Glen AtwellA hypothetical guide to knee reconstructions...
August 14th 2006 03:28
From whoa! to go! A hold-your-hand guide to a common sporting injury - the dreaded knee reco!
You’re blazing across the Telstra Dome turf. Adrenaline surges through your body as you gather the loose ball and prepare to kick long into attack. You take a bounce, soon another, then, like so many times before, drop the ball onto your boot. But a moment before contact is made a bone-crunching tackle forces you sideways.
Your body snaps towards the ground, but your left leg remains firm. Plummeting towards the grass, tension skyrockets in your left knee. You fall further, but the studs in your boot hold firm.
‘POP’ – The stress vanishes. Your left knee buckles under the weight of your body. The anterior cruciate ligament that separates your tibia and femur bones has just ruptured… Audibly.
The crowd descends into silence as you writhe in pain. The game is halted; a doctor shoves a morphine whistle into your mouth and helps coax your body onto a stretcher. It must be bad – even the opposition supporters are cheering you from the ground.
So, you’ve ruptured your ACL? Don’t despair; there are plenty of options.
1. Retire from the game.
2. Have reconstruction surgery.
You’re only how old? Be optimistic! The younger you are the greater chance you have of recovering from surgery without complication and being a spring chicken also decreases your chances of contracting osteoarthritis.
The first few days after the injury are amongst the most debilitating. Pain and swelling seem endless, as days and nights blur into a 24-hour clock of agony. Remember PRICE.
Protect:
Guard your knee with your life, prevent any further trauma.
Rest:
Unless you’re going to see a medial practitioner, stay off your feet.
Ice:
Give your ruptured ligament a gift.
Compression:
Firm bandaging can prevent and relieve swelling.
Elevation:
Keep your knee above your heart.
Don’t forget HEAT either!
Heat:
Keep the knee cool. Heat therapy comes much, much later.
Exertion:
Try to keep your heart rate down.
Alcohol:
Let’s not get too technical, but stay away from the booze!
Testing:
Restrain yourself from discovering ‘how bad’ it is, you’ll soon find out!
So, you’ve reached rock-bottom. For the moment, your football career is on hold, the media coverage has vanished and you’re left to face the consequence of pursuing a risk versus reward sport. But don’t worry, it gets worse.
Come back tomorrow to discover that your ACL is not the only ligament damaged and start the lengthy diagnosis process!
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Comment by jon
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Comment by Anonymous
i think its something like only 20% play more than 100 games...???
AFL players train between 1000-1400 hours a year and take more than 600 collisions over a four year period... so serious injuries will occur. the speed of the game is a worry.
But is soccer safer? surely ACL injuries etc are almost in bad in soccer? those guys change direction about as much as AFL players?
Any soccer fans want to comment?
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Anonymous
Recently dislocating my own knee and tearing my left medial ligament, I know the exact pain and agony which so few of us experience.
The point of pain, follwed by your leg feeling as heavy as lead, to the point of shock where nothing hurts anymore you body juts in shock, but no tears.
The onset of ambulances rides, hospital admissions, crutches, pain killers, x-rays, bandanges and physio is only the beginning.
However being told by the nurse I had done the same injury of many footballers like this one, and that childbirth would be easy from now on... i never thought i'd ever say this but i'd rather childbirth than a knee injury any day.
Comment by jon
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Comment by Anonymous
on the same court three weeks later someone collided with me in the air and fell on their neck awkwardly and when we left the person was in a neck brace sucking a pain-whistle.
i ended up stopping playing, netball is dangerous. never seen an ACL injury tho.
Comment by jon
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Comment by Anonymous
it's not as good as the IV stuff, that is delivered into the blood within 3-5 seconds, but the whistles take the edge off any serious trauma.
used a lot in patient transport these days, because the amount of morphine can easily be regulated by the attending medic.
im not a junkie i just know about them. matt mcguire from st kilda used one when he broke his leg. notice how as soon as he got going on it he started waving to the crowd etc?
good ol' morphine!
Comment by Glen Atwell
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Has anyone out there had a knee reconstruction? Care to share?
Comment by Anonymous
i twisted my knee on landing so bad i cracked my fibula,completely tore my acl,partially tore my medial meniscus and have torn cartilage throughout my knee.the guys on the sideline said the screams coming out of me were spine chilling!!!
Had to wait 6 weeks for the sweeling to go down to get a full diagnosis.
I just wanna get the op over and done with and get on the road to recovery!!!
Comment by Glen Atwell
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Wow! Thanks for sharing your trauma... I mean story!
How did it happen? Sounds like sport?
I havn't heard of cracking a fibula during an ACL rupture. I imagine it would make things a little more complicated during recovery and pre-op physio.
I'm three weeks post-op ACL/medial meniscus surgery, so if you have any questions or doubts just post them on Sport Talk!
Good luck and hope to see you again on Sport Talk soon!
Comment by Anonymous
I went up for a reception and got hit early in the back and as i landed my my knee twisted and just as i planted
my leg i got tackled.The guys helmet hit me on the fibula and as my knee was already twisting and planted it just blew
it straight through if you know what i mean?
it was the most horrible pain i could ever imagine
Comment by Anonymous
Comment by Glen Atwell
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Welcome to Sport Talk.
Interesting question... To help answer, I need some more information.
What graft is being used?
What date are you flying? Big difference between say 23 December and 27 December.
Post some more info up and we'll try to help!
Don't be scared to talk about how everything happened and how you are feeling!
Comment by Anonymous
so playing lots of sports could have contributed to this happening, but the actual pop came during a soccer game, when the ball was at the other end of the field... lesson? don't think it's just a contact injury.
Comment by Anonymous
I have already had 2 knee constructiosn and may need yet another one. I must tell everyone out there that I had lots of time between my recos, and although the two I have had on are the same knee, they are totally un-related. I went back to playing competitive basketball and netball for 4 years until unexpected contact caused it to go again. This time 3 years later i have hurt the other knee due to an unexpected hip-and-shouldered (Aussies wil know what I mean) on the netball court and appear to have bounced off the guy and my knee was the first place my body bent sideways. I am able to hperextend all my ligaments, which does make the normal seem unsusal for me.
For the first two I have had hamstring tendons used, but as I dont have anymore to donate to the cause, wondering if anyone out there has had the patella tendon graft and what their experiences are/were. Ie is the knee cap stable and all that jazz.
If anyone wanted advice on recos, just make sure you listen and trust your physio, doc adn surgeon and dont listen to anyone else. And make sure you work really hard to get your body back in tothe best condition you can!
Comment by Glen Atwell
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I had a patella tendon grafted (I've only had one reco) and I've had no real troubles to date.
The only real pain in the bum (especially for potential mothers) is the inability to kneel down comfortably (even two years after surgery).
The knee cap is stable, and provided you do some good strenghtening before and after the op (stationary bike and elliptical cross trainer) you'll be right.
I haven't gone back to competitive sport, I only played socially (mixed netball) so I don't think it's worth the risk. I'll stick to tennis and running in a straight line!
Hope your next reco goes well. Feel free to post on here! I'll keep writing back
Glen
Comment by Anonymous
Im two weeks post ACL reco...did it playing Aussie Rules.
For those that have been through it all before can you please let me know at what point you could swim, cycle and run?
Also - how long before i can walk without any discomfort?
Thanks
Comment by Glen Atwell
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Don't overdo it! That's probably the best advice I can give you.
Stationary cycling is probably the first achievable goal, but don't even consider it for at least another two or three weeks.
Swimming could happen two or three months post op, and running probably four. It's all about how you feel.
Initially, learn to walk with your brace on, and just let the graft settle. Given that total healing takes over 12 months, most likely 18, you certainly don't want to push it.
I'm two years post op, and still have some slight discomfort every now and again.
You'll be back playing football within a year, but only if you respect the injury and the graft in the first six months.
Comment by Anonymous
I have had my third reco now and the patella graft seems to be the best one I've had so far (given its only been 13days I can't exactly confirm this) I had no pain at all after the surgery which has helped me get back to work etc very early on.
TO the latest guy with the reco questions, take Glen's advise (and mine) and dont over do it. You may get back to the pool a couple of weeks after the op, but you can't do lap swimming for months. You try to walk better without the brace, bend you knee, do squats, a bit of strength work on your legs etc. And doing all this in the water helps to take the weight off it.
BUT you must NOT kick you leg. As my surgeon said - no open chain work. which means, dont do exercises where the foot it not grounded so you dont get any side-way movement of your foot which can stuff the graft.
Comment by Anonymous
Its sounds as if I just need to be patient - something that doesnt come easily to me. It also looks as though im going to be losing a fair bit of fitness over the next few months - at least pre-op I was swimming (will a pull bouy).
For those of you involved in kicking sports - how have you found kicking a football/soccer ball goes when you return to the game?
Thanks again.
Comment by Anonymous
You will get quite unfit in the first couple of months of the rehab, but just make sure you work hard on the things the physio tells you to do.Once you have full knee motion, you should be able to run in the water (in the deep end where you can't touch the bottom) which does help with the fitness levels. My physio has a hydro pool which you attach a rope around your waist which means you aren't actually moving along the pool but just running in the same spot.