ACL Questionnaire

I'll be 4 months out tomorrow. I'm 28 and had the hamstring autograft and a little meniscus damage cleaned up. I still have some soreness after jogging, but that's about it. I don't have any soreness or swelling after lifting at the gym. I have a strength test thursday on an isokinetic machine. If my bad leg is 85% the strength of the good one the surgeon said he will release me for full activity. Hopefully I'll pass the strength test because I'm planning on leaving for a snowboarding trip thursday night.

Man .... I am right under 5 months and feel about the same as you only I get extremely stiff after any hard exercise. Hurts to jump or run fast. My bad leg feels about 75% of the other but looks like is it seriously smaller. I have been working fairly hard doing legs like 3 times a week. Am I working it to hard I wonder?

8 days out. I used my last pain meds and went to class for the first time yesterday, it went ok but very uncomfortable in class. I went to pt yesterday and progressed alot. Got my flexation to 78 degrees and have my quad pretty strong. I had to do my first hamstring curls and other hamstring work yesterday. Went ok but was very painful. I was also out and about yesterday for the first time going out to eat and going to look for a v-day present. Today i wake up really early just like every fricken day since surgery and was in immense pain. have been in pain all day and had to go to class which was terrible. did i overwork it or am i just having one of those days that sucks just for no real reason. i already had one of those with a scare of an infection and had to go to the er bc i was running fever and in bad pain.

Had my surgery on Friday the 13th. I am 31 yrs old and had the hammy graft. My tear was mis-diagnosed in September as a strain. It is actually going way better than I had planned. Pain really isn't that bad for me, a 6 at most. Went 10 hours without taking meds, actually ran a fever because of it, started taking the meds and it was gone in three hours. Actually able to mosey around without the crutches a little. I will be fully released at 6 months. My doc is really anti-brace. When I asked him about a brace, he said "Why use a brace, that's why you have the surgery." Here's to a healthy recovery for us all, now and in the future.

25 yrs old. I've had 5 knee operations all from wakeboarding.

1st was acl repair with hamstring
2nd was acl repair with patellar tendon
the acl has withstood 3 additional meniscus injuries.

the meniscus injuries are thanks to a looser than normal acl.

also: I blew my knee out wearing a Don Joy knee Brace...it had been 10 months since my operation and I blew it out on a double up. I don't hit double ups any more. And you shouldn't either.

Also: I'm having part of my medial meniscus removed on Friday. I've already had the lateral completely removed after an allograph attempt.

My opinion is that because of the nature of the patellar tendon graph, it is the best way to go. I didn't have any luck with the allograph meniscus...however I just sat and drank the day away...so it's hard to say about an acl...Shawn Watson had one and I think he's still good.

Use a CTI brace. It's that simple. And...say no to drugs...generally speaking.

I have seen it all from a procedure standpoint and had athletes from every action sport in to get measured for their braces. In the last 5 years, pretty much all the procedures have gotten much better. Sterilization has improved dramatically, so I never hear of cadaver rejections anymore. The key factors for going one way vs. the other have shrank. My advice is to go with a doctor that understands wakeboarding and the unnatural forces that it puts on your knees (like a big double-up to chop). Find a doctor that gets it (how important riding is to you and that you want to continue doing it at the same level) and go with the procedure that he is most comfortable with performing. I work with all the boys (and the ladies) and they are all still crushing it. We build them braces that work because we understand the sport. Try and find a doctor that does the same.