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So......... I tore my ACL in June and had surgery in July. Went to the surgeon a couple weeks ago. He told me it was one of the best results he's had but I had to wait til the end of January before I started playing sports again.

The knee feels awesome and has all the motion and strength (imo) back. So I got up with a buddy this morning and played racquetball and let me tell you, I've been smiling all day long. It felt f-ing awesome. AHHHHHH I'm so happy. I've been on cloud 9 all day long. And, the knee feels great. I thought there would be side effects, and there haven't been. No pain, no reduced motion, by the end of the game this morning I was cutting with no hesitation. It was awesome. I feel like I am finally done with all this and can get back to my routine.

Seriously. Cloud 9!!!

I'm telling! It's not the end of January, yet!



Glad the knee is better.

KyCardinalFan wrote:I'm telling! It's not the end of January, yet!



Glad the knee is better.

I am sure he would probably be happy if I re-tore it so he could charge the insurance company and me for another surgery

Lucky you. My buddy in college tore his ACL playing intramural softball. He had surgery and still ambles around like an olf man.

cardsfansince82 wrote:Lucky you. My buddy in college tore his ACL playing intramural softball. He had surgery and still ambles around like an olf man.

Sorry to hear about your friend. How did it go so wrong or did nothing go "wrong" according to the docs but he's just stuck with a bum knee? I heard stories like this everywhere prior to the surgery and that's why I feel a lot of it is just lucky. That's why I was so amped about everything being normal again....it's not like I cut my finger and it healed w/o a scar or something minor here.

I mean, I live in AR so w/out any stats or facts, I'm just going to guess the doctors here aren't the most highly regarded. Of course, if you live in AL, you could say the same thing and you'd have probably the best ortho surgeon team ever assembled on the planet in Birmingham, so I may be out of line.

Anyway, back to the luck thing..... yeah, I'm lucky. Regardless of my prior comments about doctors in AR, I would recommend the doctor I had to ANYONE. (I could seriously start up a Rave just about him b/c he was that good) That said, I bet Tom Brady's doctor came highly recommended from many people as well, and look how poorly his has turned out.

I guess, in the end, there are so many variables it turns into a crap shoot and I'm just thankful I didn't come up with snake eyes.

Congrats AW! That is great news. You have made a very, very quick recovery. I'll guess you had the cadaver graft, which reduces recovery time, but you obviously worked very hard during your rehab to have such good results. Sounds like your meniscus is intact, which is even better.

Have fun playing racquetball!

Congrats, AW. Sounds like you're really enjoying it! Still take it easy, though. My father's had arthritis in his knees for as long as I can remember and he's lived most of his life in pretty decent pain as a result, so I know what can happen if you mess up your knees.

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:

cardsfansince82 wrote:Lucky you. My buddy in college tore his ACL playing intramural softball. He had surgery and still ambles around like an olf man.

Sorry to hear about your friend. How did it go so wrong or did nothing go "wrong" according to the docs but he's just stuck with a bum knee? I heard stories like this everywhere prior to the surgery and that's why I feel a lot of it is just lucky. That's why I was so amped about everything being normal again....it's not like I cut my finger and it healed w/o a scar or something minor here.

Honestly I would guess that a lot of it is my friend's fault. In HS he was a pretty good athlete and never drank or smoked anything. After we corrupted him he tore his ACL and after that all he did was drink or get high and eat fast food. I remember him going to a few PT sessions after the surgery but he never lifted any weights or exercised beyond that. So any of the rare times he did do something like golf or pickup basketball he really favored it. Not only was his knee still weak but he was carrying a lot more weight than he did before. I saw him a few months ago and you could tell just by him walking around that something was wrong. I don't know if he had a completely successful surgery or not, but he didn't do himself any good with the way he handled it.

I had similar results w/ my ACL reconstruction. I also had a meniscus tear but fortunately the doc was able to repair it without having to remove any cartilage. Paletta used a hamstring tendon and I haven't regained all the muscle mass there but it was already atrophied since I'd been limping around and favoring it for close to three years.
This was in Nov of '02 and early the following summer I rode a Jet Ski for the first time and really torqued the fixed knee when I went overboard. My first thought, even before hitting the water, was Oh [expletive]. Man was I happy when it held up like a champ.
One thing I noticed at the rehab facility was that there were other patients whose docs had opened up their knee where mine had done it arthroscopically. Also interesting how quickly they get you doing rehab work. Really helps to have a high pain threshold.

The bottom line is my knee feels great 6+ years later.

/creepy, maddash?

cardsfansince82 wrote:

AWvsCBsteeeerike3 wrote:

cardsfansince82 wrote:Lucky you. My buddy in college tore his ACL playing intramural softball. He had surgery and still ambles around like an olf man.

Sorry to hear about your friend. How did it go so wrong or did nothing go "wrong" according to the docs but he's just stuck with a bum knee? I heard stories like this everywhere prior to the surgery and that's why I feel a lot of it is just lucky. That's why I was so amped about everything being normal again....it's not like I cut my finger and it healed w/o a scar or something minor here.

Honestly I would guess that a lot of it is my friend's fault. In HS he was a pretty good athlete and never drank or smoked anything. After we corrupted him he tore his ACL and after that all he did was drink or get high and eat fast food. I remember him going to a few PT sessions after the surgery but he never lifted any weights or exercised beyond that. So any of the rare times he did do something like golf or pickup basketball he really favored it. Not only was his knee still weak but he was carrying a lot more weight than he did before. I saw him a few months ago and you could tell just by him walking around that something was wrong. I don't know if he had a completely successful surgery or not, but he didn't do himself any good with the way he handled it.

QED. You really have to work your butt off to come back from an ACL tear/reconstruction.