Has anyone ever torn their ACL?

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Roxy's Run

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So I got the MRI results back on my knee when I slipped on mud on March 19. It seems that I have a partial tear of my ACL, water on the knee in two places, and a badly bruised tibia. The orthopedic wants to do four weeks of physical therapy and then re-evaluate to see if surgery is needed/wanted.
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I really don't know what to think of all of this. Will physical therapy work? How horrible is the surgery? Recovery? If I don't have the surgery, how will I be say 10, 20 or 30 years from now? Has anyone been through this nightmare?
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Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures
 
My daughter tore hers and had them transplant a tendon from her leg into her knee. Im not going to kid you recovery was painful and she did 6 weeks of physical therapy. but her knee ended up good as new! I would worry that if you dont have it done now you will have to do it later?
 
Thanks KayKay. That is so great that your daughter healed up like new.
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That is what I am most worried about - later on in life. I am 38 now and I think I will heal a lot better now than say 10 or 20 years from now.

Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatues
 
I snapped mine in two. Sounded like a gun shot. I waited for a month before I finally had

arthroscopic surgery. I didn't have the tendon replacement so my knee will never be as stable as one who does. Now, I wish I would have had the tendon replacement but at the time I didn't want the longer recovery period. Too many horse shows to go too.
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But I have to say that once I had the surgery I was in no pain what so ever. I did have physical therapy for about 6 weeks. Now........18 years later my knee is doing just fine. But again, I would have the tendon replacement like Kay's daughter.
 
I had a reconstruct on my ACL. They took a tendon from my hamstring and rebuilt the ligament. I watched the video they did of it...pretty interesting.

In 91 I tore my miniscus (the cushion between the femur and the lower leg bones). Recovery was only about 3 weeks. In '98 I snapped the ligament and had it rebuilt. Recovery was crutches for a week, then down to one, and within a week of that, none. Physical therapy for about 4 -5 weeks. The requirements were being able to bend the knee to a certain degree without assistance.

According to the Ortho., people can get by without the surgery. It all depends on how active you are and how active you want to remain. I'm still very active and the only problem I really have is I can't bend that knee as much as the other. That and the arthiritis that developed.
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I had a torn miniscus, cruciate ligament, and acl back in 2003. I had orthoscopic sx and even with a permanent screw and staples, I have more use now than before. Once in a blue moon it will swell up if I've been on my feet too long. I am way older than you
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and I am glad that I had it done. Watching the movie afterwards was too cool!
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I had a partial MCL tear along with many other woes in the right knee. Since it was partial, it was just left to heal and went through PT. You normally only need surgery if the tear is total. I have to say my MCL is the strongest part of my now rebuilt knee. The rebuild is actually a total replacement, but that was caused by two meniscus tears and the subsequent wear and tear on the joint. Doc said the ligament was perfect and I have had no trouble with that part for a long time.
 
I twisted the knee on 3-21 and go for my MRI Thursday. I have been on crutches/cane now since then. Ortho doc I saw this past Monday thinks meniscus tear. Anyone had that repaired? I am 53 and not sure how well I will do afterward. On Google search lots of pros and cons about surgery. I know 2 people who had repair and it failed both times. I am leaning towards just letting it heal without surgery since I have finally got to the point where I can walk some without a cane now. Any out there that have had surgery in my age group??? I don't plan on running a marathon but would like to be able to work with my minis without worry.
 
I have a meniscus tear right now (on the other knee from the acl tear) but I am not running in for a repair. The people I have been with that have had repairs have had a quick and easy recovery with some physical therapy. Sometimes my foot will catch on something and it causes some really bad knee pain. Slowly but surely it seems to be getting better.......but I mean S L O W L Y. I am just too busy right now to get involved with surgery and I guess it just doesn't bother me enough. If I hurt it again and the pain is too great I will rethink things. Probably a stupid decision........
 
I've had mine repaired twice, on the same knee, two different tears. The surgeries both went well, recovery was easy. He 'cleaned' things up the first time, lasted almost a year before I had to have a total replacement, but I had a lot of arthritis.

Meniscus doesn't heal well since there is no blood supply to speak of, just buck up, you are in and out, it is an outpatient surgery, and you walk out. Crutches were used for security but I could walk without them in the house.

Walk in the park compared to the total replacement. I wouldn't hesitate to do the tear surgery again if I ever tear the left one. The pain goes away right away.
 
Thank you everyone. I am still waiting for approval for my Physical Therapy. Good ol' insurance companies.
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I do have to say that in the morning my knee feels like normal. No pain, stiffness, I can walk normal. But by the time I walk down to the barn and feed the horses, it starts. By the end of the day, it feels tight, heavy, and like someone shot novacaine in it. Tonight though my knee cap hurts which is new.

Suzie, I hear ya. I know just how you feel, both physically and mentally. (((HUGS))) to ya. I hope you feel better real soon. Initially, we all thought I had torn a menisicis and that didn't seem like too big of a deal. So we were all surprised when the MRI showed a torn ACL.

So for those of you who mentioned a video. You received a video of your surgery???? That would be cool! (I love all medical things. I find it so interesting. But I don't think my boyfriend or family members would be able to watch it.
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) For those who had the surgery, were you awake or under general anst?

I think I would opt for general anst.

Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures
 
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So for those of you who mentioned a video. You received a video of your surgery???? That would be cool! (I love all medical things. I find it so interesting. But I don't think my boyfriend or family members would be able to watch it.
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) For those who had the surgery, were you awake or under general anst?

I think I would opt for general anst.

Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures
No way I would do that kind of thing awake. I don't think they woud even consider it that way......but who knows these days. Just give me the cocktail and wake me when it's over. Even though I am scared to death to be put under I can't imagine anyone doing it any other way.

And yes.....the video was of the surgery. It doesn't actually show you lying on the table or anything like that. Just a camera view of the little utensil they stuck inside my knee that devoured all the ligament that needed to be removed. It was very cool......like I said......PacMan!
 
I blew out my ACL completly 2 years ago and the pain I endured the few months before I had it fixed was awful.

I don't know if anyone else had this,but I couldn't jump, at all, or my knee would literally slide over and I could fall to the ground.

Also I would be walking and every once in a while it would slide over and I would be down for the count again. It really wasn't fun. My knee was so unstable that I was scared to walk anywhere.

Had to repaired and within 4 hours I could stand on it and it just felt right again.

2 years later I still won't jump off really high things, and I still have some pain but for the most part I am good as new!!!

Get it repaired. Recovery isn't that bad at all. I also reccomend the machine that moves your leg for you. I have a picture of me in it if you would like but it help out SOOOOO much with the stiffness and all.
 
I just love to hear all these success stories. Most of the time all you hear are the failures-it gets scary.

Linda- good luck to you too. Just hearing about the recovery period being short makes me feel better. When I went to the barn this morning to look at a new foal, my knee just totally buckled on me-horrible pain. I almost immediately changed my mind about surgery. I just can't handle too many more of those events. :DOH! And I still have 6 more mares to go. Thank God my mares so far have been able to do it without me.
 
Image kicked me in June 06 and completely blew out my ACL and tore my MCL. The circulation to the MCL is far better than the ACL and it can repair. The ACL cant. I still need to have surgery. There was too much swelling at first for them to do it, then came nationals on crutches with a brace, then we had a baby , rather my daughter did then I got busy with the business, now Im here in Germany and should still get it fixed. I wear a mechanical brace almost all the time. My knee will bend backwards like a flamingo if Im not careful. I will have the surgery eventually but the "stuf" I drink daily has kept the swelling and pain down.

Get the surgery done, you will feel much better in the long run. I plan to make time sometime this year.

Lyn
 
Well, I start my physical therapy tomorrow. I sure hope this helps. I will give this a try but I am seriously considering the surgery to get it fixed and over with.

Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures
 
I was awake for the first surgery. It was kind of cool to see it all going down. The weirdest part was seeing them yank this leg around that "looked" like it was attached to me but I couldn't feel a thing.
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I wanted to be awake for the full rebuild but the "cocktail" didn't kick in enough. The first thing the surgeon did when they wheeled me into the OR was rub a sharp instrument up my foot. I wiggled my toes so they had to put me out. :DOH! RATS!!!!
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The video is cool to watch. There isn't any blood, just looks kind of like a space or underwater movie with little floaty things all over, this silver instrument taking chunks out of things.
 
Well, my first physical therapy session got changed from today to Tuesday at 1 pm.
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Oh well.

I still think I will opt for general ansth. if it comes to surgery. I don't handle paint too well. I also don't have a problem watching or paticipating in "medical procedures" on animals or other humans, but myself, NAH UH, no way.

I've seen arthroscopic surgery on horses for OCD's so I would think it would be about the same. I still think a video is a cool idea though.
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Linda

Roxy's Run Miniatures
 

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