Knee Injury: Please offer advice/information

Yesterday while skiing a steep pitch of heavy tracked-out powder I made a turn and heard my knee pop.

I then bailed on my side because turning became difficult. I made it down the mountain but was not able to make a turn on my right leg. Now, a day later, I have pain on the outside of my right knee and this pain extends two inches behind my knee. My knee is also swollen and I have a low range of motion.

All of this tells me that I have a ruptured acl and possibly lcl, mcl and meniscus tears. However, I had complete acl reconstruction (patella tendon) in 1998 and have not found any literature on the signs and symptoms of an acl rupture post acl reconstruction(patella).

If you have suffered an acl injury, post acl reconstruction(patella), please email me with information explaining:

-How the injury occurred
-What it felt like when the injury occurred (popping, crackling, twisting, etc.)
-Did you have surgery again
-If you had surgery please discuss procedure and how you feel now.
-If you opted not to have surgery please explain how you feel now.

Thank you for any and all responses, your comments are taken with great respect.

Are you completely high?
Go see a doctor.

user id wrote:Are you completely high? Go see a doctor.

+ a lot

What does it matter what your diagnosis is? All of the possibilities you listed probably require medical attention if you don't want a thug limp the rest of your life.

I also had a Patellar Tendon ACL reconstruction and have suffered ACL, MCL, LACL and meniscus tears.

My unprofessional advice?.....GO TO THE DOCTOR!

bwalt822 wrote: All of the possibilities you listed probably require medical attention if you don't want a thug limp the rest of your life.

Bwahahahaha! That kills me! I hurt my knee last week and have the mri tomorrow now that swelling has gone down. I decided to skip treatment of an injury years ago. When you get it taken care of later (and you will have to) it complicates things and lengthens recovery time.

Thanks, when I get back to the bay area I will be sure to see a doc. I am just tied up in the cabin and cannot stop thinking about my knee.

Jasonkennedy wrote: I decided to skip treatment of an injury years ago. When you get it taken care of later (and you will have to) it complicates things and lengthens recovery time.

I totally vote for going to the doctor and taking care of it as soon as you get back. I had a complete ACL tear in one of my knees about 6 years ago. I went with the non-surgical approach of PT, followed by strengthening my quads and hamstrings (despite having 2 surgeons tell me that I needed surgery). What a terrible idea. A few years later, I was campusing down the bouldering tunnel at my climbing gym, my hand slipped, and I messed up the other knee (landing on my feet from about 6" off the ground was enough to screw it up). I'm pretty sure that I weakened the "good" knee over time by compensating for the bad one, and I think I tore something in it. I never went to the doctor for it, then messed it up bouldering again last year, and screwed it up running the other day. (My insurance currently sucks so I'm waiting it out until I can change it in May).

Also, I had a co-worker who tore his reconstructed ACL a few months after his original surgery (both were motorcycle stunting related injuries). Once he got it repaired for the second time, he backed off on the motorcycle stunting a bit and it seemed to be okay. So maybe make sure you have a good surgeon and keep in mind that surgery might not always make things as good as new (as you probably realize after this recent injury).

Thanks for the advice.

Thanks for posting this for me and all the advice. I did the same thing at Kwood on Saturday. Ill be making an apt. tomorrow. I don't have time for this sh#% when theres all these mountains to climb. Hope your recovery is swift. B.

coreylee wrote:Now, a day later, I have pain on the outside of my right knee and this pain extends two inches behind my knee. My knee is also swollen and I have a low range of motion. All of this tells me that I have a ruptured acl and possibly lcl, mcl and meniscus tears.

While ACL and MCL sprains very commonly occur together, it is unlikely to have simultaneously hurt ligaments that prevent opposite motions (MCL and LCL). Popping noises are consistent with ligament sprains/ruptures and sometimes meniscus tears. Limited ROM is consistent with, well....all these injuries; in the case of ACL sprains, some people have limited pain, but they usually have a sense of their knee feeling very unstable.

You should do an anterior drawer test (to the best of your ability on yourself) to check for ACL damage. Your story of "making a turn"--aka twisting the knee--seems more consistent with meniscus tear. ACL ruptures are more likely to happen with sudden stops, or planting and twisting motions ("cutting" motions), but clearly you have some history on what one feels like. MCL and PCL injuries usually require a direct blow to the opposite side of the knee, so they are not as common in non-contact sports.

Until you see a doc, just RICE RICE RICE.

Well I got some good news on my end. Turns out I have a partial tear of the mcl which is on the inside part of the knee. Doc says it should fuse up on it's own just fine. Keep using the brace ice and inprofen after activity and some light cycle training after a week is ok. Hope yours turns out as well.

i set up an appointment, but cannot get into see the doc til next week......

How did the doc know that it was only MCL? Can you explain how your knee feels, or what it felt like?

So the doc checked the range of motion by bending it forward, backwards and side to side. Rotating my lower leg outward gave me pain on the inside of my left knee, where the MCL is located. Because the range of motion was still normal compared to my other leg he knew it was still connected. The fact I felt a pop meant it did tear anywhere between 1 and 99 percent making it a class 2 MCL injury. He said it will heal on it's own and I should ice it for the first few days and after heavy activity. Then use heat and rehab. Right now it's still a little stiff and that's from the small amount of swelling which should go away. (that's what she said)

As long as your knee doesn't bend in new directions you will probably make a full recovery. The lenth of recovery will depend on severity of sprain or tear.

coreylee wrote:How did the doc know that it was only MCL? Can you explain how your knee feels, or what it felt like?

corey, there are manual tests out there to check for these kinds of things. For instance, I recommended you do an anterior drawer test to rule out ACL injury (but I forgot to mention you need to do it on both knees to see how the bad knee compares to the good knee). You can google that term to find out how to do it (very simple).

Tests for meniscus are harder to do and you cannot do it on yourself.

Edited to add: MCL sprains typically have the best prognosis of any collateral knee ligament injury and, even when fully ruptured, those things are rarely surgically repaired.

Aerili wrote: MCL sprains typically have the best prognosis of any collateral knee ligament injury and, even when fully ruptured, those things are rarely surgically repaired.

This is true. I tore my MCL on a drop knee move a few years back. Heard the pop, had pain, instability, etc. I limped for about two months, but eventually it healed without surgery.

Great news! NO torn ACL. Torn miniscus but no surgery needed. Healing well, thanks for all of the info and support.