Jumping with Acute ACL tear

[dorbie 0]

A few weeks ago I tore my ACL (not skydiving), I actually jumped with my injured knee before I saw the doc and got a diagnosis (it didn't feel that bad at the time). Since then I've jumped and my knee is definitely not fully recovered (nor will it ever without surgery), and the stresses we normally take for granted on landing seem magnified with my dodgy knee albeit with a slightly briused femur at the time.

So I'm considering the possibility of surgery, a fairly serious business for an ACL repair with a long recovery.

My question is does anyone else here jump with a torn ligament? Do you wear a brace?

Yea I know there are folks who jump in worse shape, my main concern is really about additional injury to a weakened knee (long term prospects for arthritis)and whether to elect for the surgery.

[AggieDave 6]

Yeah, I jumped wearing a brace with a torn ACL and MCL. It was dumb. Go get fixed up and then come back, the sport with still be here for you, and your body will thank you in the long run.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[dorbie 0]

How did your landings go. Was it manageable or did the knee keep getting a pounding?

[BillyVance 34]

I agree with Aggiedave, the sport will still be there when you've fully healed from surgery.

I've known some people to continue in their respective sports after such an injury, and they were not 100% in their abilities.

However, I can remember a certain University of Alabama punter who tore his ACL early in his senior year on the football team. Rather than end his season and get the surgery done, he decided to keep going. Wearing a brace and riding a stationary exercise bicycle on the sidelines between punts to stay loose, he did his job well, though it was a shot of adrenaline to see him boom a punt 45+ yards, then limp off the field, week after week. Thank God he never had to make a tackle.

I can understand the circumstances behind his decision to hang around because his eligibility was gone after the season. Skydivers can always come back the next season, so save your knee from further damage and get it fixed. What if you land in a cow pasture and see a bull just raring to charge you? How fast can you run on a bum knee?

Good luck and have a speedy recovery!

Blue Skies
Billy

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

How did your landings go. Was it manageable or did the knee keep getting a pounding?

Yes. Most were ok, some hurt like a bitch.

I do believe my knee is MUCH worst off today due to jumping on it so soon after the injury, it was a life changing injury. What I mean is I lost my ability to become a Marine Corps officer due to the injury.


So do what you want, I advise against it.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[dorbie 0]

Duly noted, thanks. One or two of my jumps were pretty uncomfortable due to the earlier bruising of the bone (didn't know you could bruise a bone), and certainly made things worse, but I hoped it would improve with a full recuperation and a brace.

I'll probably take your advice but I may have a final jump first. The prospect of not jumping for 9 months is not a pleasant one.

How soon were you back jumping after surgery?

[AggieDave 6]

Quote

How soon were you back jumping after surgery?

You know whats lame, the ortho didn't want to do surgery on my injury, did some PT instead. I really didn't agree with him and I think that's proven now with my current condition. Unfortunately since I've switched insurance providers since then, its a preexisting injury and they won't cover it.

From what I've seen, though, it depends on what kind of surgery the ortho does, I've seen a handful of weeks (6-8 weeks) and I've seen 9 months recovery before.

Sucks doesn't it.

--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline."

[eeneR 1]

Quote

From what I've seen, though, it depends on what kind of surgery the ortho does, I've seen a handful of weeks (6-8 weeks) and I've seen 9 months recovery before.

Well there are a few factors that will alter the length of time it takes to "recover". was it just one ligament? was there cartilige damange? any other soft tissue damange? is the surgery being done in less then 48 hour where they can stitch the ligament back together (this was highly frowned upon by most ortho's I delt with as there is a seam that can still tear, since there is no real blood flow thru the ligament to "heal" it. Or do they do a complete reconstrustion...and where did the graft come from?

My .02. I had a complete reconstruction of my left ACL in 1993. They took a graft of my hamstring tendon to use as the new ligament. holes were drilled in my femur and in my tib/fib. They laced the graft thru and used bone screws and titaniam washers.

I went thru very painful therpy...I busted my ass to get flexibilty and strength back for 4 months....and was then cleared to ski again. You will be amazed at what the surgery will do to your range of motion....I cried when i realized my leg wouldnt bend more then 45 deg post surgery, and that too ALOT of effort.

The lenght post op really comes down to the amout of damage and how hard you work while in therapy. the first 4 weeks were the worst trying to get range back...but I worked thru that pain.

It has been over 11 years, and other then the occasional arthritis....my knee is happy. Only thing i wear an knee brace for is skiing, and that is more of a safty net thing

She is not a "Dumb Blonde" - She is a "Light-Haired Detour Off The Information Superhighway."
eeneR
TF#72, FB#4130, Incauto

[smiles 0]

My right knee ACL was snapped- completely...
Pain, swelling, inflammation, had cartilige tears and locking (damage I induced myself by not resting it long enough) that was fixed with cutting the flaps of the tears. Cannot remember what that was called but they went in from the outside while I was asleep using mri and cut the flaps of the tears in the cartilige.

First on crutches, then a brace- it took almost 8 months before swelling went down- then months of training and strenghtening the 3 ligaments left. (4 years ago) I missed a year skydiving but have been jumping since without problems and wearing a brace while jumping. Any landing down on the leg and turning to the side will tear cartilige again so always have that in my subconscious...has gotten better and better every year but I will never forget there is only 3 ligaments.
SMiles

[ltdiver 3]

Might want to send a PM to SBS (Steve Sanderson) here. He tore his ACL, had the surgery, and recovered nicely enough to rack in the silver medal at Nationals this year in skysurfing (camera).

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[DSBlueskies 0]

I jump with one knee that has had ACL reconstruction and one knee I don't have an ACL. I blew my second knee about a year ago and like you I didn't want to go a year without skydiving. I was told by the professionals that it was very unlikely that I would get even 75% use back of my knee without reconstructive surgery. Well, it has been over a year and I would say I have about 85 to 90% use of my knee without surgery. Just goes to show you what hard work and a lot of determination will do. I spend a lot of time at the gym, rehab is my life and I PLF most of my landings. As long as I keep my knees bent when I land I have no problems. If I try to stick my leg out straight and hit the ground that way it will go out on me. I wear braces on both knees and I went through Scott Millers canopy class to get the best advice on how to land with my problems. I've been jumping this way for over a year and haven't had any injuries or problems.

When you can jump from a 24 inch step you'll know your leg is strong enough to take a landing. Until then, stay on the ground. It took me about two months post surgery for cartilege damage to work up to that 24 inch step.

As others have said, it's your call and they have lots of options now for ACL reconstruction. By the way, having my ACL replaced on my other leg didn't prevent me from having arthritis. I'm post surgery on that leg about 10 years and the arthritis gets worse every year.

Good luck,
DS

[marcin 0]

Tore my ACL about 1.5 year ago. Actually posted on this site to find out what my chances are. 4 months after surgery I did my first MTB marathon, 6 months after I was skiing.

Biking helps in rehab, although no need to take it to extreme (I fell in love with MTB, which first started as rehab exercise, and ended up doing 10 MTB marathons this year).

If you jump without surgery ,you risk completely damaging your knee (cartiladge etc.) which is then pretty much irrecoverable. But, many doctors are reluctant to operate, as an average person does not have the strenght of will do do the very tough rehab. And without it, your knee will be stable, but your hurt leg will be weaker and less functional.

I had the motivation to return to full capacity, so rehabed every day for 6-8 months. And continue to do gym and other sports on a regular basis.

My advice would be to definitely get it done and then rehab your ass off. It is probably safe to jump again 7-12 months after surgery, depending on circumstances (it's worth the wait)

[GentleTiger 0]

Hey Dorbie

It takes a LOT of courage to jump when your "landing" gear is not at its peak.

I've had a missing ACL for 27 years and I refuse to get sugery. Everyone I've asked about surgery has had something negative to say. Just remember, sugery is final, there really are no "do-overs",

Braces, specifically fitted for you cost a fortune and surgery takes a lot time to recover.

For me, I so knee, calf, hamstring and quad strenghening, and take a regular sporto neoprene support, and then on top of that I put on a brace with metal hinges on the side. Between the two, my knee feels nice and tight again, and I've put it through a few paces.

It's a lot less expensive than a custom brace, it gives my knee the support it needs, you may want to give it a try.

keep me posted,
bbs
Tiger

________________________________________
Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a tiger in the sky!! Throw down some steaks and run for the hills!!!

[dorbie 0]

Thanks for the advice, I've made maybe 30 jumps since the injury and things are fine despite there being no ACL on the MRI images. Once the joint swelling and the briusing on the Femur went away things were actually OK and the knee feels pretty tight for every day use, I'm doing physio for it too. I realize I'm risking a miniscus tear or worse if I put too much force on it the wrong way. It's something I'm always aware of now and if I need to run out a landing it is always with my 'good' leg on the first step. It'll probably affect my choice of canopy forever. I saw someone recently who had the op and recovered from it pretty quickly, made me think seriously about getting it. It's elective so I'll deffer for now.

[cindee 0]

Knees are so tricky. I tore my acl, mcl, lcl, meniscus, and fractured the tibial plateau. The back corner of my knee also broke off in pieces. Had tons of rehab and a custom made acl brace. My ortho doc does not want to discuss acl repair at this point. I also have heard many different stories about acl repair, but if that is what it takes to get back more function then i'm going for it in the spring. I just want to be able to run again and of course skydive again.

__________________________________________________
"If happy little bluebirds fly above the rainbow, why oh why can't I?"

[plowdirt 0]

one year agoI blew out acl medial lateral maniscus
6 months ago I had sergery. and now it hurts more than ever. I was jumping all the way up till sergery with no problems, and the brace on, sliding in the landings. Doc said your gonna be as good as new.
Now he says no more skydiving.
I was one of those fortunate people who's sergery did not go so well. I don't know what he did yet but I know I'm in pain every day I havn't jumped for 6 months.If your in FL look for a DR. D Simone, He's at Holly Cross hosp. Thats the one you should see.

Now ther talkin replacement, I told um to just cut it off. Watch those Doctors ghood luck.