Coming back from torn ACL?

Wow. Right up my alley. I tore my ACL (and shredded the meniscus and damaged the MCL) in 2006, actually playing soccer. I had ACL reconstruction in early June, was off my feet for the first 2 weeks, on crutches for a total of 8 weeks, and maybe 2 months of physical therapy (only because my insurance was up-I probably could have gone for longer). I ended up going back to the gym in early October (?) and started light cycling again in late October/early November.

Be aware that I had done significant damage to my knee and because of the meniscus tear (it actually flipped in on itself and I didn't have full range of motion before the surgery, so I didn't do any pre-surgery therapy), I had a much longer recovery. When I went to the gym, I was still doing range-of-motion exercises. Hopefully, yours isn't as bad as mine was.

After recovery, I didn't enter my first race until August of '07. I was a novice racer and could have entered races earlier, but wanted to take time to make a full recovery. (I'm racing sport now with no knee/leg problems whatsoever).

For me it was a full year, but I could see maybe by August (VERY non-professional opinion). Definitely ask the Orthopedic Surgeon.

And a word of advice for you: Do all of your take-home range-of-motion exercises! And prepare for the fun of range-of-motion therapy. AND BE PATIENT!! It will take time, but it will heal and you'll be ripping again before long.:thumbsup:

Good luck!

Are you having ACL replacement or repair? A tear doesn't necessarily require replacement, but if it's a replacement, are you getting - patella, hamstring, or cadaver replacement?

The replacement recovery is a slow process. I had the hamstring replacement. (In my case, but I think in most cases -->) many of the nerves, around the knee, were severed in the surgery. You won't be able to flex your quads for awhile, and will have to endure electroshock treatment (it's not that bad, weird, but not that bad) to retrain the muscle nerves. Then you have to fight to get back the range of motion, because of fluid / scar tissue build up. Then you will have to regain balance, and coordination. It takes awhile to get back to 100%. I ?think? I was back on the mountain bike in 6 months, but taking it easy. If I'd had a road bike back then, I probably could have done that sooner.

The good news is - your muscles around the knee are probably in great shape going into surgery, so you'll most likely recover faster. Plus, the biggest part of my PT was spent on a trainer, so you can (sort of) still train. I would go into PT and treat it like a workout, sweat my ass off. The therapist would come over and say, "you know, you don't have to go all-out the whole time.", but I recovered much faster than others, and it's because of the effort I put into getting back.

godspeed

First off - my condolences.

I had an ACL replacement and MCL repair in high school and it sucked. I am sure the procedure has come a long way since then though. I wasn't biking then so I can't speak to that but every case is going to be different anyway.

The most important thing to focus on for recovery is leg strength around the knee and you need all the muscles to be strong so that means lifting weights or some other kind of cross training to engage everything - not just the ones for riding.

Your recovery will depend on your age and fitness, could be as little a few weeks / month.

Biking is a great choice long term compared to say running, but you could have other problems down the road. For example, I am 34 and have arthritis in the bad knee already. basically no cartilage left. Some studies have shown this may stem from earlier traumatic injury, which would fit in my case. But I still bike, road and mtb, as much as I want, it just hurts some times.

Good luck

-cgb

First off, my condolences on the ACL injury. It's definitely not the end of the world, but it sure can seem like it when you are sitting on the sidelines.

Secondly, as someone else said above, everyone's recovery is different. So all these stories you have to take with a grain of salt. Just listen to your ortho and PT and follow their advice as best you can. Convey to them (as I'm sure you are) your MTB racing goals and they will help you get there.

I tore my ACL in 2004 playing soccer. I had surgery in November 2004 (hamstring graft) and was only on crutches for a week. When I went back to visit my doctor 1 week post-op he yelled at me for still using my crutches. He wanted weight bearing on it pretty quick, which IMO, was great!

My rehab always seemed like 2 steps forward, and 1 step back, but overall it went great and I was actually skiing again (carefully) around 5 months post-op.

About a year and half after post-surgery I hucked a 120 footer on skis (click on my profile and see pic) and my knee held up fine so that when I figured I was 100% healed

Road biking was actually my main recovery tool.

I actually look at my ACL reconstruction as a good thing. It got me way more into cycling and changed my lifestyle a bit to a healthier more active one. Weird how these things can change you.

Best of luck.

Recovery varies by doctor.

At my 1 week check up my doctor yelled at me for only using 1 crutch instead of both of them.
From the reading I did, he was a really conservative Sob.

I had mine in April, at 6 weeks I put myself back on the road bike and easy bike paths.
Nothing hard though.
I think I ended up using the lame brace on the bike for the next 6 months. Not sure if I really needed it but it gave me some confidence.

If you get bored, and I know you will be while recovering.
I blogged my whole experience, I knew there was a reason I did that.
gorrillaonabike.blogspot.com

It happened to me in 04 or 05 so you'll have to look back through the archives.

Goodluck.

Don't know if you've had the surgery yet, but I wanted to give you my experience. Tore my ACL in July 07. Playing indoor soccer. By the way, that devil sport should be banned. Had a 2 week old baby at home and received a job offer the day after the tear. Emotionally it was a very difficult experience.

What no one prepared me for was the pain. I had never broken a bone or had any major surgery. I'm not trying to scare you or anyone, but two weeks after surgery I talked to someone else who said ACL surgery was the most painful surgery they experienced. This actually made me feel better, becuase I was so worried something was wrong.

Use this as an excuse to buy a trainer. I'd say I was on the trainer soon after my surgery. I would leave my shoe clipped into the trainer because I was so worried about unclipping. As many have stated, a stationary bike was part of my PT. Get as much PT as you can. I worked out on my own, but I never did as good of a job as when I was with my therapist (Thanks insurance for deciding I was healed!!!).

I wish I could remember how long it took until I mountain biked again. I was very afraid of crashing and trying to unclip and tearing my knee. I suppose I started when I felt like I was ready. I'm sure my knee was ready before my confidence was. Best of luck with the surgery and to a speedy recovery.

Michael