Wanting to hear positive cruciate ligament (human) stories

[Almostalwayshappy]

Apologies for the shameless AIBU post for traffic, but I would love to hear your positive stories of recovery from cruciate ligament damage. Sitting in an apartment in France after injuring my cruciate ligament skiing. Stretchered off the mountain as I felt my knee 'pop' when I fell and couldn't weight bear, ambulance to medical centre where I was told I had torn/snapped my cruciate ligament (think this is also known as ACL). Had an X-ray and told to get an MRI on return to UK to decide on treatment options, but the doctor said i would probably need surgery. My leg is in a brace and I am using crutches. Told to ice and elevate. Pain under control with strong paracetamol and ibruprofen. Sleeping well. I am very lucky the apartment has a walk-in shower and we are driving not flying (home on Sunday). This is day 3 after the injury and I have been ok up 'til now. Today I am tearful. I am 56 and very active - yoga, walking, riding and need to drive for work (I have been told I can't drive obviously)). I am self-employed and can take the financial hit, but am struggling with how long the rehab will be, especially if I need surgery. Like most people who are usually active, my mental health takes a dive when I can't exercise and exercise helps so much with my menopause symptoms. I tried chair yoga yesterday, which was OK. I'd really welcome your positive stories of recovery from cruciate ligament injury and any suggestions about how I might prepare for surgery. I have private medical Insurance. Thanks for reading.

@TrickyD Your post brought a tear to my eye - bit tired, sore and emotional! Thank you for replying. What an encouraging story. I sincerely hope I'll be skiing at 72 as well!

@IntheSnowySnowyMountains Hello from Combloux - not very snowy though, much to the despair of the rest of my party! Sorry to read you have on-going ankle problems. That must be hard. I am able to hobble without crutches for a few feet and not in too much pain. The crutches are taking some getting used to. My legs are quite strong, but my upper body strength is terrible. We went to St Gervais today for a wander round and I managed on crutches by sort of touching my bad leg down. As it was so warm, lots of people were sitting outside the cafes. I did the ski injury walk of shame with people asking:'Au ski?'. I tried some steps there and wish I had your advice then as I struggled! I'll read your reply again in the morning and find some steps to practice on although I think judging from the pain and swelling tonight, I might have overdone it a bit today. Thanks for replying and hope the ankle doesn't give you too much trouble in the future.

So, I live on one level (apartment) which made it all much easier. As I had a meniscus suture, I could not put my foot down for a month after the operation (although I could cycle indoors). I bought a yahoo bike trainer and installed my bike in the living room, so I could do rehab/exercise at home, as well as going to the physio 2x a week. Ideally I would have gone to the physio more often to start with but this was not possible as I could not drive - I think for 2 months (right knee) - and my partner has a job and had to take over taking the kids to their activities and all the housework, so he couldn't also take me more often than twice a week. After the accident, I got better very quickly with physio and everyday life was fine - it was after the operation that it was tough. I had the operation because I was not ready to accept that I could not do hard sport any more - and my instability was too great to be sure that physio alone would be sufficient. My knee is very very stable now.

You can go up and downstairs with your brace / crutches. I only used crutches for a couple of days and then was ok just with brace. I hopped into the shower from day 1.

What advice have you been given about weight bearing on affected leg?
If its just ACL and discomfort allows you should be fine partial weight bearing.
You should also be fine doing static quads and straight leg raises every waking hour to keep your quads awake

Remember to take your arms out of the crutches before sitting down, don't want an elbow injury on top of the knee!

@LakeFlyPie Top tip - thank you!

@LakeFlyPie The doctor didn't say much about weight bearing other than 'use the crutches if you need them'. Now Days 4 and have more pain than I did on Days 1 and 2, but am elevating, icing and taking ibruprofen and paracetamol on top when I need it. Foot /ankle and knee still swollen, but will try some more weight bearing I think. Inspired by you and the other kind posters on here, I have found some pre-hab videos and will make a start on waking up my quads. By the time I get back to the UK and speak to a GP for a referral to an orthopaedic specialist, it will be Day 6 and I want to be proactive rather than just sitting round (for my mental health as well). Thanks for your reply - really hopeful.

@treesgrowtall So glad to hear you regained stability in your knee after your operation. At 56, I know I might need to push for an op (if it's the right thing to do) because of the view that over 50s tend to slow down or be less active. We have longer average life span (fingers crossed) and one of the women I know out here in France is still pushing herself with her skiing at 80! At 56, until this happened, I was fitter than I was in my 30s and fully intend to stay really active (hiking, riding, skiing, yoga, coasteering etc) for as long as I can. That's a great incentive for really owning and investing in the physio whether I have the op or not, so thanks for the encouragement.

Op or no op, don’t let the doctor(s) or the physio fob you off with anything other than working towards regaining full sport functionality. If you can (I am abroad so I had choice) find the doctor and physio who will work with you towards this.

@treesgrowtall Great advice - I'll be clear about my expectations from the outset. I'm prepared to put the work in.

DH did his while skiing in his late 50s. He decided against surgery because of the down time and he plays golf. He’d done a lot of gym work before skiing and then did lots of physio and he’s never regretted his decision. He skis with a brace now but that’s literally his only concession.

I asked the surgeon, who was a keen skier himself whether he’s have the surgery and he wasn’t very definite about it. I know at least one person who had the op and wasn’t happy with the results.

DH used a brace for a while after coming home but was walking quite normally within a few weeks.

@MatildaTheCat Thanks so much for sharing your husband's experience. It's good to hear he went back to skiing without an op. I am feeling much more optimistic after reading people's replies and am beyond grateful for the support I have received here.

I completely ruptured (there are various degrees of tearing that can happen too) my ACL aged about 30 skiing. They refused to even MRI it as after a couple of months I was able to do most things and they told me that it couldn't be ruptured because of the movement I had and the sports I was doing. I had returned to most sports but it would give way on certain movements (turning round a knee - I couldn't play football for instance - getting into cars, coming downstairs - most dangerously when I was heavily pregnant and carrying a toddler) etc and finally after 8 years I used my work private insurance to get an MRI and it was indeed ruptured and I had a reconstruction using my hamstring. Recovery was about 3 months (I was back playing sport after 3) and now about 10 years later it's been brilliant ever since. Occasionally twinges but other than that I wish I'd had it done a lot sooner - don't let them fob you off with physio if it is a full rupture.

@MargeIsBack Thanks for posting. That's so encouraging - but I imagine it must have been very frustrating before you had the reconstruction. Eight years is a long time! I am keeping my fingers crossed it's not a full rupture - hopefully it shouldn't be a problem to get an MRI.

I forgot to say in my previous post, that after the accident I acquired some hinged braces which kept my knees pointing forwards not collapsing sideways. They were comfortable and seemed to work very well.

I tore my ACL in November of 2017, and I didn’t have it repaired. I made good use of a physio and strengthened my leg muscles to compensate. I still run (gently) and play football with a team I coach. I don’t have any problems with it, except I can really feel when it’s cold!!
Make sure you take care of yourself mentally, I think the emotional trauma is harder to recover from than the physical one. If you want the repair, be prepared to fight your corner, I have a friend who is currently trying to get hers sorted out and it’s a long slog. Take care of yourself.

It's a very common injury in the sport I do and know loads of people who have successfully recovered and returned to the sport at the same level.

Not gonna kid you and say it's gonna be easy or quick, but you know that

Hi OP, I did this exact same thing - snapped my ACL, skiing. I was able to start weight bearing pretty soon after (with crutches) - started physio when got back to the UK who helped me with this, as well as seeing a consultant re. Surgery to fix it. Surgery was approx 4 weeks after the accident itself (as they wanted all swelling from the injury to go down before operating) - they take a graft from your hamstring to fix the ligament. Only three v v tiny scars on my knee. I was in overnight, and up and about on my crutches the next day and home. My biggest advice is do all your physio exercises religiously. And if you can afford private physio, do, as I'm not sure how many appointments you would get on the NHS. But in terms of positive stories - I went for my first jog three weeks post surgery! (It was slow, but then I am a v slow runner anyway). If you are an active person who wants to get back up and exercising again, I would say don't feel too worried as that will give you extra motivation to religiously do your physio and rehab exercises. I was desperate to get skiing again and used it as an excuse to say I was going to be fitter and stronger than before (so started PT as well as physio as soon as I was able). I went skiing again 9 months post surgery. I will say that I found that harder than I expected - it was a bit sore (ie I found I couldn't do off piste) and I was a bit nervous which I wasn't prepared for. But then, it was actually only 9 months post surgery. It was then a few years before I skied again but that was circumstances (Covid) rather than my knee. I got a v heavy duty hinged knee brace which I now wear, and I honestly don't feel any difference between my knees - I went skiing three times last year and it was genuinely only on the last afternoon of my last ski holiday after skiing hard three holidays that I started feeling a bit of a twinge in that knee just getting on and off the chairlifts. Day to day life my knee doesn't give me any issues at all, including exercising. Skiing with the a really good hinged brace, it feels the same as my other knee, no issues (apart from right at the v end).

Good luck OP and try not to feel too down! With lots of physio and rehab you'll be back up and at it in no time.

Oh just saw also that you have private medical insurance - that's really helpful. Don't get me wrong, I think the NHS is brilliant, but physio is the key, as much as you can afford / the insurance will cover. If your insurance covers you for the surgery I'm v happy to DM you with the surgeon I had as he was excellent and very much a specialist in ACL repair (he himself used to play rugby for England, and treats professional rugby and football players for whom ACL injury is really common, and they definitely need to be 'fixed' to the ability to play high level sport again. Can't fault the repair he did on my knee!).

I fully ruptured my ACL, LCL & MCL 4yrs ago. LCL & MCL have a decent blood supply and can repair themselves but I had surgery on ACL. They had to take the graft from the other leg as the injured one was too unstable to take anything from the same side. Make the most of physio and do the exercises daily. When resting don't prop anything under the knee but elevate from the ankle - it will make it easier to get your knee straight again. Build up the muscles around it as much as possible. Recovery was hard but other than a bit of stiffness and ache when it's cold my knee is fine now. I have hypermobility which apparently makes the joints more susceptible to injury because they're looser.

@OneTC Thanks for posting - weirdly reassuring to know it's such a common injury. Not that I would wish it on anyone!

@HappyMuma So glad to hear you made a good recovery. The emotional fall out (I knew my legs were tired and should have stopped earlier or been on an easier run) is definitely a factor. The support here has given me a boost me and helped me get things back in perspective. Being informed and knowing the options and possible steps () forward are helping me to feel more in control of the situation.

@NeverAloneNeverAgain Wow - that must have been painful. Thanks for the tips - I haven't been elevating from the ankle so will start that now!

@Lemonyfuckit Your story gives me a great idea of what I might expect. Thanks for taking the time to reassure me. You have inspired me to get fitter than I was before - what a great attitude! I'd appreciate the name of your surgeon if you have time to DM me.

I was told I had a full or partial ACL tear from a skiing injury last year. (Luckily in my case the MRI showed some 'fraying', no full tear).
Anyway I also spent the rest of my trip googling and there are definitely two schools of thought it seems.
There are several (un-named) premier league players who have not had surgery on their tears, and come back to full fitness with intensive physio, as well as many professional sports people who have (some have made documentaries / serialised their recovery so you could take a look if you wish).
Either way, it's a long slog but it would seem that if you work at it you can return to your sports.
Wishing you all the best