skating after acl surgery

[dank scorpio]

any of yall know anything about it? i had acl surgery almost a month ago now and i'm really itchin to skate at this point, but know it's gonna be a while. i pretty much have full range of motion now but theres no way i can even run yet let alone skate.  if anybodys been through it or know anyone who has, how long til you could skate again, and does it feel fucked up at all later on down the road?

[mooraga]

any of yall know anything about it? i had acl surgery almost a month ago now and i'm really itchin to skate at this point, but know it's gonna be a while. i pretty much have full range of motion now but theres no way i can even run yet let alone skate.  if anybodys been through it or know anyone who has, how long til you could skate again, and does it feel fucked up at all later on down the road?

for what I know, takes 6 months to a year to recover, unless you are danny way
take it easy, you have a long way to full recover.

[LOU.502]

get ISUCK in here i feel like he'd know. hasn't he had like three of those?

[cliff]

DO YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPY!! low impact like elliptical machine or a bike, swimming is super good, lot's of stretching!! and wait at least 5 months before skating but listen to your body and if it doesn't feel right don't push it! As a skateboarder I know it's hard but last thing you want is to hurt yourself again.

Use the internet or books for info about proper diet and supplements life fish oil, glucosamine and Chondroitin for your joints and cartilage. Check out this book by Pete Egoscue.

You'll be good to go before you know it if you really work on it until you start to skate. Good luck homie!!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&q=pain+free+pete+egoscue&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1228&bih=643&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=16856647439524286869&sa=X&ei=tomAT72pMqK3iwLRspTuAg&ved=0CEoQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers
 

[Crazy Ralph]

get mine done April 19th...ive had my meniscus repaired before and that took 2 months to recover from...my doctor said it's AT LEAST a 6 month recovery as long as you keep up with physical therapy and dont rush back into it. i'd say 8 months should be reasonable enough to get fully back at it if you keep up with everything.

[Fenzadill]

DO YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPY!! low impact like elliptical machine or a bike, swimming is super good, lot's of stretching!! and wait at least 5 months before skating but listen to your body and if it doesn't feel right don't push it! As a skateboarder I know it's hard but last thing you want is to hurt yourself again.

Yeah, the physical therapy is important.  Also, for the rest of your life, try to slam rather than run out of missed tricks, or you will probably blow your knee out again.

Everybody is all gay for glucosamine and chrondroitin supplements, but they don't do dick for me, and studies have shown it's hardly more effective than a placebo.  Fish oil has actual positive effects though (personally speaking).

Anybody remember that Big Brother interview with Louie Barletta where he talks about taking a shitload of gluco/chrondroitin at once to try to speed ankle healing, and it made his piss come out like snot?

[SOFT 7]

listen to Cliff - do your PT and do what your physio says. alcohol and cigarettes will slow down your recovery big time, and you won't be as strong when you come back. stay away from fast food and "food-like products". learn all you can about nutrition. eat lots of fruits and vegetables. organic if possible. real food is medicine. If you are patient and you do it right, you can come back stronger than you were before you got hurt.

[j....soy.....]

Not only do your PT, but try and find some stuff that you can get into for life, ie. stretching, riding a bike, a gym program, because you will need to do those things in order to skate for a long time. 

[dank scorpio]

DO YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPY!! low impact like elliptical machine or a bike, swimming is super good, lot's of stretching!! and wait at least 5 months before skating but listen to your body and if it doesn't feel right don't push it! As a skateboarder I know it's hard but last thing you want is to hurt yourself again.

Use the internet or books for info about proper diet and supplements life fish oil, glucosamine and Chondroitin for your joints and cartilage. Check out this book by Pete Egoscue.

You'll be good to go before you know it if you really work on it until you start to skate. Good luck homie!!

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&safe=off&client=safari&rls=en&q=pain+free+pete+egoscue&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1228&bih=643&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=16856647439524286869&sa=X&ei=tomAT72pMqK3iwLRspTuAg&ved=0CEoQ8wIwAg#ps-sellers
? 

good shit man definitely something to look into.

[Patey]

i know everything about this subject.

had mine replaced and meniscus surgery as well about a year and a half ago. probably one of the hardest things i've went through in my life.

do your physio, obviously. i spent a lot of time on a stationary bike. seemed to help.

i told my PT that i basically got the surgery so i could continue skating, and she gave me the go ahead around 6 or 7 months. started out with the flatground shit and kept it light.

now today i am back to skating to my full ability and havent had a problem since. thankfully.

my advice, other than do your physio, would be to just be fuckin careful. i was messing around drunk and fell on my bad knee about 4 or 5 months in and i cant tell you how scared and upset i was. luckily it didnt re-tear anything, but its easy to fall back to square one if you make a stupid mistake.

it gets better, but dont rush the skating. good luck.

[anthonym]

As everyone has said, DO YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPY. I had ACL reconstruction about a year and a half ago. I really really slacked on my PT, and I paid the price. My knee was pretty weak for a long time, and it's still not 100% yet. I wasn't able to get back into skating until well after a year from my surgery. I mean, I was skating as transportation, but ollieing and such was completely out of the question. Start off slow when you get back into it, and dont push it too far. I still have a lot of knee pain and sometimes after a hard session, I have to wait a couple days to recoup before I can go ride again. If I had it to do all over again, I would have done all my PT hard.

[Midwest Disconnect]

Im in the same situation except i tore my patellar tendon in half. not expecting to be able to skate this year. nothing else to do but what it takes to recover.

[ihitmyheadalot]

I had my acl replaced on february first of this year.  they fixed my posterior ligaments and external miniscus at the same time.  Spent the first 9 weeks on crutches.. Started physio at 6 weeks.  Im on a cane now..
Ive been told 6 months by my surgeon before ill be back on a board but he also told me id only be on crutches for 6 weeks so i'm a little skeptical.
My physiotherapist is awesome and she says most of my recovery delay is because of the extent of work i had done.. seeing as it wasnt just the acl i had replaced.  I'm not gonna lie im a little nervous.  Everyone tells me im gonna bounce back and be fine but i have days where im really worried its not gonna let me keep going.  All i can do is listen to all the instructions and do what im told to the letter and hope for the best.  I'm not a smoker, never drank in my life and i'm never smoked weed or anything so i'm hoping that all works in my favor in the long run.  Good luck brother.. hope everything works out for you.

[zuma]

anyone had ankle surgery? it seems like a lot have had knee reconstructions (thomas, dollin, cale nuske, jerry, cliff, omar and everyone posting in this thread), but how about ankles? i know jerry's had a few surgeries on his, but its his knee that still gives him trouble.

the dr wants to do ligament reconstruction on mine which he says will take 6 months to recover from. i've read of it being more like a year. i need to get cleaned up with removing a bone spur and some tissue thats being pinched, thats all i really want done. i know that will be much less to recover from, so i think that's all i'm going to go with. also, anyone had an osteotomy? shit sounds fucked, its where they cut/shorten/re-align bone. i've got some bone irregularity in my ankle thats annoying but i dont think i really need it removed, by the sounds of it, if i get that done i'll probably never be able to skate again.

let me just say, FUCK INJURIES.

get everything in there fixed! if there s ligaments missing you ll get your ankle moving to places it shouldn t move. you don t really feel it at first but after a couple years you may end up with cronic pain and little ankle movement due to athrosis. and that shit s permanent most of the time and hurts like a motherfucker that s fo sho. like the worst hotpocket all year round... so get that shit done.

i ve hat 3 acl surgeries on one of my knees. i have to say the doctor is most crucial. the first 2 were done by a regular dude. both of them blew out rather quick even though i did proper physio. last one i payed a shitload for but bounced back no problem.

after surgery you really need to get yourself to build up the muscle and stretch! if the surgery was done proper then you re all good. also the new ligament needs about 9 mounths to fully grow to the bone and have blood flow in it. in these 9 mounths you can easily fuck your shit up again if you re not careful. i was rollin around after 5 mounts and little by little started doing tricks. when the 9 mounths were over it was still a while till i was back to normal.

just be patient and listen to your body!

[rs312]

Physical therapy is what get's you back moving.

But a doctor who has knowledge of sport injuries, is more likely to understand you, if you tell him you want to skate again.

I wasn't satisfied with the opinion of the first doctor, so I went to a second one.

Both patella luxations I had, were caused by playing soccer.

I want to skate again, but try to remain patient.

[Silent Bob.]

I think the advice in here is perfect; do all exercises on the daily, cycle lots if you get the chance as that's really good for knee injuries and be really patient - its better to do it right and come back properly than rush things and end up with permanent problems. I had my ACL replaced by grafted hamstring, my PCL and cartilage fixed up- it was scary and you do look for reassurance anywhere. Personally it took a while at the time but that was years ago and I honestly haven't looked back - I skate everything and don't really think about it. The only concession I make is not doing big stairs / drops / big rails just because I have too much fun on the board and don't want to risk it. The advice about not running out where possible is pretty valid - I did mine in the first place by running out of a fakie 5.0 on a ramp (weirs as i mainly skated street) with my body twisted wrong.

Main thing is if someone like Cliff can take out his knee as hard as he did and come back as hard as he has then you can do it too. I took him as my inspiration for getting back (think I messaged you about it at the time Cliff and you were kind enough to give good advice).

In retrospect it was *almost* a good thing. I had to stay away from skating for the first time since being a little kid as otherwise it would have made me insane ( or I'd have snapped and jumped on a board which would have been stupid) so I used the time to sort the rest of my life out, which was something I'd been neglecting in favour of skating for years

Sorry long post - basically it will be alright, hang in there and good luck!

[GarglesCmen]

DO YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPY!! low impact like elliptical machine or a bike, swimming is super good, lot's of stretching!! and wait at least 5 months before skating but listen to your body and if it doesn't feel right don't push it! As a skateboarder I know it's hard but last thing you want is to hurt yourself again.

Yeah, the physical therapy is important.  Also, for the rest of your life, try to slam rather than run out of missed tricks, or you will probably blow your knee out again.

Everybody is all gay for glucosamine and chrondroitin supplements, but they don't do dick for me, and studies have shown it's hardly more effective than a placebo.  Fish oil has actual positive effects though (personally speaking).

Anybody remember that Big Brother interview with Louie Barletta where he talks about taking a shitload of gluco/chrondroitin at once to try to speed ankle healing, and it made his piss come out like snot?

This is a key, if I followed this, I wouldn't have blown out my knee skating this one flatbar spot.

[Staun]

You're lucky that you just tore the ACL and not the mensicus as well. I did both at the same time and it was definitely one of the hardest things to deal with in my life. Definitely finish your PT, I didn't and my knee still bothers me like all the time.  You'll pretty much know when you can skate again, but take it easy obviously.  And expect to have to re-learn and to have problems with committing. (I did at least) good luck man

[Skate Edge]

I came off my board straight legged and tore my ACL off along with a piece of my tibia.  They screwed the broken piece of bone back onto the tibia.  I didn't skate for 3 1/2 years after that, but most of that time I wasn't skating by choice.  I slacked off on PT and I can't fully squat or straighten my leg ever again.  Skating sucks in that respect, but there are plenty of other ways I could break my leg too.  That's my way of rationalizing this ridiculous thing we do called skateboarding.

[Lordata]

What's this feel like? I have a feeling I tore mine or at least stretched it bad once and it took forever to recover. Didn't see a doctor, mostly just walked and kept my knee straight. Started riding a bike a lot. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

[Staun]

It feels like your knee is completely unstable. Like any wrong movement will tweak the shit out of it. You'd walk with a serious limp. It kinda feels liquidy and just weak.

[natenola forever]

yeah, the doctor that fixed my ACl is the orthopedist for most of the pro athletes here in New Orleans and he put me on the 10 month program,
everyone says it takes about a year to fully heal. A lot of skate pros and other athletes go at around 5 or 6 months because it is their occupation
and they have a very good chance at re tearing it even if it fully heals. I'm only allowed to push around till june, i wanna skate badly but im gonna do this right and wait for it to fully get better. I ride my bike 8 miles about 4-5 times a week and i go to the gym 3-4 times a week and do tons of leg movement weight exercises and put about 25 minutes a day on the ski machine. You can feel the difference when you put the effort to work it.

[Seamus_McShamebag]

Also, for the rest of your life, try to slam rather than run out of missed tricks,

This is a money shot because the truth behind it despite how ridiculous it sounds.  If you want to stop your car don't bother with the brakes just run it into a brick wall.

I think taking this approach has saved my knees a lot of wear and tear.  I got my start skating with transition and I got accustomed to eating shit in a manner that resulted in a full body slam/slide and I try to take the same approach on ledges or rails or anything else and essentially combat roll out of everything.  When you think about the mass of your body, your knees are definitely a weak link in the chain so it's good to disperse the energy through everything else when things go south.  Generally, if you manage to take the brunt of it with meaty soft tissue like your butt, thigh and then roll onto your shoulders then you'll be walking away without any injuries other than bumps and bruises.  Running out of something always exposes you to the risk of an awkward twist or tweak.

[Skate Edge]

How do you roll out of a trick without risking wrist injury?  If you suck in your wrists and fall on your shoulder, you'll probably hit the side of your head on the ground.

[jerrys_kids]

If you had the petella graph the biggest thing I can say is make sure your petella is good before you start skating again, Ive had two surgeries now and my ACL is fine, but my petella is busted, and thats honestly more important than your ACL.

[Seamus_McShamebag]

How do you roll out of a trick without risking wrist injury?  If you suck in your wrists and fall on your shoulder, you'll probably hit the side of your head on the ground.

Flailing wrists are for art galleries.  Just throw an elbow out there and you'll be good.  I'll take a bout of bursitis over reconstructive knee surgery any day. 

In the end it's all just a carcass toss and you don't always have much choice in terms of what bloodletting sacrifice you wish to honor the 7-ply maple gods with.  Hope everybody the best with healing and I just think it's fucking rad that there is an epidemic of fat people letting their bodies go to complete waste meanwhile people with this obsessive passion will endure all kinds of shit and keep coming back for more.  Remember that you'll heal with patience and that the time off will just fuel the fire and negate the threat of burning out.

[Style Police]

You'll be fine in about a year and can start skating in 6 month after surgery. Stay healthy, do your PT and make sure to stretch. I did my left ACL and my left hip/knee are still stiff compared to my right side. Oh and pick up a girl friend and guitar to kill the time.

[Lordata]

It feels like your knee is completely unstable. Like any wrong movement will tweak the shit out of it. You'd walk with a serious limp. It kinda feels liquidy and just weak.

Ok thanks. I walked with a limp but it wasn't completely unstable, probably just tweaked it bad.

after reading the rest of the thread,
I'm going to stop trying to run out of tricks as often now, because I've definitely banged my knees a few more times than anyone should.

 

If you had the petella graph the biggest thing I can say is make sure your petella is good before you start skating again, Ive had two surgeries now and my ACL is fine, but my petella is busted, and thats honestly more important than your ACL.

Hey man the petalla is your knee cap right? I've had pain in mine before, basically wore knee pads then stopped, but still knee slid a couple times without them. any suggestions to keep it healthy? I really don't want to hurt it anymore.

[Midwest Disconnect]

Hey man the petalla is your knee cap right? I've had pain in mine before, basically wore knee pads then stopped, but still knee slid a couple times without them. any suggestions to keep it healthy? I really don't want to hurt it anymore.

The large tendon that you can feel below the knee cap is the petella.  It also wraps around the knee cap which may be where your pain comes from.

Im sure things mentioned before like stretching and riding a bike will help the strength.  I start PT for mine next month.  If I get any good tips i'll post em

[artichoke]

Anybody ever had a radial head (forearm/elbow) replaced?