moderate (and those prescription opiates are really nice!!), my physical recovery was measured in weeks not months and now i am so pleased that i got it sorted early.

i was walking without crutches after a week or a stick within 10 days and back at my office job two weeks later. surgeon gave me the green light for SUP after 6 weeks, his only concerns were the 'transitions' from water to beach etc. so i was (and remain) very careful. he and my physio were familiar with the sport and both said it was great for prioperception which is about retraining nerves and muscles and they use a balance board to do the same thing, just SUP is way more fun and exercises a lot more muscle groups.

so post op, get on the stationary bike, get back paddling once you get the all clear and work on the rehab, but don't delay surgery if you want healthy joints later in life. they will just need more work later on and it just gets harder to deal with the healing.

must say that the technology in the surgical procedure has advanced but the important thing is to get a surgeon that specialises in knees, preferably those of elite athletes such as the AFL or NRL players etc, and benefit from that knowledge.

good luck and hope that all the 'broken ones' get back on the water ASAP!

With numbers like 6,000 + 16,000 he's up there with elite board shaper counts.... I'm sure a guy like Al Merrick racked up roughly that number of boards, before switching over to shaping machines.

Got into the specialist today.

now remember the radiologist says torn acl and torn mcl

the specialist finishes scribbling notes looks up and says..." well this injury is no big deal. you have strained the mcl go see the physio wear a brace for a few weeks and you're fine."

i ask...what about the torn acl? he says the radiologist was completely wrong there is no tear!

amazing how they can get it sooo wrong.

thanks for all your advise crew...really appreciate it.

oh no more mucking out stables for me :) back to the surf!

rodriguez said...

Hey stable bitch,thats good news,keep your fingers crossed for my babe going in march 30th. I'm hoping for some of the good news you got,hope your lady gets well soon.

jasdeking said...

Got into the specialist today.

now remember the radiologist says torn acl and torn mcl

the specialist finishes scribbling notes looks up and says..." well this injury is no big deal. you have strained the mcl go see the physio wear a brace for a few weeks and you're fine."

i ask...what about the torn acl? he says the radiologist was completely wrong there is no tear!

amazing how they can get it sooo wrong.

thanks for all your advise crew...really appreciate it.

oh no more mucking out stables for me :) back to the surf!

i have learnt...... get her on a good solid brace from the physio now...at least its stable and wont allow any more damage while you wait for the docs......hope all is good for everyone and knees stay off the forum forever :)

super cool

jasdeking said...

well 6 weeks later and today shes catching piles of small waves at noosa...no pain

hope all your injuries heal as well.....thanks for all the advise
j

rodriguez said...

super cool

jasdeking said...

well 6 weeks later and today shes catching piles of small waves at noosa...no pain

hope all your injuries heal as well.....thanks for all the advise
j

how did things go for your wifes knee?

rodriguez said...

Hi Jas,thanks for asking.We saw the specialist last wednesday and were booked in for the op in 3 weeks time .The mri showed meniscal damage was extensive plus some floating bone.The specialist made it pretty clear it's going to a long and somewhat painful recovery. So it looks like i'm locked in to the bitch duties for a little longer yet.

jasdeking said...

rodriguez said...

super cool

jasdeking said...

well 6 weeks later and today shes catching piles of small waves at noosa...no pain

hope all your injuries heal as well.....thanks for all the advise
j

how did things go for your wifes knee?

holy crap man that sucks she really did a number on it hey.....not the answer you wanted....hope it heals fast and strong.