Arthroscopic Knee Surgery?

[Shaolin]

I hurt my knee in Kamloops during a soccer tournament over August Long Weekend.. I was running on a through ball at full speed, saw a defender come in on the right at good pace.. so I tried to stop with my right leg, and do a back heel dribble to the right. Well, as I planted my right foot, my cleats caught the ground.. in that instant i hear a pop, and all I know was that I was on the ground and it hurt like a bitch.

I went to Physio twice a week since I got back, and just saw a specialist last friday..

I'm just wondering if anyone here ever hurt their ACL.. I have to see the specialist again September 3rd to figure a course of action. He's positive it's the ACL, there were no evidence of fracture or anything. Only thing we don't know is whether it's ripped, half ripped, or just just strained.

Anyways, worst comes to worst, I'll have to have surgery.. but I'm just wondering if anyone here had surgery on their ACL, and how was the recovery?

Also, if you play soccer, I'd definitely like to hear from you..

thanx.

[CSMRX7]

Recovery really depends on if the tair is partial or not.

I have done both, and the full tair was much worse, it took about 8 weeks of heaving physio to get back to normal and 12 weeks before I was competitve in football again.

[xrayvsn]

Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tears are fairly pretty common sports injuries. They can also often be associated with meniscal injuries, (the cartilagenous disc that helps cushion your knees), as well as tears of the medial collateral ligament.

Physical examination in experienced hands can usually tell if you have a complete ACL tear, though incomplete tears are more tough to sort out. Sometimes, an MRI can help resolve these questions, and give you information on the other injuries, including if there are any meniscal injuries, and how bad they are.

For diagnostic purposes, some surgeons prefer to visualize the knee directly by arthroscopy. This means that you get put to sleep while the surgeon puts a camera into a couple of small incisions in your knee. They can tell if there is a tear in your ACL or PCL, parts of the menisci, and if there are any loose bodies. Depending on what they see on arthroscopy, they may decide to clean things up if you have a meniscal tear. If you have a complete ACL tear, then you're going to need a reconstruction of your ACL.

This means that the surgeon will take a donor piece of ligament - usually from your patellar ligament, and graft it in place of your torn ACL. Recovery takes some time at least 6 weeks, as you need to form new bone around the graft site, slowly strengthen your leg, and improve your range of motion.

[NickGT]

Hey Henry,

I'm not sure if what happened to me is the same as you. I can't recall exactly what the correct medical teminology was, but I was told I partially tore the ligament in my right knee when i was younger, playing hockey. I wore a splint for a couple months, did physio, and kept playing. It feels just as strong.

[Shaolin]

yeah, we'll see how it goes in a couple of weeks

[thebracko]

My gf tore her ACL in high school playing rugby. She's had two surgeries and is going in tommorow for a cortazone(sp?) shot. It's been a major PIA for her.

[Shaolin]

well, got my report from the specialist for the MRI.. I'm going in for surgery.. the ACL is gone, and there's a partial tear to a meniscus and i guess a piece of the meniscus is in my joint (hence the reason why i can't straight the leg out)..

greeeeeat

[B17a]

Ouch, sorry to hear. The ACL is a bitch, but surgery's nowadays are pretty good. The main thing is to do full rehab and really strengthen the muscles aroudn it, particularly quads and hamstrings. I've been there done that, it's a long road but be thankful you're still young and can recover.

[Shaolin]

alright, i'm going in on wednesday.. for people who got it done, can you walk or are you out of commission for a couple of days?

[B17a]

Originally posted by Shaolin
alright, i'm going in on wednesday.. for people who got it done, can you walk or are you out of commission for a couple of days?

Who's doing your surgery?

IF it it just a scope than you will be on crutches for a few days to a few weeks depedning on how well you recover. If its a full reconstruction you'll be immobailized for a few weeks. Probably just a scope though for now.

[Shaolin]

yeah they're just doing the scoping.. it's actually next wednesday my bad..

I think Dr. Hiemstra is doing my surgery.. she's the one i saw at U of C's SMC center.. they're doing the scoping next wednesday.. they have to cut a piece of my meniscus out because right now there's a piece stuck in the joint so I don't have full motion in my right leg.. and after that they're going to see that the ACL is actually full blown and if that happens then I'll be doing recon afterwards..

so maybe a few days huh? that's not that bad i guess.

[voodoo]

i had a completly torn ACl in my left knee, and some torn minicus stuck in my joint like you did. this was 2 yrs ago, it took about a year to finally get the go ahead from the doctor to play soccer again (start with outdoor NOT indoor).

well my first game back (a few months ago) i was about 10 mins from full time, when some fucker clipped my legs and i torn my right ACL and minicus. i go in for surgery on Jan 25th.. it really sucks let me tell you, but with the knee brace on my left knee feels just as strong as it ever did.

[Shaolin]

yeah i'm the assistant coach of my team now because I can't play.. we have a couple guys in the medical industry and they said the same thing.

so with the brace you don't feel any different eh? that's good to hear because I thought it might mess me up a bit when I get back to it again.

[xrayvsn]

Have they talked to you yet about the ACL reconstruction? Is this going to be a diagnostic scope + debridement of the torn meniscus, or is the surgeon going to do the ACL reconstruction along with it, in one go?

The ACL reconstruction is going to put you out of action in a brace for longer, obviously. Overall recovery can be up to a year for your body to strengthen the ACL graft, since they typically will use the central 1/3 of your patellar tendon.

Having the brace will also help your body relearn your joint position, since the graft won't have the nerve endings your native ACL has. Having a brace gives you extra sensation around the joint, and gives you a bit more support, even after you're healed. Good luck with your surgery!

[Shaolin]

they haven't talked to me about the recon yet.. they said they'll check it out next wednesday during the scoping, and then they'll decide from there what they're going to do..

when i was there i notice there was this picture where it looks like they put on a fake knee for you.. it looks like they drill a couple notches in your knee and then stick it in and it acts like an ACL or somethin like that.. you know what i'm talking about? if so, do you know what that's for?

[~Leah~]

Ouch, that sounds super painful... I actually had a guy partially tear his ACL when I was reffing basketball on Monday. I dunno about the surgery cuz I've never had it... but good luck with everything. I know how extremely painful it can be.

But just a side not... if it was a full tear of the ligament... your tibia would be able to be pushed up higher than your knee... because what the ACL does is attach the back part of the femur to the front part of the tibia... therefore when it rips... its very easy to tell. But yeah, the whole partial tear or just a strain is hard to figure out.

Take it easy bud

[B17a]

Originally posted by Shaolin
they haven't talked to me about the recon yet.. they said they'll check it out next wednesday during the scoping, and then they'll decide from there what they're going to do..

when i was there i notice there was this picture where it looks like they put on a fake knee for you.. it looks like they drill a couple notches in your knee and then stick it in and it acts like an ACL or somethin like that.. you know what i'm talking about? if so, do you know what that's for?

No ACL reconstruction is where they open you up, if you notice people with about an 8" scar down the front of their knees, that's the end result. They usually take part of your patella tendon and turn that into a new ACL.

[xrayvsn]

Basically, they'll take a piece of your patellar tendon, and a small chunk of the bone its connected to. They also drill a hole into the front of your tibia, and with your knee flexed about 90 degrees, continue drilling up into your distal femur, between the two bumps (called condyles).

They then thread the patellar tendon graft + cylinder of bone at each end into the hole they just drilled, and secure them with small pins/staples at the femur side, and a screw on the tibial side.

I don't know if what you saw was a model of a total knee arthroplasty, which is something different. If it has rounded metallic condyles, then its an arthroplasty, and not what you may have done (if they decide to do it).

[Chester]

I partially tore my ACL when I was younger and played soccer and I still have to do something about it. All I know is, it hurts like a bitch.

[~Leah~]

Here's a picture of my lecture notes from anatomy... shows a pic of ACL reconstruction and the meniscus... maybe give people a better visual...