Help Regarding Torn Acl

[Zakuraba]

Hey guys. I apologize for the long post, but I have quite a serious injury that I want to discuss in detail so that whomever offers me advice will know my situation. Thank you ahead of time.

I recently found out I have a completely torn ACL. I acquired this injury TWO months ago while playing football. I did not get tackled, but was merely making a change in direction when I heard a loud pop and collapsed in pain. This is where it gets idiotic. Not knowing what the extent of the injury was, after about 20 minutes of sitting down, I STARTED TO WALK ON IT. I limped, but I did walk. Afterwards, I went home and iced it for a bit, and started trying to find out what had happened. Using only amateur tools like the internet, I figured it was a sprain, since there was severe swelling and I had limited mobility.

That very night, I went out. Being the dumbass that I am, I only iced/kept it elevated for a short period of time. After a week, I went on a pre-planned trip to Big Bear. During the trip, I walked on a patch of ice and my knee buckled/gave out and I fell, which caused some pain. I figured I had slightly reinjured my then precieved-to-be sprain.

STILL having NO CLUE whatsoever that the extent of the injury was as serious as a torn ACL, I continued to walk on it for a few days until I could get crutches and a knee brace. Afterwards, I wore the brace for a while, and went to the doctor. I got an X-ray, but nothing showed up. My doctor told me it was probably a sprain, but that if it didn't go away after a week, I should come back for an MRI. During this week of wait I used the crutches and brace on and off, and my knee seemed to be getting better. After another week, I went to get the MRI. I took it, and was told I would get the results in a few days.

Fast forward TWO WEEKS and I had STILL NOT heard anything from the MRI results. I finally called and the place gave me some bullshit about them not having transfered it over to my doctor's office yet. They told me over the phone (and I am pretty sure they just fed me bullshit to give me some kind of hollow results) that I had bone bruising and probably fluid build-up (whatever the **** this meant, they did not explain any further). A little bit after my MRI, I fell while walking and landed directly on my hurt knee. I felt no immediate pain, but noticed that the swelling that had mostly gone down came back just a bit.

After another week of hassling them I was able to schedule an appointment with a specialist. By this time my knee had (or so I thought) healed up rather well and I was walking on it just fine. The buckling had even stopped and I walked mostly normally, with the occasional minor sharp pain and a little bit of swelling. I also could almost lock my knee at this point, but still not fully. Then, like an overhand right from Chuck Liddell, I was told I had a completely torn ACL and would require surgery.

Now, this is just my situation, my question is, however, SHOULD/COULD I WAIT UNTIL SUMMER TO GET THE SURGERY? Realize that I have had this injury for 2 months now, and have been walking on it for the whole time. I have no clue how this could have further injured my knee or affected my other ligaments, meniscus, etc. The reason I want to wait until Summer is because I am a student in college right now, and I am in a rigorous academic semester that is halfway through. From WHAT I HAVE HEARD, it would be anywhere from 2 days to 2 weeks that I would be bed-ridden immediately after the surgery. Then, I have been told that the projected time before I can walk on my own two feet is 6 weeks. The specialist told me that I would need to take work off during these 6 weeks, and possibly school too. Now, I do not want to take school off and set myself behind academically, BUT, MORE IMPORTANTLY, I would rather do what's best for my knee.

The specialist I consulted HAS SINCE SAID that the surgery CAN WAIT TIL SUMMER. However, I wanted to get a second opinion of if I should or not. Like I said, I don't know if or what kind of further injury I have done to my knee just by walking on it and not realizing it was a torn ACL for the past 2 months. If I have damaged it further, and have the possiblity of damaging it further (or stagnating my recovery after surgery) by waiting 2 months until summer to preform the surgery, then I would rather just postpone my school-life to fix it ASAP.


Also, I have been told that my two options for the surgery are to either take pieces from other ligaments and put (graft?) them into my ACL, or I can take them form bone(?) from a cadaver. If anyone could please let me know the risks/advantages of either choice, I would be forever indebted.

Thank you for listening to my story, and I hope someone will be able to offer advice.

[A killies]

Dude.........Get your self sorted out, your health is more important than college/work. This a serious inury you have sustained (I have done it) have your surgery and get better, then go back to college/work. Talk to you college/work...........can you not work from home? Best advise have surgery and get both the AT and knee sorted out ASAP........Good Luck

[Rob N]

A killies:
You can find a discussion of the pros and cons of all of the graft options at the following website: info@orthoassociates.com/ACL_grafts.htm
Rob N

[rachael]

Hiya,

I would get yourself sorted while you are young and fit, (i gather u are in early 20s.)

i say this because im waiting for 2 operations the first one is hip atrhroscopy for a labrum tear of hip. BUT hopefully I will not need long off work but my 2nd surgery is a hip osteotomy which is major surgery for which i will require 12 months off work and the first few weeks cant walk. sounds like nightmare

Im worrying about my morgage and my job as a nurse ,cause lets face it employers dont like sickness know matter how genuine it is. Im 32 yrs old and yeah still young but i would advise u to get u surgery done now cause otherwise u will keep putting it off.

RACHAEL (LIVERPOOL ENGLAND) XX

[A killies]

Hi Rachael
sounds painfull! I trust you work for the NHS, wont they pay you whilst you are off sick?
Its really frustrating as you should not have to worry about your mortage when you are ill, I am 4 weeks post op into my AT repair and I have been informed that i will only get paid for 10 weeks! But as the injury happened during work I have taken it further and spoke to my company HR dept........they are re-valuating the sick pay!!!
Good luck with your operations..........let me know how you get on.....try talking to your employers

[wripp]

Hey, I understand your concerns completely. My thoughts on it are...if you don't have pain and are able to walk without pain, then you are probably okay to postpone the surgery. If walking is painful and your injury is driving you nuts...as if it's all you can think about...then have the surgery done ASAP. Make sure you've done your pre-op rehab and get your leg back to normal walking (without limping) and also a full range of motion..use the time before surgery to prepare yourself mentally and physically. My surgery is in 3 weeks. I chose to have it done before school gets out because my leg was driving me nuts! I want to get it out of the way so by June I'm feeling better. I'm taking a 7 days off work-- 11 total with weekends and I'm hoping I feel good enough to return (I teach art -- k-12 grades) So, I hope I'm not to out of it or in too much pain by then. That's my opinion on your situation. You have to decide (based upon your pain) any pain could be more damage. Also if you choose to wait....YOU MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO FALL OR CAUSE YOUR KNEE TO GIVE OUT -- IF THIS HAPPENS AND YOU TEAR MORE THINGS....YOU'LL BE IN BIG TROUBLE!!! Be very careful on steps. Be careful while walking....weights....etc..... I was worried sick about missing school but I decided it was my body and I wasn't going to deal with the pain and the deformity of my loose knee any longer than I had too! I have plenty of sick days built up so I'm good to go.....Things will work out if you have to miss school or work.

Your diagnosis problems also sounded similiar to mine....doctors just blow you off like it's nothing....AN ACL TEAR IS SOMETHING!!!!

[Seany C]

I tore my ACL as well as the cartlidge in 2000 while in my final year of school. Not wanting to interupt my studies, I waited until the end of the school year (roughly 5 months later) before having the operation done.

I was told there was absolutely NO problem with postponing, as long as you dont mind hobbling around for a little bit.

I would definitely recommend putting the operation off if you're in the middle of something important, it wasn't a major problem with me!

[jules406]

Yea i understand i injured my knee in oct of last year def get it done though sooner rather than later. I was told i had sprained it to find the next morning i shouldn't straighten my knee properly so went to see my doc and he said i had torn cartlige had to see specialist at hospital he said the same thing but ligaments fine three weeks later i had an op on the cartliage but in the meantime i had been walking on it no crutches no brace. Had op found out i had to have 2/3 of acl removed started physio they had not been told about ligament. Found out a week and a half later but the whole time no brace. Knee was still unstable so had to have acl recon and since then things have been pretty much up and down.
I had the Patella tendon graft on feb 27th this year.

[jules406]

Well anyway how is the knee getting along?