I think there are nuggets of truth in all the comments above to be honest.
The absolute key is to speak to your physio about what is happening, be frank and lay it all on the line - they will give you good advise about when it is safe to step back on a board.
My experience was pretty bad: I ruptured my ACL, tore my PCL and the cartiledge; the good old English health service spent a while trying to convince me there was no point having operations at all ("you won't be able to run, but we think you should take that route") but I refused to accept that and took private advice.All in all it took 2 years to have all the ops I needed to fix things, and then another year to heal enough to consider skating - the healing took longer because I had a lot done and because it had taken them so long to operate in the first place.
I found it quite traumatising - woke up in cold sweats from dreaming about doing it for a few months afterwards, and really had to think about things and take the decision that my long-term health was the most important thing: I want to be mobile when I'm old basically and that is more important than skating. But I defintiely took the view that I could not let it break me - that it was a random freak accident and unlikely to happen again if I wasn't stupid: once I'd been assured and re-assured by the physio that I would be able to skate again I forced myself to overcome my fears etc - I think I had to really, or risk being miserable and pretty inactive for the rest of my life - whereas now I live a totally normal, active life.
But the physio did say it would be ok to roll - just roll - a few months after the op. The main problem with me was phsychological - I was scared it would go again and that held me back a lot for a while which, in retrospect, was a good thing. I have to admit, like Sanch refers to, I got really frustrated not trying tricks etc and seeing everyone else skating normally, and found it easier to step away from all that until I could actually try to ollie etc (well nollie in my case for the first bit, as that put all the pressure on my good leg)
The other key is to be sensible about it and listen to your body very carefuly. I stepped things up very gradually - I didn't try any flip tricks for months because landing on an uneven surface with a healing knee is not a good move - and there's no way that would not have happened if I'd tried them. I didn't try block tricks or things like that either - not because I didn;t think I could do them, but because I didn't think I could handle the bails. It really is all about how you can handle *not* making the tricks - if you can't handle running properly or slipping out from something, then don't try things that involve that risk until you can handle it..
I found transition easier to skate at first - which seemed a bit weird as I was a street rat - because it is less hard physically; you can just slappy around and not put your body through the stress of ollieing etc. But again you should only skate a ramp if you can handle running out on a transition (and again running downhill is a frequent cause of ACL injuries due to hyperextensions etc, so be wise about it) - even when I could handle running I found myself just throwing myself onto random bits of my body to avoid runnign out: it was good comedy for anyone who skated with me!!
At the end of it, if you have good friends then they will laugh with you as you recover and that will take a lot of the stress out of it!
It is so easy to become jaded and bitter - I mean one minute you're used to skating all the time, being physically active and not even questioning it, the next you're practically housebound and unable to do even the basics: when I first started leaving the house it would take me 2 hours to make it to the video shop 100m away from my front door, and that is hard to handle.
I think the key there is to have, or develop, other interests or hobbies. I love writing (er hence the length of this post) and so wrote loads of stories etc as well as doing other random things (I did a few sensible things with my life like getting a house, which took up most of my time) - I swear it would have been worryingly easy to sit on the couch and just drink all day long to relieve the boredome: it was a bit of a scary insight into how easy it could be to just let go...
The good side though is that, if you are patient and see it all through then all will be well - my knee feels totally fine now and has done for quite some time (at this point it is two years since I started to do stuff again) and all hesitation has pretty much gone as I've proved to myself over time that it won't just randomly go again. I've got a refreshed perspective on skating and enjoy it so much now just because it so nearly got taken away from me - the only thing I don't skate is big drops as, frankly, I'm not paid to do that and have no motivation to risk hurting myself again - don;t let it get you down and all will definitely be well again!
I remember so clearly how I felt at the time; frustrated, scared I'd have a recurring injury, worried my life as I knew it had come to an end, not in a good way
BUT all my fears were pretty mch groundless, and I'm a stronger person from having gone through all of that
Hope this helps, and - sincerely - good luck!
Topic: ACL (Read 41189 times)