Hey all you guys, I just had orthoscopic surgery about 6 weeks ago on my left knee; they removed a lot of cartlidge, and about 30% of my meniscus; they also told me that my ACL is loose, and something to keep an eye on.
I just got into snowboarding last year, and am ready to drop the $$ on a season pass somewhere because I was that into it, and want to get back into it this year.
The question I have is:
a) have any of you had surgery like this and still board?
b) What did you do to get the stability/strength back into a knee?
c) Any braces or additional wear now?
I was thinking about getting a set of the asterisk cell knee braces just to add some support and maybe prevent the ACL from letting go; Any experience with these?
I finally found something I enjoy doing in winter instead of being held up inside; please let me know some advise.
I think you should let it heal man… i’ve waited two years with my back… and i’m glad it healed. snowboarding is a LOT of impact on your knees. It looks like that was a hell of a surgery, and you are probably really young… just think … you have a big potential to prevent yourself from being pain free the rest of your life… let alone being able to walk…
pain free for life > snowboarding one year
even if there is a 2 % chance of you hurting yourself… i’d still take the pain free over a stupid risk like that
Well, It’s been 6 weeks now, I’ve been back at work for 2, going on 3, and can get through most of the day walking around the plant and doing all my “normal” stuff. If I push it like I did today, my knee aches like it does now.
I can tell it’s loose, and defenetly has a lot more play in it than it did before, and it’s getting looser I think because the swelling is going down more all the time.
I have all the flexibility back into it, and a lot of the strength, squatting and kneeling still are difficult and fairly painful…
I was hoping by december that I could be back out if the snow flies, but i dunno.
Exercise it hard. You need to rebuild the muscle that surrounds your ligaments.
If you do Physical Therapy properly, and prepare correctly, you should be good to go.
ALSO…
STRETCH DAILY. Actually, if you can a few times daily. Keep the ligaments limber and mobile. It’s very important. noone ever stretches before they head out riding and it’s retarded. They’ll go hit a 40 foot table, without even loosening up. Stretch then, and stretch now.
And once winter comes, I would definitely wear a knee brace.
Also, a reason for the looseness might simply be due to the atrophy that has happened in your leg from the nonuse.
Do alot of leg exersize that deals with the muscle area around your knee’s. the more the muscle is worksing the less stress on the knees. cracked my tibia (spelling) on both knees’s and it sucked. no surgery but had to wear braces. I’d try to find a comfortable boot, like a k2 or salomon. some soft palmer risers. and gell insoles to soften your ride. wrap and tape your knee’s either with ace, or a seperate brace. and pace yourself… but don’t forget the knee pads.
must be nice to be able to use it…I had my shoulder done and i lost a good 50% of the mobility. I still have 4-5 months of PT left. If I were you i wouldnt go because it would be VERY easy to tear your ACL when you fall.
As for boots, I have a set of '06 Burton Shaun White’s that I got last year that fit awesome and seem to work well.
I could never run before my surgery, well any faster than a slow jog due to the damage that was there in the cartlidge and torn meniscus; thus basketball doesn’t really work; but joggin or running might now, all depends if I can take impacts. Right now, not yet, it’s getting better though.
Yea, everyone really said strengthen it as much as possible, and I stretch about once daily; it’s part of the PT routine I’m on.
Yeah i wouldnt risk anything yet.It all depends on your ability to recover and how much you work on it.
Eating the right foods to build back muscle is just as important as working it out.Eat right ,lots of protein should build things back faster with working it.
i have had 2 acl replacements due to bad work and had one meniscus repair last year. i have had over half of my meniscus removed and need a little more taken out but not a big deal. i had my last one done on december 21st and was snoboarding by january and playing full games of soccer at the same time, the key is to build the leg to be stronger than ever before. i have slight pain in my knee after a long day of boarding but it is due to scar tissue in my patellar ligament from my first acl. if you have questions on braces let me know i have had a bunch and the one i have now is great, its a donjoy aircraft aluminum custom fit for my leg. that would be my recomendation.
A good friend of mine had surgery on his ACL a few years ago. He was back and riding…I believe it was 10 weeks after his surgery and I think he ignored his doctors advise not to ride that early in the season. He doesn’t use a brace or even stretch for that matter, he’s pretty hardcore and I consider him an exception to the rules. He started skiing when he was 6 yrs old and started snowboarding when he was like 15 and he’s 25 now. So far he hasn’t mentioned any problems. I talk to him a couple times a month since he’s been living in Colorado, but so far he’s been doing great. I would highly suggest (it’s been mentioned above by Bigairskier1580) to stretch…a lot. You can do a google search for some stretching exercises taylored to snowboarding. I could never understand how some of my friends don’t even stretch before they go riding. I stretch before, during, and after. Lots of stretching!
I am similar and do fall a fair amount due to the fact that I’m still learning. That’s why I was really interested in those braces; not only are they similar to the $600/ea custom athletic ones, but they have a patellar cup to protect from impact.
not like he was doing rodeo flips before, but he’s calmed it down some. but it’s case-by-case, just feel out your comfort yourself, everyone’s different.
Falling on your knees generally will just create soreness and bruising.
The twisting falls associated with skiing, due to the independent nature of your legs and their ability to do whatever they wish to, and twist whichever way they want, is what will cause serious injury to a leg that isn’t in good shape.
If you notice, you very very very rarely ever see knee injuries in snowboarders. Whereas ACLs are all the rage in skiing.
Edit - I have minorly fucked up my knee skiing before. I never went in to have it looked at, but I know something was badly a miss. I was running out the bottom of the park at KB switch 2 seasons ago. Warm March day.SVery slushy. I caught an edge while doing ridic speeds switch, had the whole wonderful whiplash flipping fall. And my left knee twisted something fierce, ski never released because I have my DINs quite high. I could hardly walk on it for a week afterwards. I did some more casual skiing a few times, no more park though. ANd all through summer, ifI had the weight on that foot and pivoted my foot, it hurt like a bitch.
But anyways, like I’ve said, if you take the rehab seriously, and commit yourself to it, you will be more healthy than you were before, and in overall better shape than before, including your knee.