Hello to all! I recieved a devastating injury and I am writing to seek your advice. I was playing basketball for my team last week. I was jumping up for a rebound when the opposing center jumped over my back to grab a rebound and I injured my knee in the process. After the game finished, it was very hard for me to bend my injured left leg, much less walk on it. I was in pain that whole night and iced down. The next day, however, I was able to walk but with a very slight limp. When I went to the doctor (took X-rays) it was revealed that I had fluid in the knee/swollen knee/partially torn ACL and that I couldn't play for the next 2 weeks. The news was very disappointing to me, but I was grateful that I am not out for a longer time. Now, I'm writing you to hear your advice. I want to know what are the chances of re-injuring the leg, and if I would be able to be at full strength. I also want to you if you all ever heard of any who has cope with the injury and how they did it? Do you know of any exercises that I can do to rehab it. I really want to return to the courts. Thanks.
Oh, God. Too much knowledge about this, sadly, although most of it is second person. ( My Dad's pro baseball career was ended by a devastating complete tear of both CLs.) But I can only talk in generalities here, as it really depends on the extent of the tear and where it occurred. If they are saying you can play again in 2 weeks, the presumtion is that it's very, very minor. If you are concerned, at all, get a second opinion. Now the bad news...and this is mitigated by the fact that this might apply to as minor of a degree as the injury is serious, but still: Almost any injury increases the likelyhood of reccurence. This increases if you don't properly rehab, although again, in this case, there is probably not all that mcuh call for it. I would aks for very specific limitations/goals from your doctor ( keep off it for X long, when 1st walking, limit duration to X, etc.) but beyond those limitations do as much as possible to increase strength in the area surrounding the injury. Good luck JAG
Ugh. I wince to even think about this kind of thing. Injuries are bad but when you aren't getting paid to put up with the pain and the rehab....... I cracked my patella and tore off my patella tendon in mid-September and I still can't walk without a pretty good limp. When I was on crutches I had dozens of people come up to winking and nodding... "ACL?" They all seemed to be doing okay and most had resumed normal activity. Best of luck!
Do 500 pound squats. That should fix you up. Ok, so I'm kidding. I don't know. What did your doctor say regarding the exercises?
i thought partially torn ACLs were a complete bugger, as they may or may not completely heal..... i am fairly sure there is not that much to do fix/rehab the acl itself, just that you build up the muscles around it..... i'm fairly sure one of my mates when he partially tore his the docs just told him to continue to play and there was not they could do and that it might be fine, but the onyl real way to fix it is have a reconstruction so then you may aswell keep playin until it fully goes
I've torn both my ACLs completely on separate occasions. After reconstruction, both were stronger and more stable than they were before. I played basketball with no problem other than having lost some of my speed and quickness. The chance of re-tearing an ACL after reconstruction is almost zero. But you asked about partial tears. When I tore my first one I got an MRI that said that it was torn completely. The orthopedist, however, disagreed with the radiologist and thought it was a partial tear. So he recommended arthroscopic surgery. But -- he put me under general and I signed off on reconstruction if he found a complete tear while he was doing the scope. I awoke from surgery, and he told me he found a tear but opted to "debride" it instead of complete reconstruction. The plan was to wait six months and see if that took care of it. Of course, it didn't. Six months later I still needed full reconstruction. But, due to a busy work schedule, I couldn't afford to take time off for recovery, so I delayed the operation. Basically, I didn't have the reconstruction until almost 18 months after the injury, when there really was no reason not to have it done immediately -- my doctor was too conservative and was wrong when he disputed the radiologist's reading of the MRI. (The second time I tore an ACL I went to different doctor who scheduled me for the surgery immediately after examining the knee and seeing the MRI results.) So, my advice is to make absolutely sure you have a "partial" tear ASAP. Get a second opinion. Make sure you get an MRI -- I'm not sure that an X-ray can conclusively diagnose a torn ACL. (If there are any doctors here, feel free to tell me that I'm wrong about that.) You don't want to wait around and find out in a few months you need the full surgery anyway. As for rehab, the best way to is to rehab with professionals. Can your doctor write you a prescription for physcical therapy? Those professionals can give you a program for getting back to basketball much better than a bunch of Rocket fans on a BBS. (Having said that, work your hamstrings. Both times I did rehab for ACLs they stressed strengthening my hamstrings to give stability to the injured knee.) Happy to answer any more questions from my personal experience, but I'm not a doctor ...
My doctor told me that there was a partial torn so I guess its very minor and gave me a book that had some excercises in it. I have been doing the excercises and hope to return to the ball court in one and a half weeks.
Thanks for your support and advice. My knee feels a lot better so I guess the injury was extremely minor. I have been icing it and compressing it a lot. Hopefully I will be able to play again this up-coming Wednesday
A 2nd opinion won't hurt you. I'd get it just to be safe. Doctors screw up and have bad days just like the rest of us.
