Help! anyone torn an ACL/MCL?

[FL000]

I was playing softball tonight, first batter, and was chugging my way to first base on a (solid) hit. I was watching the ball, and when I looked back for the bag, I was off line and it was a couple of feet directly to my right. My legs did what my brain told them to do and the next thing I know I'm on the ground in agony for a couple of minutes. It felt like my knee popped out sideways and then right back in.

I was able to straighten it out after a short period writhing in the clay, and then was helpled back to the bleachers where I put ice on it. A few minutes later, I tried to walk it off, but any torsion around my knee made it collapse, like there is some resistance missing that used to be there.

The advice I got was that a hospital would do no good tonight, but to go to my doctor ASAP (tomorrow).

My knee would pop like a cracking knuckle with the slightest pressure on it, and I have some slight swelling on the upper outside and lower outside of the knee, combined with tightness, but not unbearable pain.

Knowing that pilots know all, I was wondering if anyone has any idea what I did to myself before I go to the doc tomorrow.

I'll be on webmd.com and look forward to some responses when I return. Thanks in advance!

 

[Jmmccutc]

I've gone through two knee surgeries one on each knee to repair maniscus and other catlidge, i hve teflon type disks in both my knees and a screw in my left one...i had the clicking noise much like a knuckle, i would def recomend that you get to an orthopedic specialist muy pronto...

 

[crowbar]

Don't let them put a cast on it

You need need to go to the hospital, they will give you a knee brace, http://www.jointhealing.com/graphics/products/irom_large.jpg

http://www.jointhealing.com/pages/productpages/irom.html

I tore my ACL while riding a YZ 250, when I landed off a jump my left knee hyperextended and tore my ACL in half, this is before i was a knee expert, anyway I thought I just pulled a muscle or something and it would heal, WRONG. The ACL does not heal, when it's gone it's gone. About 2 weeks later I was back on the YZ and came down a hill and put my left foot down in a turn and the next thing I knew I was flat on my asss, my leg didn't feel right and I looked at it and my knee had dislocated, the MCL had stretched and the leg bone under my knee had moved inside and was completly out of the socket, the foot was not where it was supposed to be, it was sticking out sideways, I rolled over and pushed hard on the bone and moved it back into socket and than commenced to SCREAMING, bone bruises hurt.

I couldn't walk on that leg without it poping out of socket, so the hospital gave me one of the braces above and with it strapped tight I was able to walk again, I had to wear it for a couple months and my MCL healed to the point where I could walk and run again without the brace, but it is still slightly loose and moves a little, but it does not dislocate, never had MCL surgery, you probably wont need it either.

DO NOT let them do any surgery to you MCL for at least two months, let it heal first.
If you tore your ACL that is a common surgery fix. They did repair my ACL about four months after the injury.
You're out for the count, at least for a couple months

 

[BEXFlyer]

you had better ice it all night long befrore you see the doc tomm., otherwise you will not be able to feel your leg in the morning. Tore my PCL playing college ball....The ACL is the crucial one...if you tore it, you will need reconstruction surgery. For a torn PCL, not as big of deal. Mine wasn't repaired. I do not have a PCL right now in my right leg. I am as active as I was before the tear. Will take some rehab though. Good luck.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

My right knee dislocates when I play sports where I twist the knee. Been to the doctors and was told that it is torn cartledge (sp?). No surgery needed as long as I don't continue to pop my knee out of place too many more times.

Would definately go to a doctor's to see what is up.

Getting old(er) sucks.

 

[AV8OR]

Go to a Healthsouth....

Used to fly corporate for them and then some for one of their premier surgeons Dr. Jim Andrews. He and Dr. Lemak in BHM are 'the man" when it comes to this surgery. Here's a few references.....Bo Jackson, Lex Lugar, Herschel Walker, Terry Bradshaw, The Redskins....yada yada yada....on and on...

Give em a shout. They'll take good care of ya and you'll get very professional help.

By the way. Dr. Andrews did my ACL, just so ya know, the rehab is hell. Sorry.

 

[Stifler's Mom]

PS I sure hope you don't have healthcare through ASA. I think that is where you work and I have seen the nightmare stuff written on the ALPA website about it.

 

[FL000]

PS I sure hope you don't have healthcare through ASA. I think that is where you work and I have seen the nightmare stuff written on the ALPA website about it.

That's what's going through my mind...but there's not a lot I can do about that now. Good thing I get paid the big bucks!

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I have the ice on and off every 15 minutes and will get to the doc tomorrow if able. Webmd is pointing to a grade II or III sprain of the ACL, but I'll let the real MD figure all that out.

 

[Flyin Tony]

well back when I was racing 80's. I landed on a guy and knocked him out cold ( soo bad he pissed his pants, out for 2 mins). Me, my knee was jacked, hyperextended the thing. Went to the doc and, he put a big brace on it went from the top to the bottom of my leg. A month later I wa back on my bike untill I went over the bars, still dont recall that day off another 3 weeks.

 

[Daedalus]

I tore my ACL and MCL in a skiing accident a year ago last January. I had to do an ACL reconstruct and MCL repair plus a second surgery to remove scar tissue that I couldn't breakdown under physical therapy. I just completed my PT regimen in February and like someone else said it is real Hell on Earth to go through. I am almost back to normal with about 80% of my leg strength and all but about 5 degrees of my ROM. Considering the severity of my injury I feel pretty good about the results, but I'll never be able to ski the double black diamond runs again. As for the flying part, I could not operate an aircraft for over six months. It was a nice vacation but I sure don't want to go through that again! If you do have to get an ACL reconstruct make sure you find a competent orthopedic surgeon. They are not all created equal. Good luck.

 

[350DRIVER]

FL000,

Sorry to hear about your misfortune tonight, it happens though at the worst possible times or atleast it seems that way. I would steer clear of jumping to conclusions until you see a doctor in the morning and the x-ray is done to diagnose the exact cause/damage. All this talk about finding a surgeon is quite premature and it is obviously jumping the gun more than a tad.

It could very easily be a simple "bad sprain" of the muscle versus an actual "tear" which would require a surgical procedure. I would continue to put ice on the knee and make sure swelling does not get worse.

If you must get the surgial procedure than it is a relatively simple procedure that can be done as an out patient.
Surgical reconstruction of a torn ACL involves replacing the torn ACL with a tendon (called a graft?) from another part of the knee and putting it into a position to take the place of the torn ACL. The most commonly used graft is taken from the middle third of
the patellar tendon (the tendon connecting the knee cap to the tibial bone). Hamstring tendon grafts taken from the inner thigh to the back of the knee are also used. Occasionally, tendon grafts are taken from cadavers (referred to as allograft). For most of these procedures, the operation is done arthroscopically instead of making big incisions. The knee is examined arthroscopically and associated injuries such as torn menisci, loose bodies, etc. are treated.

If the middle third of the patellar tendon is used, a small incision is made on the inner side of the leg just below the knee to take the graft (this results in numbness on the front of the knee). While viewing the inside of the joint through the arthroscope, guides are used to create bone tunnels in the exact positions to allow proper placement of the graft. The graft is then pulled into the bony tunnels. Absorbable screws are placed in the tunnels to wedge the bone graft against the wall of the tunnel to give immediate stability and allow healing of the bone graft. Thus, the bone plug on one end of the graft is secured to the tunnel in the femur and the bone plug on the other end of the graft is secured to the tunnel in the tibia. The piece of patellar tendon graft between the two bone plugs becomes the new ACL.

All in all the recovery time is minimal but why jump the gun? If I were a betting man I probably would lean more towards a "sprain" until x-rays can be done to pinpoint the eact damage if any to the muscle and surrounding parts of the area.



sorry to hear about your misfortune...

3 5 0

 

[crowbar]

X-rays won't show a bit of info about a ligament, gotta have an MRI to do that, quite a bit more expensive than xrays.
A doc can tell if the ACL is torn by just a quick exam, just moving the knee joint back and forth.

Don't listen to the bull about phys. therepy being hell, it's not that bad. I had a wasted MCL which eventually healed on its own and a ruptured ACL, I did require ACL reconstructive surgery, and the rehab was a bit painful but it was far from hell, hell was after they put a cast on my leg the day I dislocated it and an hour later I put pressure on the knee again and it dislocated again while inside the cast and all I could do was stretch my leg and it relocated the joint, THAT IS HELL, rehab was cake, a couple of very attractive woman docs and nurses.

The reason you DO NOT want them to do surgery on the MCL for at least 2 or 3 months is it will shrink back to close to the original size and be strong and stable again, it might not shrink back to its original size but it will be close, if they do surgery before it has healed you're going to have a tight MCL after the surgery and than it will continue to heal on its own and become even tighter, untill it's way to tight and you will lose range of motion and have lots of pain.
My MCL was so lose that I could not walk on the leg, if I tried to the leg bone under my knee would completely dislocate and pop out to the inside of my knee, after wearing the brace for 2 months it has healed by itself and I am back to normal with 100% range of motion. It's still a tiny bit loose but all I do is put one of those neoprene bands like basketball players use below the knee joint and I'm good as new and can do ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING that I could do before the injury with no pain.

 

[guitarflyer]

Yep,
A good orthopedic surgeon can ID an ACL tear with just an exam, but they will usually order an MRI for the definitive diagnosis, as well as to see if there is any other damage (meniscus).

When I blew mine out (suddenly stopped skiing), I had to fly the next night. Even with counter-rotating props on the Chieftain, I wouldn't have survived a left engine failure on takeoff. I could barely walk, let alone hold the rudder in for a V1 cut.

I saw an ortho surgeon that am. He put a needle in my knee and drew out blood, thus confirming his diagnosis. With the needle in, he injected some steroid, and viola, with some anti-inflammatories, I was good to go that night.

Had it slip out a couple times in the month before having the surgery. That sucked.

I highly recommend the surgery if you have good insurance. I had the patellar tendon version exactly as 350 described. My doc was also a NFL sports doc. ALL he does is ACL repairs. That's what ya want.

Yes, the rehab sux, but you MUST do it religiously for the full benefit. My R knee is bionic now...stronger than the non-injured L.

Also recommended: start rehab before the surgery, thereby getting the supporting muscles as strong as possible before being rendered completely useless for 6 weeks or so.

If you have the insurance and can afford it, do it now while you're young and haven't done a lot of damage to it. If you keep injuring it by twisting or popping it out of socket, etc. you're damaging the meniscus and just reducing the time before you will need a total knee replacement.

Good luck.....

 

[de727ups]

Sorry to hear about your knee

I tore my ACL about two years ago. Didn't go to see a doc until I kept re-injuring it and finally figured out something was pretty wrong. Be careful with the first test the doc will do. It's call a lachman's test where they bend your knee around. If the swelling from the injury hasn't gone down yet, it's easy to get a false negative. The test isn't 100 percent, either. I had no swelling and was still told my ACL was okay but should do an MRI to make sure. The MRI showed a torn ACL.

Had allograft surgery. (they use a doner tendon...I forget which one but it's not an ACL...it's something stronger). The surgery was wildly successful. I was walking in a brace in two weeks. Only used the pain meds on the first day. Had great range of motion from the get-go. And physical thearpy was pretty easy. I had three months off but think I could have gone back to work after two months.

I found a message board that was full of great information.

http://factotem.org/cgi-bin/kneebbs.pl

Good luck...

 

[T-1GUY]

ACL Tear

Sorry to hear about this.. Hope for the best...
I tore my acl and cartilage while I was in the military...
I flew for 10 years after the surgeries....
As I sit here and write this, my knee is killing me...

If you do need surgery, for heaven's sake, shop around and
find the best NFL professional knee doctor around...

Good luck to you...

 

[dh82dvr]

Sounds like you have bought yourself an MRI. I snapped my ACL about 4 years ago playing rugby. Find an orthopedic surgeon who does these all the time. The surgery is the easy part. The recovery is hard. If you put in the time it will recover fully. Mine is as good or better than before.
Good luck

 

[FL000]

Thanks for all the replies and well-wishes. I just got back from the doc's, and he was very pleased with the way my knee reacted to his pressure tests. He ruled out collateral ligament damage and said there is a good chance, 50% range, that it's just a sprain...so I'm hoping. However, that also means about a 50% chance of ACL. He gave me some anti-inflammatories for the fluid buildup and said to come back in 2-3 weeks for a follow-up and to decide if we should go forward with the MRI. A very competent and reasonable doctor.