Hey dudes,
I posted a while back after getting diagnosed with a complete tear of the acl, wondering if I should just rehab or go with the surgery.
Well after a visit to a specialist/surgeon he confirmed the tear but seems to think it was an old injury and the new injury was a tear on the inner knee. which was consistent with the bone bruising shown on the MRI etc...
Now I did suffer a game stopping, loud pop, knee injury about 18 years ago wake boarding, no MRI, just an X-ray and no diagnosis.. Bed ridden for two weeks and a looooong time getting anywhere back to normal...never did really but still hasn't stopped me doing snow seasons, kiting, surfing, skating etc...
Sorry for the long story but I've been on the list for an ACL recon for the past nine months and its come around for mid September... My dilemma is do I take the opportunity to get it fixed incase it comes back to haunt me later or just keep doing what I'm doing and hope for the best... If I can't stay active into the second innings (I'm 40 in dec, two kids, one on the way) ill probably turn into a full blown alcoholic...
It hasn't stopped me till now but will it deteriorate if I don't get it done, basically thats the advice I'm after or anyones experiences with surgery or giving it a miss themselves...
Thanks again...
I gave it a miss 24 years ago when I was still stupid enough to be skating at 21 & got a minicus tear...I wasn't bed ridden, just hobbling around for a few weeks. I'd think yep can walk fine now, go for a surf, land a floater & bang. Out of the surf for a few more weeks. Repeated that for about 9 months. Lived on Filburn st Scarbrough & was going crazy hearing how good the surf had been that day.....I got myself well away from the surf, first Kalamunda, then Kattanning. Took up the guitar & drank a lot of beer. After about 18 months of doing heaps of walking around to mates places to jam & get on the piss I felt it should be ok. Moved to Marg's & got back into surfing. I'd learnt I had to not go for free fall floaters & not step down off heights onto my right leg. Have also developed a safety mechanism to spontaneously collapse if I feel my knee going sideways.
But mine wasn't an ACL & I was in my early 20's making recovery a lot easier. I'd get a few opinions from medical professional's/specialists. I've heard a lot of good things about the rate of recovery these days. But of course is depends on the extent of the damage...all the best mate & hey why not get a homebrew setup going anyway. I'm sure it would pay for itself anyway. Price of beer these days is bloody ridiculous. Just get kegs, don't fark around washing bottles, way too much stuffing around.
The repair/not repair is a lively debate in the medical game.
There is an intersting blog on the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) web site titled 'do all acl's need repair.'
Search it up and listen to it. about 20 minutes.
Repair it.
You have a crap unstable knee that will going if you do the things you want and the long term wear and tear will bring a knee replacement way closer.
A repair will stabilise the joint (you will still have a dodgy knee) but keep you in the game for longer with the kids and the other stuff you love. Plus you won't keep reinjuring it. Time out of the water now is a long term investment that will pay off.
seems a no brainer to me.
I snapped my ACL surfing 7/8 yrs ago....Painful and scary experience. Had it repaired by using a hamstring graft....After some rehab on a bike & flat beach walking, my knee is good as gold..
I partially tore my ACL about 2weeks prior doing some stupid ****.
I was on a waiting list for 9 months for the op.
Get it fixed, you wont regret it, Cheers
