ACL Op coming up!
I see that this thread has been quiet for a long time. I am about to have ACL Surgery and hope to be back riding competitively in 3 months in Reining, so no WT or posting 
Anyone out there made it back in that time frame. I am very motivated on the PT and will do what ever I can to expedite recovery and I am having a donated ACL fitted. Awaiting any comments 
You should be fineā¦however, definitely do NOT push it in the first week or two after surgery. Do the PT exercises, CPM machine (heck, I was on that thing 12 hours a day the first week post op), ICE ICE ICE! The more care you take at first, the faster, stronger and better the new ACL will adapt and heal.
Had the surgery June 5th, 2014, I also got the cadaver (donor) ACL. I was released to ride my horse 5 1/2 weeks post op, was working 2 1/2 weeks post op, (went back to work June 23rd, not a desk job).
You should be doing pretty good at 3 months post-op and able to show and be competitive!
I"m now a bit over 7 months post op on the knee and it feels REALLY good, strong and I have full ROM, can touch my heel to my butt and the about a month ago simply squatted down to check my horseās legs and realized what I did. I havenāt been able to squat for a LONG time. Yup, the little things make me happy, LOL.
[QUOTE=RubysMom;7966581]
You should be fineā¦however, definitely do NOT push it in the first week or two after surgery. Do the PT exercises, CPM machine (heck, I was on that thing 12 hours a day the first week post op), ICE ICE ICE! The more care you take at first, the faster, stronger and better the new ACL will adapt and heal.
Had the surgery June 5th, 2014, I also got the cadaver (donor) ACL. I was released to ride my horse 5 1/2 weeks post op, was working 2 1/2 weeks post op, (went back to work June 23rd, not a desk job).
You should be doing pretty good at 3 months post-op and able to show and be competitive!
I"m now a bit over 7 months post op on the knee and it feels REALLY good, strong and I have full ROM, can touch my heel to my butt and the about a month ago simply squatted down to check my horseās legs and realized what I did. I havenāt been able to squat for a LONG time. Yup, the little things make me happy, LOL.[/QUOTE]
This is so good to hear! I am waiting to see my ortho in March after blowing out my ACL, tearing MCL, meniscus blah blah. I am apprehensive regarding surgery and he wants me to try to do without. So far it has ākickedā out a couple of times so I donāt really think its a choice for me. I was trying to decide if cadaver was ok and seeing your posts makes me optimistic! I put up hay, do lots of ground work and as you know that takes quite a bit of pivoting. If I get it done in april I shouldnāt miss out on riding to much!!
I had a torn PCL which led to loss of muscle and range of motion while waiting for things to settle down enough for surgery. After surgery I was back in the saddle in about 2 1/2 months. I did my PT religiously. When you have such limited range of motion soon after surgery itās hard to imagine youāll ever be able to recover, but you will. I know it isnāt the same as an ACL repair, but the issues after surgery are the same - strength, range of motion, swelling. It took a while for my leg to feel strong for riding, but only riding can fix that! Good luck with your surgery.
You all are giving me hope. I had a tibial plateau fracture, lost most of my lateral meniscus. Not clear yet whether I will need a meniscal transplant and/or ACL work. Just started PT. Good to hear that people recover to ride! Thank you for sharing.
IFG, please do tell how long ago you damaged your knee and how healing is going- I broke my tibial plateau 3 weeks ago and would love to know from someone elseās experience as well. What PT are you doing? Any other tips? I am getting pretty good with crutches and my arms are strong now but I can see the muscle wasting in the leg
Sorry Pinkypony, never saw your response. PMād you!
I support Medical Mikes comments. The problem with the other comments is: ACL injuries & surgeries are DIFFERENT! EACH needs an individualized plan for rehab, recovery because each surgery is different as to degree/location/severity and potential. You all can NOT compare your experiences with knee injuries to get accurate recovery info. Itās soooo dependent on variables like: severity & location of injury, time from injury to surgery, pre op activity level & fitness, patient fitness, pt. weight, kind of equestrian discipline, type of saddle/stirrups, lifestyle, job stress(physical), type of horse anatomy (slab sided/round) and so onā¦soā¦an ACL is not an ACL so resist comparisons.
I always advocate finding an equestrian oriented PT above all. And remember you may not LIKE what you are told to do post op. So being impulsive and doing what you want will do you harm. After going thru all that; meaning surgery; WHY would you risk poor recovery or failed rehab or reinjury? Letās be careful out there!! ACL injuries are sports career ending injuries for many so BE CAREFUL!!!
Best wishes OP!!
I found out Wednesday I need to join this club. Feb 1 I fell out of the hayloft - 8 feet. I heard snapping noises and there was a great deal of pain, but then I was able to get up and if I was very careful to weight the outside of my leg I could walk fine. Iced it, took ibuprofen and saw the dr the next day. Got a referral to the ortho and he thought I sprained my MCL. There is no swelling and I can walk if Iām careful. Sent me off with a brace. In 5 weeks I was not as better as he thought, got the MRI and gee, look at that -your acl is gone! The mcl healed very nicely in the interim so I am cleared for surgery as soon as I can get in there.
I am disappointed that I may be out of riding for so long, but I also do combined driving so I guess I will be getting better at that! I am hoping that because I am really fit I will be able to bounce back OK, but recognize I have to give it time to heal. interesting about the 3-6 month weak period. But I hope everyone else is healing well.
I have had five knee surgeries now. Right knee ACL that I tore falling off a mounting block that tipped over. Then a surgery to remove scar tissue on that knee followed a year later by a surgery to remove bone from around the ACL notch and more scar tissue. That knee is now good as new.
Then my left knee ACL that I tore when I got run over by a horse and then a second surgery to remove a bone chip, torn meniscus, and open up the notch around my ACL. That surgery was in December.
True confession I was up on my old mare bareback with a huge knee cast on two weeks after my first ACL. This time around I took it much easier, and havenāt really noticed any change in my full recovery time.
Listen to your body, and listen to your PT. I have found that many doctors do not understand the equestrian lifestyle, and think all the stereotypes are true. I have had more than one doctor tell me to stay away from horses, and a chiro blame ALL my problems on falling off of horses and acted like me falling was clearly a daily occurrence. PTs on the other hand seem to understand at least the want to get out and be active, that riding is an active sport, and that we really arenāt just sitting there. When I was rehabbing for some hip pain related to hobbling around due to my knee my PT was impressed more than once that I picked up on exercises and rehabbed faster because I understood how to open my hips, how to tuck my butt bones in, etc. :yes:
ACL Surgery - and Returning to the Saddle
This forum was hugely helpful to me over the winter and spring - so I thought I would post my story, with the hope that it helps others.
I tore my ACL in a freak mounting accident on January 20 - was not even on or touching the horse. Andā¦had just bought my 12-year-old appendix 4 days before. I had surgery 2 weeks later (cadaver) and rode for the first time yesterday - exactly 4 months after the accident, and 14 week after surgery.
I did EVERYTHING by the book: a week of complete bed-rest, a week of the ice machine as often as possible, two weeks of the CPM machine, and then PT twice a week (and twice a day at home). On Thursday, my doctor gave me the go-ahead for gentle rides. Iāve gone out trail-riding twice, once with a friend and once alone. I have another friend hold my horse when I mount (from a high porch) and dismount.
Riding again was AMAZING. But I am glad that I did everything I was told. And I also learned some incredible ground-work skills over the past 4 months.
Andā¦I turned 60 this week as well. But feeling more like 20 right now!
This forum has also been great for me to read other ACL stories. I injured my knee jumping off a small work platform while renovating the bathroom. I had a segond fracture (indicative of acl rupture), severe bone bruising, some damage to my MCL and of course a ruptured ACL. My surgeon said my knee was far too angry to consider surgery at that point in time and told me to come back at 8 weeks post injury once the inflammation has settled down. At my 8 week follow up, his assessment is that my ACL has healed onto my PCL and is providing me with degree of stability that is probably going to be adequate for my activity type. He advised to stick with conservative management and only consider surgery if down the track the knee doesnāt hold up to the activities I want to do (riding).
Iām currently 10 weeks post injury and as yet have still not had any moments of instability (apart from the first time I stood on it 5 minutes after injury). My knee injury was quite severe and the bone bruising is still healing. Iām still unable to fully straighten my knee due to spasms in the hamstring, but this is improving very slowly. Iām gaining more strength and Iām starting to be able to use the leg to stand up and sit down normally. However occasionally I do something silly and hurt it, such as when climbing through a fence my leg hit the wire on the way through. It took five days to get over that :(. Itās for this reason Iām still not riding.
The surgeon said not to ride until I have no pain and Iām using the knee normally without protecting it. I know that things like the fence incident set me back a week in healing, so itās best to stay off the horse a while longer. He said itās not really riding thatās the issue, itās the unpredictable nature of horses (he rode as a kid.)
Iām expecting that once I get to 12 weeks Iāll be getting very keen to ride, but I might just hold out a little longer until 16 weeks to be safe. Iām thinking I might have to sit on the saddle horse at my local saddlery just to test how it feels to sit astride before climbing on my horse. And I clearly need to invest in a new, taller, mounting block. Iāll never get on from the ground again (itās my left leg.)
Iām 37, and riding is my only sport. I donāt ski or play netball (both ACL killers) and donāt plan on taking up either sport, ever. I feel like riding will be ok, but what about handling horses? What about getting on and off? To get off my horse is further than I jumped when I hurt myself 
I usually leap off away from the horse so Iām not straining his back, but I may have to learnt to slither down. Most people, women especially, seem to opt for surgery, even years after the injury, so I wonder at what my chances are of being able to continue on with conservative management.
My daughter had what I think was a similar injury when she was 25. Nine years later, she has not needed ACL surgery. I think letting it heal was the right decision. She went back to riding after a couple of weeks, but mostly walked on her quiet horse until about 8 weeks post injury.
Itās not the solution for everyone though, as most of the time ACLs donāt heal. There are three grades of tear; low, high and complete rupture. The complete rupture version generally cannot heal without surgery. Mine has gone from a high grade tear to a low grade with healing.
Demera, my understanding of a Segond fracture is that the ACL and a piece of bone are pulled off the tibia rather than torn in half. Sometimes, the piece of bone will reattach. Also, some people donāt need an ACL for their sport.
AKB, not quite. The segond fracture is where one of the side ligaments attached to the tibia pulls out a piece of bone. Itās not the ACL attachment (in fact itās no where near it). Itās just an associated injury that indicates the ACL is damaged. Healing of a segond fracture has no bearing on healing of an ACL. My ACL was torn where it attaches to the femur, according to my surgeon. The segond fracture itself is of no concern and has not given me any real pain. Unlike the damaged MCL which is my main source of pain.
Itās very true that some people can live without an ACL. Just depends on activity type and level.
Reporting in after first ride 15 weeks post injury. I booked in to a clinic to fill a spot so I was committed! I had no pain while riding, although I felt very weak in that leg, but that was more from muscles that arenāt quite back yet. I felt best in sitting trot. Rising was a little weird due to the weakness. Canter was OK but I felt a little uneven. I dismounted onto the block which was not graceful at allā¦ next time I think Iāll dismount from the other side so my right leg touches down first.
So I felt pretty good until the evening when I sat down, and by 8pm I could hardly walk :(. I had to cancel my lesson the following day. So at least I tested out that riding is fine, but learned that Iām still not recovered enough to handle riding yet. Iām not going to be able to get the horse back in work ready for the comp in September that Iād hoped to attend, but Iāll be able to hop on occasionally at least.
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