ACL

[pratman]

right...........well i snapped my ACL and sliced my meniscus in two in 2006, my knee is screwed but i think thats more to do with the fact that the surgeons stitched my meniscus in the hope that it will heal (it never has)

the surgery, well you will be under if you have full construction and then will have local also in your upper thigh area i think and also around the knee. you will have around 4 incisions, one will be to pump saline into your knee area to blow it up so they can work, and then i think one for a camera, one for getting to your hamstring to get 2 of the tendons of the 5 you have in your hamstring (so your hamstring will be weak and you will have to work that harder to recover that) and then that is screwed into place.

So depending on the damage there will be one of 2 big incisions, the tidy one which is what i had is where they cut around 2 inches below the knee cap and slice around 3 inches across and get in there and cut out the old ACL and screw in the new. if its a bit more messy you may have the cut my mate had which will take a little longer to recover as they slice down the centre of the kneecap and move the kneecap aside to clean the area out and replace the ACL.

you will be kept in overnight and will be released after being given a quick session on how to walk on the crutches and off you go home.

you will be on crutches for around 4-6 weeks maybe less depending on how you get on with recovery. the physio sessions start immediately, i would say ensure you do a lot of the exercises at home and dont be lazy because the physios will know and also as i found out first hand they will FORCE your leg to fully lock out because the hardest thing i found was to get your full extension back and hyper-extension back to get as close as you can to your good leg.

within a week of leaving you will also have any staples removes from the bigger incision if you have had staples put in, do make sure a few hours before that you take some painkillers because i didnt and get just plucked those badboys out and it stings.

most important thing is to push yourself to a point but dont go too far because it will only delay your recovery. if i think of anyhting else i will let you know and if you have any questions about anything in particular just ask mate.

p.s total recovery is between 9 - 12 months before you can go back to doing full activity on your knee