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If You’ve Had an Arthroscopy, Tell Me if I’m Crazy

By Adam ⋅ November 28, 2006 ⋅ Email this post Email this post ⋅ Print this post Print this post ⋅ Post a comment

So the receptionist at the orthopaedic surgeon’s office knows me as “the guy who wants surgery in the spring”. Back when I found out I had a partial ACL tear, I told the doc I wanted to wait until spring 2007 for surgery. The reason? Take a guess.

Anyway, I was told to give the office a call in November for 2007 bookings. I called them up last week, and  snagged a date I thought was pretty good: March 27, 2007. From what I understand, it takes 8-12 months to fully recover from an ACL tear; hypothetically, this means I could snowboard in December 2007.

In the meantime, there’s still no snow here in Toronto. It’s starting to look like my first turns won’t come until December 14th, when I head to Tremblant. I’ll have to be careful out there, as my Whistler trip is exactly one month later, and I want to be in good shape for that.

Discussion

5 comments for “If You’ve Had an Arthroscopy, Tell Me if I’m Crazy”

  1. A friend of mine had an op on his ACL in February this year, and we just did a weekend snowboarding. No problems at all. So that’s about 9 months.
    After about 4 or 5 months he was running and cycling again. Snowboarding now after 9 months. Wants to start playing football (soccer) again, but will leave that until after our 10 day snowboarding holiday over new year.

    Posted by Anonymous | November 28, 2006, 10:05 am

  2. That’s what I like to hear! :)
    Nice site, btw, I added a link to it.
    –adam

    Posted by Anonymous | November 28, 2006, 12:23 pm

  3. I’ve had ACL reconstruction of both of my knees. The last one being last year at Thanksgiving. I’m way good to go this year. But be very careful with a partial tear and snowboarding pre-op. Before my surgeries, I would hurt myself occasionally while performing the simplest little tasks.

    Posted by Anonymous | November 30, 2006, 4:14 pm

  4. I don’t know the severity of your ACL injury, but if you want to know about my experience it may give you some hope.
    I tore mine, left knee, almost complete ( I was later to find out), skiing hard at Tremblant, last day of the season. Snap, crackle, pop. It took 11 months to get an MRI appointment ( I was probably bumped for some politician or person of influence) to confirm the injury and 12 months to see a surgeon, because no one would diagnose the injury until they had an MRI scan to look at.
    So I took my recovery and therapy into my own hands. After 3 months hobbling around, plenty of ice and Vitamin A (advil) . I forced my self to walk straight instead of hunched over. My main exercise for the first three months was pushing in the clutch on my car. That was painful. Then after forcing my self to walk straight , I started to cycle. That more than anything reduced the swelling, dispersed the fluid buildup. And I started to feel better. Followed by light back extensions (not front) on the leg machine at the gym, then leg presses. Alternating the weight training with cycling. So a year later when I walked into the surgeons office , his eyes scanning the MRI report and watching me do some duck walks and testing my leg strength, he says ” I don’t see this very often. But it does happen. Your ACL was definitely torn, but it appears to have healed, and is as strong as the right leg.” This doctor is known for his conservative approach and avoids surgery if at all possible. (I was skiing again after 9 months into my own therapy).
    That was three years ago and to this day, after many ski days, it remains strong.
    Good luck and speedy recovery. I’m 51.

    Posted by Anonymous | December 21, 2006, 9:40 am

  5. Wow, great story! Thanks. That does give me hope. :)
    –adam

    Posted by Anonymous | December 21, 2006, 11:16 am

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