Knee Injury.

[jafo]

Well, I seen the Orthopedic Surgeon today. Not good. My ACL did'nt even show up in the MRI so it's completely torn apart. I'm scheaduled for surgery 4 weeks from now and then it'll be about or up to 12 weeks rehab. I'll be seeing my highschool buddy for my rehab and he's like the #1 guy in my area for ACL rehab. I'm going with a fairly new technique of reconstructive surgery that uses a ligament from a cadaver. This is suppose to speed up the process vs. using ligament from some where else in my body. Good news is I'm going to get a pair of knee braces out of all this. An I will use them after I get back on the bike. But first thing is getting the bruising of my thigh bone and calf bone healed before I can have the surgery. He also said theres alot of bruising still where the hamstring muscle and calf muscle attach to the knee joint. So thats where I'm at. Looks like I'm done riding for this year for sure.

Jon.

[KDXer]

OOOOO nasty Jon. I wish you a full and speedy rcovery. That flat out sucks.....

[Indawoods]

Well... some down time for strength training and spending some time with the lady will be good for ya! I'll think of ya everytime I go out the rest of this year... Does that help? Opps... sorry...

[jafo]

Well this will give me plenty of time to tear down the bike and send the carb off with the head for the mods. Might as well get those out of the way. I'll have plenty of time to perfect myself on the MX unleashed game too. I've been scarfing up videos left and right to have soemthing to watch, and I have Netflix so I don't have to run to the video store, they just come straight to the house. Good turn around time too. I'm getting things prepaired for after I'm imobile.

Ok, not that was a low one Indi. Be careful what you say, things can come back on you two fold. I do plan on doing some upper body until I get the lower body going. I'll probably gain 50 pounds laying around.

Jon.

[parker72001]

that sucks, but mx unleashed is a great game, i play a lot of video games, is it mx vs atv unleashed or just mx unleashed, just wondering. I can't wait, i want to mod my bike some but i don't get to ride it very often, no truck or trailer, so i'm saving my money right now for an xbox 360, those things are sweet and i'm saving a little money for my bike, my mom says i shouldn't spend a lot of money on my bike but i figure i might as well do it now while i have money, if i wait until i have to pay for food and rent and college i'll barely have enough for gas. anyway, i'm just rambling now, hope you get better soon. i want some dead persons ligament cool, good story to tell little kids. oh no , i'm still rambling
ciao,
parker

[Indawoods]

I'm only messin' with ya Jon! You know I've had my fair share of down time this year. I wish ya a speedy recovery.

[KDXGarage]

Sorry to hear about your knee. I wish you a speedy recovery!

[Green Hornet]

Good Luck & feel better JAFO

[jafo]

I'm still in the process of getting all the bruising healed up right now. The bottom of my thigh bone and the top of my calf bone is bruised bad. So is the bottom of the hamstring and top of the calf muscle. Theres alot of blood in my muscle areas right at and around my knee. Thats whats causing most of the swelling and pain on the back side of my knee. It's slowly getting better. I just hope it's ready to go by the time of the surgery or I'll have to wait longer. Just think, I've been riding all this time with this stuff. I knew something was realy wrong when I landed from a jump a month ago and it hurt like hell. But the dedicated rider I am, I just kept plugging away until now. I'm finding it really hard to stay off the bike. I almost talked myself into going out this weekend riding. Almost. I don't want to delay this surgery any longer than I have to, thats the only thing keeping me at home. I wanna ride BAD!!!!!!!!

Jon.

[KDX200Kev]

Sorry to read that you tore your ACL. I have had my ACL replaced. What I concluded is the surgery doesn't even get you half way. Don't get me wrong the surgery is important and needs to be done correctly. However, if you don't work your a*s off in physical therapy you will not get the full range of motion and strength back. I went to a Sport Physical Therapist three times a week and worked out for 3 to 4 hours a session. I did this for five and half months and I was not only in great shape but my knee was completely back to normal. At that time I was released to go back to sport activities. Your ACL will not reach its full strength until 9 to 12 months. As I recall at three months the reconstructed ACL is at its weekest point, thus it is easy to tear at that time. I will be surprised if you are release to go back to riding 12 weeks after the surgery. After I was released the surgeon prescibed a CTI knee brace, which I use when I ride.

[Green Hornet]

You hear that Jafo? -DO NOT RIDE-Listen to someone who has had the surgery & sucessful rehab. The temptation is hard, but whats the sense of going under the knife with poor results in the future.

[jafo]

Kev, did you do the cadaver replacement ACL? Thats what I'm going to get. I understand what your saying but I did'nt realise it would take that long to get back on the bike from this surgery. I'm going to take it as it comes. The physical therapist I'm getting is one of the top ACL rehab guys around here if not the best. I've known him for quite some time, went to school with him and he's worked on my busted up body before and has come out with great results.

I fully plan on busting my ass in rehab. Thats whats good about this rehab guy. He pulls no punches and is on top of you 100% of the time with no let down or let off. Just the pure "want" to get back to riding will fuel my desire to get this thing done ASAP. I want to race bad. So bad I can taste it. I've watched some A riders practice today, and I'm really confident I can run that pace even with my knee banged up.

Whoops! Let the cat out of the bag on that last one. I could'nt stand it any longer and took the bike out today for a little fun. There were some guys out there with it looked like GNCC numbers on thier bikes running together through the woods. So I played around them watching them. Thoguht about ghosting them for awhile but thought the better of it. They were cooking, but I confident I think I could keep up with them no problem. They looked like class A or Class B riders. They were pretty fast.

I had to go out today. I've been wanting to ride it with the new jetting. Made a big difference too. Much more fun to ride. Could'nt take it up any rocky hills or nothing but it was fun all the same. Ran out of gas too.

Jon.

[KDX200Kev]

Yes, I had a cadaver ACL replacement. The physical therapist will be the one who recommends when you are ready to return to sport activities. However the surgeon will be the one who decides when you are ready to be released. My surgeon was very strict about the recovery. Then again he was mentored by the doctor who developed the current procedure used for performing ACL surgeries. He is now considered one of the best surgeons in the USA for this type of surgery. He has done surgeries for professional sport athlete’s, famous people and even other doctors. You want to make sure you have a good surgeon. I have heard of horror stories of these surgeries be done incorrectly. And then you end up having to do it again. Wasting time, money and enduring extra pain. My surgeon ends up redoing a lot of ACL surgeries which were done incorrectly by other doctors.

Don't get the surgery until you are serious about it. Just go buy a CTI brace. If your knee does not give out for normal activities this might be the way for you to go. Initially my ACL had a partial tear which I lived with for 14 years at which point it tore. Then my knee would give way going down a spiral stair case or playing with my sons. Thus, time for surgery.

For success you need to do your homework. Make sure you have the right surgeon, know which company processes the cadaver (check their history for problems, since you don't want to end up with AIDS or other diseases), build up your leg muscles for a quicker recovery, and you are ready to with stand the time of waiting for the recovery to be complete. Your physical therapist friend can tell you what exercises you should do now. Make sure you let the swelling go down, then build up your leg strength and then have the surgery or your recovery time will take longer. After your surgery your knee will be so… swollen that you will not see it. Your knee will be as stiff as a board and your muscles in your leg will shrink before your eyes. Thus you will be put on a machine in bed bending your knee for 8 to 12 hours a day for the first week or two. And when you get out of bed the first week the blood rushing down to your leg will feel like a thousand needles sticking in the side of your shin. At least that is what I experienced. This is a surgery you only want to do once if you have to.

If you are serious about this surgery it is a good time to tear the motorcycle apart to regressed, replace, rebuild, polish, shine, clean etc…, since it is harder to ride a bike in pieces. Just in case you get the urge. Just my two cents.

[jafo]

Thanks for the info Kev. I was looking for someone who's had this same surgery. The surgeon I'm going to is pretty good also. It took me alittle longer to get into him but he's the best one around. I've been to others and they did'nt settle with me as well as this one. He realy seems to know his stuff and exsudes alot of confidence so I'll just have to trust him. Besides he's come recommended by more than one person on this surgery so I feel pretty good about this guy.

It all sounds like a lot of fun. My knee does'nt completely give out but it trys to. This is only like walking up and down stairs. I don't even think about trying to run or cutting while running because I know what will happen and it's painful, it also involves hitting the ground. I'm already set to have the surgery, the surgeon tried to talk me out of it so to speak, but I told him I wanted it fixed and I ride dirtbikes and depend on this leg for stability alot. I also want to be able to run and stuff for training. I'm set as far as the knee braces go, I was told that I'm going to get a set of those also after all is said and done. The surgeon thats doing my knee has had both of his knees done, he also asked me why I like riding my bike so much, when I told him why he likened me to another orthopedic surgeon that still races motocross and has had both of his ACL's repaired also. My surgeons assistant is going to talk with him and see what braces he went with being he does the same thing I do, ride dirtbikes. I feel like I'm in good hands, and I'll be sure to ask them about the donor company and see what they say. They seem very forthcomming about information.

Jon.

[KDX200Kev]

Sounds good. One last comment. Work hard on the range of motion for your knee. As I recall you have approximately 45 days to get it back. It hurts working it everyday, but it is one of the most important things to accomplish after the surgery. I thing you are ready for the journey, and when you are done you should be in better shape for riding.

I would be interested to hear what the motocross Doctor recommends regarding knee brace's.

[Kawboy]

First off I'll say Hi all.
This is my first post, I'm sure it'll make INDA happy.

On our recent adventure to Taylorville I went down on the first day due to lack of practice and a BIG ASS COUCH RUT! I haven't been to doctor yet but my right knee is about twice the size of my left. I really feel for you guys that have torn your ACL. I'm hoping for the best that I didn't do the same. I guess I will find out Monday or as soon as I can get an appointment. Symtoms sound similar in that I can walk and move OK but stairs really suck! I thoght I would give it about a week to see if there was any improvement. There has been some but not enough to convince me that it will heal on it's own. I will keep y'all posted.

[KDXer]

Welcome and best of luck at the quacks....

[jafo]

Kev, I'll let you know as soon as I find out myself. My checkup for the bruising is on the 28th of this month, if that checkes out surgery is scheduled for the 10 of Oct. Then it's on to funville.

Kawboy, if I have learned anything about knee injuries sfter all the things I've been through with my own knee in the last three months is that these types of injuries are hard to pinpoint to what exactly is broke, if anything. There are so many different things in your knee to tear or rip apart and other parts that just get damaged that it's hard to tell whats messed up. Thats kinda what I went through at first. Basicaly I did two different injuries to my knee at seperate times. This is what I figured happened to my knee based on all the info I got from four different doctors the final one being a specialist which summed it all up. The first injury I got was when my bike slid into the side of my knee making a loud but dull popping sound, according to the specialist he seen that I had some damage to the inside "side" tendon of my knee, but it had scard and healed itself, the ACL he said he could'nt understand how I tor it because 99% of the time it takes a severe twist of the knee to do this. It's a very common injury in basketball because of the pivoting you do and how your foot gets planted and does'nt pivot when you twist around ripping your ACL. Thats when I told him about two weeks later I twisted it pretty bad on a hill I got stuck on trying to keep the bike upright. I think my foot slid on the loose rock into a rut and the bike started backwards down the hill and it twisted my knee badly. That one put me on the ground and hurt like hell, it also swelled quite a bit. It did'nt do me anygood continuing to ride for three more hours and twisting it about ten more times that day. So that explained the torn ACL injury and how that happened. It's also possible to hipeflex your knee and that hurts too and also causes swelling. The key is whether your knee actually gives out on you or like me it feels like it wants to give out. Basicaly the best I can describe my symptoms the best is this way, the knee just did not feel right, it felt like it wanted to give out and the only reason it did'nt is because I kind of took it easy and knew my limits, I had three doctors go through the stability check and said the knee felt stable even though it was'nt. Basicaly the only way your going to actualy tell whats wrong if anything is go to the doctor and get an MRI done and diagnosed by a reputable orthopedic surgeon. Thats my best advice other than use and ice pack everyday on it followed by a heat pad. The ice will drop the swelling and the heat helps with circulation. You have to have circulation for healing your joints, it's everything and thats why you have to drop the swelling so you inprove your circulation, the heat just helps with circulation. If it does'nt get better in a week, go to the doc and get an MRI and find a reputable Orthop. Surgeon to diagnose. Good luck and hopefuly it's nothing serious. If you do ride like I still do, make sure you get a goosd knee support and or brace and keep off the nasty stuff. Thats what I do. I still ride with speed, but I stay off the bad stuff where I might get in trouble. Good luck.

Jon.

[Little Jeff]

I had ACL reconstruction surgery last Sept 10th of 2008. Dr was going for the double hamstring graph, but complications arose with that and he got the graph from the quad muscle right above the injured knee. Rehab was not very pleasant at first, but then I liked going because everytime I went, I got more range of motion and just a "little" stronger. After you PT is done and overwith, join a good gym and continue to work out. Do excercises like squats, leg extensions, hamstring curls, hip abductions and adductions and definately a stationary bike. The bike is probably the best thing for your knee after surgery. One excercise that you can do at home is to stand on a pillow with your bad leg and keep your good leg off the ground. The pillow will make your balance unstable and really work your muscles to keep balance, but stand next to a wall for that one. I started riding after about 7 months, but just take it real easy for a few months or up to a year after surgery. It takes a long time for soft tissue to heal to bone (your graph) Hope that helps
Little Jeff