Newsgroups: rec.skiing,rec.sport.disc
From: rpierce@oracle.com (Russell Pierce)
Subject: Re: Knees/ACL injuries
Followup-To: rpierce@oracle.com
Summary: ACL injury
Keywords: ACL, rehab
Organization: Oracle Corporation, Redwood Shores, CA  94065
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 17:41:08 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by an unauthenticated user
              at Oracle Corporation.  The opinions expressed are those
              of the user and not necessarily those of Oracle.

In article <170d8dINN852@seven-up.East.Sun.COM> cbrunson@vermont.East.Sun.COM writes:
>Hi Folks,
>	I'm looking for some advice from other people who have injured their
>knees, specifically torn ACL's. I just saw my regular doctor yesterday for an
>injury that happened in a game about 2 weeks ago (he was on vacation so I saw
>another doctor in the interim but he wasn't much help). He said that he's
>pretty sure I "popped" my ACL, I'm having an MRI done Monday AM to confirm
>that. He gave me 2 possible courses of action that I listed below. If anyone has
>had this same type of injury (I know there's lots of you out there, I've seen
>the braces ;^) ), I'd really appreciate it if you could give me advice as to
>what you did and how its worked out for you. I'm not looking for medical opinions,
>although I welcome them if there are any doctors on the net, just advice as to
>what I can expect and whether or not I should seriously consider taking option 2
>below and have my knee reconstructed. BTW, I'm 31, hope to continue playing Ult-
>imate for at least another 10 years, and I ski and rollerblade a lot.
>
>
>Note: These both assume that the MRI confirms a torn ACL, if not then I have
>no clue whats next.
>
>1) Go to physical therapy to work on strengthening my hamstring because it
>   can partially take over the job my ACL was doing. Get fitted for a brace 
>   to wear when I'm skiing or playing Ultimate.
>
>2) Have a reconstruction done in which case they'd actually replace my ACL
>   with a ligament/tendon from another part of my knee. He said that in the
>   end my knee would be even stronger than it was originally because they'd
>   use a bigger (about 120%) ligament but that it would take 9 months to 1
>   year to recover full strength.
>
>If you could tell me if your injury is similiar or not, what you've done
>for it, and how its worked out I'd really appreciate it. This injury has got
>me just a bit bummed out. TIA

	I hurt my ACL in December.  Originally my orthopedic said it looked like	a tear due to blood in my knee fluid.  After x-rays he said it was   
	actually only a partial tear-thank god!  What he prescribed was physical
	therapy.  I did this for about 4 months before attempting to really
	exercise on it.  It was a bitch restregthening the the muscles, but 
	now I am able to play basketball again(which is what I was doing when 
	I hurt it).  Bear in mind that this was only a partial tear, which
	theoretically will heal given time.  Thats what your situation is going         to boil down to-the severity of the injury.  If yours is a torn ACL,
	you will probably need to have surgery.  I have had friends who have had        the surgery done and though it takes 12-18 months of rehab, it seems to         be very effective.  Either way I wish you the best-it's a drag at first,
	but you can overcome it if you want to!!

		Russ