ACL and Medial Injury Advice

[hitmandk1985]

Hi all,

Back in 2007 I tore my ACL and sheered my Medial in half.

Had a clean up and physio, until now its never been the same and prob never will.

Always struggled to try and drop weight and strengthen it.

Recently got a kettle bell and battle rope to try and strengthen my core and my legs.

I feel stronger and feel like I could do sports again, but I have always been scared to because I had previously had some niggles now and again.

During football I would wear a knee brace...but I have up football for like 8 months now.

Does anyone have any advice, or any ideas I could use to improve the stability of my knee please?

Many thanks.

[pratman]

mate i did my ACL and tore my meniscus in half in an injury in 2006, the op didnt help, the meniscus never healed and when i play football (which is not often at all) my knee just swells up and clicks and pops all the time, the only exercises i would say are getting on a bike/elliptical trainer as they have minimal impact on the knee and then doing leg weights to help with it, these exercises have worked for me so help minimise knee pain after playing, but i did a lot of work on the legs before getting back to playing football, the main thing to remember is do not over work your knee for the first few times of playing football, just ease yourself into it. i have pretty much given up on footy because i used to play semi pro and since that injury i get more frustrated with myself more than anything so dont enjoy playing like i used to.

[honestDave]

You need to find other sports.

Sounds shit I know but you have to make your peace with that and be glad you enjoyed footie whilst it lasted and can still remain reasonably active.

Even if you do loads of leg work, really strengthen your VMO, and lose any excess weight / fat you carry, bottomline is anything that requires twisting and sudden changes in speed and direction will result in you popping your knee again.

[tonys]

Did you have a reconstruction of your acl?

I did mine years ago and although it took ages to get my strength and then confidence back it did return. There is a lot of work involved but it can be done.

I worked on general stability, lots of work with gym balls, lots of work making sure the legs was working in a straight line, lots of work to ensure i could balance on the knee.

[hitmandk1985]

Thanks for your responses.

Yeah, just since doing my knee I've always found it hard to really get back into anything, majority due to a fear of damaging it again.

Found it very tough to come to terms with as it was the one thing I REALLY enjoyed doing.

I normally play in goal so usually it was okay. Just I couldn't help going out and that's when it happens.

Do you both know of any good sports knee supports? I had a couple of expensive ones, but they just wore out so quickly.

Thanks again!

[hitmandk1985]

I had a "clean up".

So taking all the strands that broke and any other debris that was inside.

Then a long time in physio. Although I've never felt right since...

[hoponbaby]

Best support I've found is the ones they sell in lidl of all places, cost about £10 and way better than the £30+ one I had from decathlon