My gosh this is something you must avoid!  DO NOT blow your ACL if possible.  I did playing BBall on 1/29 and had ACL reconstruction on 2/16.  Pain and rehab are the operative words.

 

Any other stories?

My brother suffered a "joe montana" right where the knee and leg bones meet, when he played at Ohio State and that was no fun.  He had to learn how to walk.  I was in pain just watching him.

I ripped up my knee twice in college playing football.  Same injury both times.  Not the ACL though, I tore the MCL and patella ligament.  All I can say, and take it from a guy who made this mistake the first time around and paid for it with the same injury the next year, is REHAB, REHAB, REHAB.  Don't do it yourself... go to the PT and do it right.  It is your only chance of your knee ever returning to full strength and stability.

 

20 years ago, there was little hope to restore a torn ACL.  Nowadays, full recovery can be achieved, but only with a significant commitment on your part.

I ripped up my knee twice in college playing football.  Same injury both times.  Not the ACL though, I tore the MCL and patella ligament.  All I can say, and take it from a guy who made this mistake the first time around and paid for it with the same injury the next year, is REHAB, REHAB, REHAB.  Don't do it yourself... go to the PT and do it right.  It is your only chance of your knee ever returning to full strength and stability.

 

20 years ago, there was little hope to restore a torn ACL.  Nowadays, full recovery can be achieved, but only with a significant commitment on your part.

 

That what the doctors told my brother, right after they told him he'll never play sports again.  He and my father just broke out in tears.  Id never seen my father cry before.

 

My brother was in physical therapy and rehab for over a year.

I blew my right knee out my Jr. year in HS playing a pickup basketball game. I moved one way and my knee moved the other. As I sat on the floor looking at it, I could see the knee was dislocated. As I was in shock, I did what anyone would do, and I popped it back into place and tried to get back up  :roll:

 

I didn't do any ligament, long term damage. Or at least so I thought.

 

Fast forward 5 years and I'm in my first year of grad school...2 weeks in. I start walking up a couple stairs and WHAM I get this sharp pain in my knee and suddenly I can't even extend it fully. Having been through this before (I thought) I just walk home, figure it's swollen and will go down, and after I ice it, it should be back to normal...until a couple days later when I feel something moving around in the knee.

 

So, I did what anyone would do...and wait until the end of the semester when I'm home for break to have someone look at it.  :roll:

 

I ended up having it scoped. Basically, a piece of cartilage and a little piece of my femur had broken off. In the months ensuing, my knee had frozen into a half bent position, and I'd rubbed my kneecap to the point where one edge looked like a ripped piece of fabric. During the scope they took pics.

 

It took me about 6 months of PT to get the knee loosened up again to where I could walk normally.

 

So the moral of the story here, kids, is don't take medical advice from AJ93. At least with regards to knee injuries.

 

 

 

This is why I never played sports in high school.  I didn't want to get injured.

 

AJ, sounds like what happend to my brother, I remember it like it was yesterday.  Picture it... the horseshoe...vs. Iowa....19??

 

My brother take a punt return...starts up the sideline then just goes down. Not a tackler in sight.  He doesn't move.  Next thing we know the medical team is on the field and my father is walking toward the sideline.  Hes on the stretcher my father rides with him and my brothers football career is over after 13 games.

 

My brother looked so pathetic after the surgery, because he couldn't do anything for himself.  My mother was such a doting mother to him.  It was ridiculous.

 

On top of that, his old @ss will probably develop arthritis. in the knee, since hie has a medal rod in his leg.

 

I don't know how you folks make it through surgery and PT.

I tore my left ACL in April 1997 playing basketball.  Stole a pass, had a breakaway when someone came from behind me and pushed me in the air.  My left leg landed straight and POP!  It sucked - worst pain I've ever had.  I recall reading somewhere at the time the only injury that causes more pain than a torn ACL is a compound fracture. 

 

I delayed surgery until December (winter break of OU).  I do recall about 6-8 hours after surgery once the antisthtic wore off thinking I was never going to walk again I was in so much pain (strangely, morphine was not effective on me).  After about the first week though I remember the pain being better.  By the time I went back to school about 5 weeks later, I was getting around OK and I think I was without a knee brace 12 weeks after surgery.  I played softball that summer and I seemed to be back to 100%...I guess that was 7 months after surgery. 

 

I think the most frustrating thing was staying patient.  It gets to a point where you "feel" normal, but your muscles are not all the way back yet.  Make sure you rehab daily, even on days when you don't go to the therapist.  I guess it was easier for me b/c I was a student on break with nothing else to do.

 

In January 2007 I had microfracture surgery on my right knee.  No pain after surgery, but I coudn't walk on it for 6 weeks and rehab actually took longer than ACL b/c I had so much muscle atrophy.

 

But both knees feel good now...I just don't participate in court sports anymore and limit myself to biking instead of jogging for exercise (or low impact cardio machines in the gym).  Just stay positive!

I tore my left ACL in April 1997 playing basketball.  Stole a pass, had a breakaway when someone came from behind me and pushed me in the air.  My left leg landed straight and POP!  It sucked - worst pain I've ever had.  I recall reading somewhere at the time the only injury that causes more pain than a torn ACL is a compound fracture. 

 

I delayed surgery until December (winter break of OU).  I do recall about 6-8 hours after surgery once the antisthtic wore off thinking I was never going to walk again I was in so much pain (strangely, morphine was not effective on me).  After about the first week though I remember the pain being better.  By the time I went back to school about 5 weeks later, I was getting around OK and I think I was without a knee brace 12 weeks after surgery.  I played softball that summer and I seemed to be back to 100%...I guess that was 7 months after surgery. 

 

I think the most frustrating thing was staying patient.  It gets to a point where you "feel" normal, but your muscles are not all the way back yet.  Make sure you rehab daily, even on days when you don't go to the therapist.  I guess it was easier for me b/c I was a student on break with nothing else to do.

 

In January 2007 I had microfracture surgery on my right knee.  No pain after surgery, but I coudn't walk on it for 6 weeks and rehab actually took longer than ACL b/c I had so much muscle atrophy.

 

But both knees feel good now...I just don't participate in court sports anymore and limit myself to biking instead of jogging for exercise (or low impact cardio machines in the gym).  Just stay positive!

 

Thats what my brother kept saying.  He said the pain was unbearable the first two weeks.  He couldn't do anything and he lost like 45 lbs.  He was almost as skinny as I was.

 

He was on percocet or percodan.  He was so out of it.  I would call him Elizabeth Taylor and he would answer.  I would do Whatever Happen to Baby Jane lines to amuse myself if I had to "babysit". 

 

To this day, those 5 weeks are a blur.  He barely remembers breaking his leg.