Knee Reconstruction - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Shadowman · 09-23-2003, 08:38 AM

For starters, I hope this is the right forum :-)

A few weeks ago I injured my knee during an indoor soccer game. I was carted off to hospital, given a splint, booked in for the orthopaedic surgeon the following friday, and then sent home. After going to the surgeon, he tells me that because my knee swelled up immediately, its 90% probable that Ive torn a ligament, and it will need surgery. Ive had an MRI, and this friday Im going back to the orthopaedic surgeon to get the results. Im only a young guy, 20 years old, and this sort of injury is pretty frightening for me, especially since Im not exactly super fit, and Ive never had major surgery. I want to know if anyone here has had the same reconstructive surgery, and how long its taken them to heal. Ive heard you can be back to working order in 12 weeks, but no sports for 12 months. Footballers get back into full on football in 6 months, but as I said Im not the fittest person around...and at the time of the accident, was trying to lose weight. I just want some general info on how long its going to take to heal, the pain involved, rehabilitation, etc. The only info I can really find on google is details about the actual procedure. Anymore information would be glady appreciated, thanks!

steelerz · 09-23-2003, 10:43 AM

If it's a torn cartilage they'll probably go with orthoscopic (sp?) surgery. Thats what I had done. The surgery was only three small holes around the knee to insert the scope and repair the tear. Recovery was only a few weeks. I had an MRI done before the surgery that came up negative so they thought it was just the cartilage. On mine they ended up finding out that I had torn my ACL also. My ACL surgery is another story.My Doc said it wasn't common for torn ACL not to show up on the MRI but it happens sometimes. Just wanted to give you this for your information. This (plus a few other injuries) happened to me in a pretty bad accident so hopefully your's won't be as bad. If I can tell you anything else let me know. Hopefully it will just be cartilage damage.

onetime2 · 09-23-2003, 10:46 AM

Didn't have quite the same thing as I tore cartilege which had to be removed. The surgery was relatively easy with it being done on an outpatient basis (in and out of the hospital the same day). They went into the knee in two or three spots with a scope and some tools.

I was back at work in about a week (of course I work at a computer, not doing anything physical). Unfortunately it took a long time to really heal for me. They told me I could go back to active sports (skiing, running, etc) in three months but I had to take it easy. I went skiing about 5 months after the surgery and it did not take the bumps well at all. About a year after the surgery I was getting out of a car and I felt my knee pop a little bit, there was quite a bit of pain and when I went back to my surgeon he said that there may still be a piece of cartilege hanging that got caught up in the joint or something.

Went for MRIs and took it easy for a while. Results showed nothing was wrong but my surgeon said that if it continues to be a problem he would go back in and see about cutting out some more cartilege. This was about 2 and a half years ago and I haven't had another problem. I did not want to have any more cartilege removed unless it got real bad since it's not exactly something they can put back after it's gone.

Good luck with it. I've known many people who have had far better experiences than me and I hope that you will join that crowd.

pocon1 · 09-23-2003, 11:59 AM

A torn ligament is vastly different from torn cartilage. With torn cartilage, the tissue is either resewn together or trimmed away. With a completely torn ligament, the ligament needs to be reattached or built out of a piece of another one. With a torn ACL, a piece of the patellar tendon (knee), is taken out and used to construct the ACL. The pat. tendon is left shorter, as is the ACL. That is why the first part of rehab is stretching apparently very painfully. Then, as the ligaments and tendons start to heal, strength training can be applied, with more stretching. Don't pay attention to what athletes do, because their teams have them on million dollar contracts and they don't care if a player has permanent injuries after their careers are over. Expect up to a year for a full recovery. However, if you are conscientious with your rehab, you can expect a complete recovery. So much depends on people's willingness to suffer through the pain to promote healing. Good luck.

09-23-2003, 08:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
Shadowman Crazy Location: Perth	Knee Reconstruction For starters, I hope this is the right forum :-) A few weeks ago I injured my knee during an indoor soccer game. I was carted off to hospital, given a splint, booked in for the orthopaedic surgeon the following friday, and then sent home. After going to the surgeon, he tells me that because my knee swelled up immediately, its 90% probable that Ive torn a ligament, and it will need surgery. Ive had an MRI, and this friday Im going back to the orthopaedic surgeon to get the results. Im only a young guy, 20 years old, and this sort of injury is pretty frightening for me, especially since Im not exactly super fit, and Ive never had major surgery. I want to know if anyone here has had the same reconstructive surgery, and how long its taken them to heal. Ive heard you can be back to working order in 12 weeks, but no sports for 12 months. Footballers get back into full on football in 6 months, but as I said Im not the fittest person around...and at the time of the accident, was trying to lose weight. I just want some general info on how long its going to take to heal, the pain involved, rehabilitation, etc. The only info I can really find on google is details about the actual procedure. Anymore information would be glady appreciated, thanks! __________________ Shadowman

09-23-2003, 10:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
steelerz Insane	If it's a torn cartilage they'll probably go with orthoscopic (sp?) surgery. Thats what I had done. The surgery was only three small holes around the knee to insert the scope and repair the tear. Recovery was only a few weeks. I had an MRI done before the surgery that came up negative so they thought it was just the cartilage. On mine they ended up finding out that I had torn my ACL also. My ACL surgery is another story.My Doc said it wasn't common for torn ACL not to show up on the MRI but it happens sometimes. Just wanted to give you this for your information. This (plus a few other injuries) happened to me in a pretty bad accident so hopefully your's won't be as bad. If I can tell you anything else let me know. Hopefully it will just be cartilage damage. Last edited by steelerz; 09-23-2003 at 10:57 AM..

09-23-2003, 10:46 AM	#3 (permalink)
onetime2 Junkie Location: NJ	Didn't have quite the same thing as I tore cartilege which had to be removed. The surgery was relatively easy with it being done on an outpatient basis (in and out of the hospital the same day). They went into the knee in two or three spots with a scope and some tools. I was back at work in about a week (of course I work at a computer, not doing anything physical). Unfortunately it took a long time to really heal for me. They told me I could go back to active sports (skiing, running, etc) in three months but I had to take it easy. I went skiing about 5 months after the surgery and it did not take the bumps well at all. About a year after the surgery I was getting out of a car and I felt my knee pop a little bit, there was quite a bit of pain and when I went back to my surgeon he said that there may still be a piece of cartilege hanging that got caught up in the joint or something. Went for MRIs and took it easy for a while. Results showed nothing was wrong but my surgeon said that if it continues to be a problem he would go back in and see about cutting out some more cartilege. This was about 2 and a half years ago and I haven't had another problem. I did not want to have any more cartilege removed unless it got real bad since it's not exactly something they can put back after it's gone. Good luck with it. I've known many people who have had far better experiences than me and I hope that you will join that crowd. __________________ Strive to be more curious than ignorant.

09-23-2003, 11:59 AM	#4 (permalink)
pocon1 Banned	A torn ligament is vastly different from torn cartilage. With torn cartilage, the tissue is either resewn together or trimmed away. With a completely torn ligament, the ligament needs to be reattached or built out of a piece of another one. With a torn ACL, a piece of the patellar tendon (knee), is taken out and used to construct the ACL. The pat. tendon is left shorter, as is the ACL. That is why the first part of rehab is stretching apparently very painfully. Then, as the ligaments and tendons start to heal, strength training can be applied, with more stretching. Don't pay attention to what athletes do, because their teams have them on million dollar contracts and they don't care if a player has permanent injuries after their careers are over. Expect up to a year for a full recovery. However, if you are conscientious with your rehab, you can expect a complete recovery. So much depends on people's willingness to suffer through the pain to promote healing. Good luck.