ACL Injury: Finally got surgery, but EDD is screwing me over!

[ronaldo nazario]

-Hurt my knee playing soccer in June.
-2 doctors didn't recommend MRI's said it was a sprain.
-Cleared to resume activity in Septemper.
-Tweaked it again.
-MRI reveals significant ACL tear and meniscus damage.

Haven't gone to the ortho yet but what should I expect as far as surgery and recovery time? Anyone experienced this injury?

 

[crcballer55]

Originally Posted by Ronaldo Nazario

-Hurt my knee playing soccer in June.
-2 doctors didn't recommend MRI's said it was a sprain.
-Cleared to resume activity in Septemper.
-Tweaked it again.
-MRI reveals significant ACL tear and meniscus damage.

Haven't gone to the ortho yet but what should I expect as far as surgery and recovery time? Anyone experienced this injury?

Did the same thing, but I "tweaked" mine at least 3 times before surgery.  You can expect to be off your leg for about 2 weeks and don't expect to sleep well for at least a week due to the pain.  Pills will be your best friend!  Make sure to do the therapy they prescribe.  Otherwise, you will have sensitivity in the scar tissue for several years and won't have full strength in your leg later on.

With that said, I recommend you get it done so you can resume normal activity as soon as possible.

FYI... tore my ACL, part of my MCL, and a slight portion of my LCL.

 

[ajchick23]

Tore my ACL a few years back..CRC pretty much covered everything.

Work hard in rehab because you will lose A LOT of muscle in your quads from being off your feet for those couple of weeks post surgery.

 

[pimpster88]

It's not going to be fun at all! I tore mine playing indoor soccer, saw two different docs that told me there was nothing wrong -- went to Brazil for a couple months, tore it even further. Came back and got a MRI, and sure enough there was hardly any remnant of my ACL and meniscus left. Surgery is never a fun thing, but it's totally worth it. For a week I just laid on my couch and watched netflix and ate painkillers. I was back hobbling around after about a week, and started my rehab about 3 weeks after surgery. The physical therapy was actually quite a relief for me; after laying around for quite some time after the surgery, it felt good to be back doing something physical. Be sure to work hard in rehab though, like AJChick said above. About 5 months after my surgery I was back in full swing -- playing soccer and hockey about 3 nights a week and going to the gym. My knee still swells up on me every now and then if I overexert myself, but it's never anything too bad. Good luck, hope this helps explain a little! 

 

[crunchyblack9]

I played on a partially torn ACL for a whole season without knowing. I just had a burning sensation in the knee the whole season so I popped some pills before each game and practice along with wearing a neoprene knee brace. I fully tore it after the season right before I was supposed to go to Oklahoma State. Expect bad days and good days. A lot more bad in the beginning. The one piece of advice I can give is go ham on your rehab. The last thing you is scar tissue. Keep in mind I did this to my knee 10 years ago, so the way medicine is today, you should be in good shape. If you are on the left coast, the best DR. to see is Arthur Ting. 

 

[ronaldo nazario]

Originally Posted by AJChick23

Tore my ACL a few years back..CRC pretty much covered everything.

Work hard in rehab because you will lose A LOT of muscle in your quads from being off your feet for those couple of weeks post surgery.

Damn this was the last thing I wanted to hear haha, my legs are my only good feature. My knee feels good right now, not really any pain. So hopefully recovery won't be too much of a hassle, But thanks for the info guys

 

[crcballer55]

Out of curiosity, what type of procedure did everyone have?  What did your Dr. use to replace your ACL and what were your results?

 

[everysingletime]

I had a patellar tendon graft for a complete ACL tear. 

I couldn't get back to playing basketball the way I wanted to for a year.  I was functional and walking without a cane after two months though.  I think. 

This was 9 years ago so I don't really remember anymore. 

Just a warning.  When it comes to breaking up all the scar tissue through extending range of motion ... it will hurt.  That part, I do remember. 

 

[cubanref]

My girl tore her ACL and just had surgery and she can barely sleep cause of the pain. Doctor said recovery time should be about 8-9 months depending on how well the rehab goes. My girl had the patella one, while her sister had the hamstring one when she tore her ACL last year....had a bruise on the back of her leg for about 4-5 months....

The worst part is probably the fact that my girl has to miss her whole season of basketball...she was depressed for a week after she found out she couldn't play and now has to deal with the pain after surgery

Will def be getting her that "basketball never stops" tee when it comes out to cheer her up

 

[rko2004]

I have a question. Not to derail the thread, I potentially have a torn meniscus in my right knee. I don't have insurance. What should I do?

 

[ao17]

Originally Posted by RKO2004

I have a question. Not to derail the thread, I potentially have a torn meniscus in my right knee. I don't have insurance. What should I do?

me too 

 

[dwyanewadeog]

Originally Posted by ao17

Originally Posted by RKO2004

I have a question. Not to derail the thread, I potentially have a torn meniscus in my right knee. I don't have insurance. What should I do?

me too 

Had a slight tear in my meniscus two years ago and had to get arthroscopic surgery. Still don't have full flexibility in my left knee and if I bend too deep, lunges/squats, I get pain.
Best of luck for you two.

 

[mistertaz1]

i tore my acl pcl and moniscus in a dirtbike accident when i was 16 im 21 the injured leg is stronger than the other crazzy take your physical therapy serios thats the only thing thats guna help

 

[crcballer55]

Originally Posted by RKO2004

I have a question. Not to derail the thread, I potentially have a torn meniscus in my right knee. I don't have insurance. What should I do?

If it's not too serious, wear a brace and let it heal itself.  Otherwise, start an HSA account and save up for a couple years.  It's basically a savings account specifically for medical purposes that you can write off on your taxes.

 

[BANLEU]

Tore my ACL September 5th playing football with some friends, so I'm going through this right now. My surgery is schedule for Nov. 10 and after talking to the doctor and some physical therapists it definitely seems like its going to be a challenege.

Basically it's 5 to 6 months of intense physical therapy that pretty much starts the day after surgery. The therapy itself isn't particularly difficult, but the pain can be pretty bad. Your recovery will also depend on a lot of other factos. Like whether or not they use your own tendons or they use a donors, whether or not your body rejects the graft, and the extent of the damage to your meniscus.

All the best doctors in the DMV have told me that the donor tendon is better because using your own tendons can have bad effects. Using your hamstring will weaken that leg and using your patella increases the risk of your knee giving out on you later. Plus there isn't any evidence that a donor tendon increases the risk of infection any more than your own tendons do and the doctors I've talked to have gotten really good results from the donor tendons.

For me the recovery is going to be particular brutal because apparently I have an oblique tear on my medial meniscus, which is the most difficult to repair and will most likely need to be cut. To make matter worse there is a high probability that a part of my meniscus is lodged between by tibia and my femur, so I can't extend my knee and is causing more tearing.

 

[10 piece nuggets]

Originally Posted by cubanref

My girl tore her ACL and just had surgery and she can barely sleep cause of the pain. Doctor said recovery time should be about 8-9 months depending on how well the rehab goes. My girl had the patella one, while her sister had the hamstring one when she tore her ACL last year....had a bruise on the back of her leg for about 4-5 months....

The worst part is probably the fact that my girl has to miss her whole season of basketball...she was depressed for a week after she found out she couldn't play and now has to deal with the pain after surgery

Will def be getting her that "basketball never stops" tee when it comes out to cheer her up

You sir, will receive grade-A dorm from gf for that.

 

[georgehimself]

 

[luong1209]

Do not. Do not. Do not play until you get it fixed.

It's been 5 years since I've torn my acl and shattered my meniscus. It's nowhere near the same and never will be.
I crack my knee like 100 times a day (like cracking your knuckles) just to relieve discomfort. There's inflammation, not pleasant.

 

[sreggie101]

the recovery is no walk in the park. im talking heavy boredom and being unable to move for a couple months. and depending on what type of surgery you get ur acl redone with, it is going to hurt for a while.


...but there is light at the end. with physical therapy and a solid custom brace, you can be back to being active. BTW the physical therapy is KEY, your leg WILL lose significant muscle mass (the diff between your legs will be very apparent), so regaining that is another task.

 

[jermz101]

I been having a serious burning feeling on my knees after we run in basketball practice...im going into the docs tuesday, hopplingfor the best cause I cant miss this season

 

[trhee]

Still recovering from my ACL surgery. I tore my ACL, MCL, and meniscus all at the same time...the worst pain ever.
Those first 2 weeks after surgery are going to be the most painful but after that it gets better.
Just make sure you work hard on your PT it's the most important.
And yeah like everyone else said, it's never going to be the same.
I'm still scared to ball as of right now even though I'm almost fully healed.

 

[biglescobar]

I tore my ACL and damaged meniscus at the same time, had the patellar replacement surgery....

I became addicted to painkillers so be careful with that, my basketball career was never the same, after that I just got much more into lifting weights and never played seriously again, couldnt move laterally that well at all to play D on anyone....Also vertical went way down...

 

[everysingletime]

Originally Posted by trhee

Still recovering from my ACL surgery. I tore my ACL, MCL, and meniscus all at the same time...the worst pain ever.
Those first 2 weeks after surgery are going to be the most painful but after that it gets better.
Just make sure you work hard on your PT it's the most important.
And yeah like everyone else said, it's never going to be the same.
I'm still scared to ball as of right now even though I'm almost fully healed.

I disagree.  But I was young when I tore mine. 

 

[ronaldo nazario]

I made this thread back in OCTOBER! but just to summarize what's happened since then.

- got my MRI results and they said I had damage to my meniscus as well as a significant tear to my ACL
- went to see an ortho here in Sacramento and was told again that it was most likely just a sprain, and that the people who originally diagnose the MRI's always say the ACL is torn if they see something wrong with it!
- Doctor wanted to see me back in three months to see how the knee was doing?!
- by this time it has already been around 5 months since originally hurting my knee, I couldn't take it anymore and scheduled an appointment with Arthur Ting of Fremont (thanks CrunchyBlack9)
-Dr. Ting immediately diagnosed a torn ACL (why was it so hard for the other doctors to do the same) even my buddy who tore his MCL, ACL, and meniscus playing college Fball could tell mine was torn from a simple test.
- Had surgery on the 16th of Janurary and I'm feeling good, walked after about 8 days and stopped taking pain killers after the first week. Had some slight pain while sleeping some nights but only because I didn't take my medicine those nights.
-starting my PT tomorrow and im excited about it.....however


EDD is screwing me over! sent me two letters of computation, one saying i'd be receiving around $800 a month (which is half of what I make from working at WinCo) and then another saying that I'd only be getting $500 a month because they had my "claim effective" date wrong. So i'll be getting $500 a month now, which will barely cover my half of the rent! Anyone who lives in Cali ever had to deal with something as ridiculous as this?Why would they base my pay off of what I made last year when I was still in college and only working 20< hrs a week? anything I can do? Can I sue the doctors and surgeon who told me I was fine?

 

[urbanyouth]

Great post. I actually found out my ACL is completely missing from all the years of tearing it and not getting it fixed. Has anyone had the cadaver ACL surgery? What should I expect?