Thread: Blown ACL

Well I had an MRI this morning at the Mater Private in Brisbane, aparently it the best machine of that type in QLD for image density.

My radiographer confirmed the bad news, 100% torn ACL in the left knee. Now it's time to book some surgery and get the bastard fixed with a knee reconstruction.

I'd like to hear of possible from members who know about the surgery or even who have had it done to them selves before. What kind of time period after the surgery am I useless as in leg up.. and all the nasty details.

My surgeon says body building and general gym work should not be too much of a problem because it's very liner or that it's straight movement, the problem comes when you want to change direction, I will have zero stability and fall over.

Have a look at some the most expensive pictures I have ever paid for.

Regards

Ded xD

I feel for you.

Had 2 operations on my left knee.

A full reconstruction and a clean out for a tear in the meniscus.

It's a long road to recovery. Be patient, I recovered quicker than usual for the reconstruction - I was running well by 6 months - got overconfident around the 10 month mark while playing touch; that's when I had my clean out of my knee.

Grab a good surgeon and it's well worth the $$$

I see you're in QLD, so I can't really recommend my surgeon but guys who are in the Sydney area, Dr. Waller is a fantastic surgeon.

Grab a good physio too and most important of all... take your time, frustrating at times but it's far more frustrating to have another operation!

Oh btw, recovery is about 12 months.

No more open chain leg exercises as well (ie. leg extensions) and you'll also lose a fair amount of muscle... in about 3-4 weeks lost about 3 inches off my quad.

Good thing my legs are excellent responders to training - though admittedly my left quad has only just caught up with my right.

The quicker you get this fixed, the sooner you can begin your recovery.

Best of luck mate.

Sorry to hear the bad news.

I did my first ACL back in 2005 and got the full reco done, was walking without crutches after about 2 wks and jogging on it after 4mths, was back playing Aussie Rules in 9mths, which really surprised the surgeon and physio, but they both gave me the all clear to play.

So played for the last 6 games of the 2006 season, then did a full pre season and the same knee went again in 2007 in round 3.

Thought this was time to give the game away as much as it hurts not to be playing.

Anyways, I still havent got a knee reco and have no problems in the gym at all doing any exercise, still run, mountain bike, golf, cricket etc etc, just no sports where quick change of direction is required.

If you want any more info let me know.

Cheers

Zam

Usually with ACL/PCL injuries it's a 5-6 month recovery period,
but everyone is different... Bad news mate, ouch.

How's the MRI noise by the way, thump, thump, thump, thump!

Best of luck Ded...

hey mate,

My dad did his left ACL a while ago playing basketball (before it was keyhole) and it took a long road to recovery. Did his right ACL in 2007 playing AFL in my muck around team and his recovery was suprisingly quick at <4months. He was really impressed considering the hell he went through with his first reconstruction.

I can grab the name of his surgeon if you would like? It's on the Gold Coast.

Can I ask how you did it??

Sorry to hear

Very sorry to hear this news Ded. I hope it all goes well for you.

T2

ACL huh - you sure did a good job of it.

Add me to the list of knee reco patients! My left one too.

Basically I had it for years - busted it playing basketball (long story, was filling in to help out - my name wasnt on the sheet as a player, no insurance. Lesson (a hard one) learnt).

Didnt have the $$$ to get it done - so had a bung knee for years.

As you've mentioned - its fine if you don't wanna run on it. Even so I had many blow outs over the years and finally got it fixed 2 years ago.

Hell of a recovery time for me (but remember I had it for a lot of years). If you go and get it done basically straight after the injury your recovery is much better.

Really sorry to hear it Ded but at least you know what you are up against.

My advice is to get the strength up in it NOW as best as possible before you have the op.

Oh recovery time is a bitch. Leg in an ankle to thigh splint for 6-8 weeks, with crutches. Physio a couple of times a week. Lost heaps of size and strength in that leg but it does come back.

PM me if you want my surgeons details Ded - here in Brissy. Operates at St Andrews Hospital.

Shit mate, bad news, what did you do?
We should get together and get on the piss before christmas, It night not help but could take your mind off it.

Thanks for kind words guys.

A nice long road to recovery, but i'm not in bad spirits about it, these things happen, I can't be to cranky as I was an idiot and did it to my self, see the how this happened story next.

Thanks for the offers on quacks, I do have one, who is supposed to be good, a mate of mine is married to a orthopedic nurse and has a few connections.

I won't have the surgery immediately as I will need to plan some time off work as well and now selling my motorbike is a deffinate. I suppose I get to have some holidays soon :-)

I'm not sure if I have posted this yet but how this happened .. I was on Koh Phi Phi in Thailand, I had been partying all day with my beautiful wife and some new made friends and I was well the idiot of the party. We went down to the beach for the half moon party where they have the 20 fire skipping rope and hoops of fire on the beach. So yeh I decided to jump the fire rope and go through the hoops.. bloody idiot. Lost my footing on the sand and 100kg of beef was put on an angle that was never made to be. The story continues.. We made it back to the small hotel we were staying in, and I covered in sand and water relised I had forgot my $120 Colerado slipon sandles . So I have a shower, fall over in the shower through the saftey glass cut my hand up. So I tie that up.. get dressed and against the orders of my better half I hop back to the beach some .. 800 meters.. through the crowd of approx 1500 half moon party people, and yes I had to get another bucket drink.. I found my shoes just were I had left them.. had a chat to some nice guys from Brazil who found my face down on the street about 1/2 an hour later, as I had fallen again and the pain was unbearable, these nice fellows carried me the rest of the way home.. Wifey was not impressed. The next week and a half in Thailand was lived at a slower pace. didn't miss the AFL grandfinal at the Aussie Bar in Patong and still enjoyed my time.

SILLY IDIOT!

the amount of injuries that comes out of that place is staggering. I had a mate who broke his collar bone, and mate who broke his arm, a mates girlfriend who broke her foot and my girl got a really deep burn on her leg, and then spent 5 days in hospital with food poisoning.

Its a death trap..... but great fun.

good luck on the recovery mate. Play by the rules, don't try to "come back early" and listen to the specialists.

owwwwwwww that sounds so painful! you have my sympathy!
awesome pics of your knee tho. ;)

Ded thats an awesome story. Im sorry you have hurt your knee but hell you had fun doing it. Makes it just a tad worthwhile.

Cross ya fingers for me, I might be lucky enough to get surgery at the Mater Sports Medicine Facility in March for free with my private surgeon. I got letters of referal from my GP then a Knee specialist and letter from a surgeon and finally a letter from the OH&S guy at work.

If I went private I'd still have to fork out around $2K.. + Rehab.. this way it will be all paid for..