ACL injuries

Anyone with an acl reconstruction how long did you wait to ride after surgery, how did your knee feel after riding & did you feel your knee was 100% before riding?

I waited the full 6 months my doctor reccomended. With lots of rehab I went back boarding 100% at that point. Physically my knee felt back to normal. But mentally there is definitely a barrier to overcome. I overcame it fairly quickly but some people it takes longer.

6 months; my knee was sore for a good month or two until I got used to it and rehabbed extra hard; not even close.

By about 9-10 months it started feeling pretty good. I'm at 15.5 months now and charging on my snowboard is making it swell up a little. Knee feels pretty strong though. Just keep plugging away...it comes back slowly but surely.

it was probably a full year before i started riding properly again. i rode a few times before that, when i wasn't ready, and just caused more set-backs for myself! i know you'll want to be out there, but don't do it until you're ready - it's different for everyone, so fingers crossed you feel great at 6 months. that's what i was hoping for but it didn't work out that way. it was at least 2 years post-op before i was feeling mentally ok again, though i still hold back, and tend to freak out and throw the handle if i look like landing in the flats!!

my biggest recommendation is get a board with soft landings - i rode a substance when i first started back and i'd get twinges of knee pain, but now i ride a PS3 and it's so so awesome, and so so soft. gives me a lot more confidence because my knees don't hurt when i land.

I waited nine months.Yes,it's different for everyone, I am convinced my joints simply can't take the forces involve with big air any more. I've taken up wakeskating, which is also dangerous in and of itself.

There are a ton of variables in your question Matt. Did you get the ACL reconstruction, any other ligaments or meniscus damage? If so could you walk on your knee after the accident before the surgery? Did you get full ROM before the surgery? What type of surgery did you get? How old are you, how healthy, do you smoke, workout regularly etc. How did it feel 2 weeks out, 4 weeks out etc. When did it feel good enough for you to consistently remind yourself to take it easy? Lots of variable can lead to a very different "back on the board" time.

I am currently three weeks out after my surgery and have pretty much full ROM and have started working on muscle building now. I also had the absolute best situation regarding the injury. I am 24yrs old, very active, could walk right after the accident and focused on getting full ROM before surgery, had the Allograph (which is the least invasive) etc. etc.

The point is that there are A TON of variables that you need to address personally to evaluate where your knee is in its healing process. If you do some searching here on WW you will find that the time it took to get back on water ranges from 3 months to 18 months and farther.

Good luck, and let us know how things go.

Acl reconstruction with a hamstring graft they said I could wakeboard after 5-6 months but that I would defenitly be at 100% (if not stronger than prior to the accident) in a year. When the 5-6 months were up it was November. Granted at the time I was in FL so I could have ridden... but being as out of shape as I am I was a bit more concerned and I really didn't want to have to go through that again so I waited till the following season to ride. So it was a yr before I rode again. As far as feeling 100%... I'm not sure that I'll ever feel 100%, it still feels wierd after long car rides and is weird in the winter. I still wear a knee brace when I wakeboard when I can.

Matt are you having a reconstruction done? How'd you get injured? (my apologies if you've already addressed this in another post and I missed it)

Yes I already had reconstruction done back in December. It is exactly 3 weeks out for me as of today. I chose for the cadaver option. Everyone has their own opinions as well as their doctor's so I wont get into that.

I tore my acl completely overrotating a scarecrow taken into the flats back in october. I took the trick as big as I could since it was pretty "stock" for me and bam! I landed completely straight legged with all my weight on my front foot(right). My femur bone twisted to my left while my lower leg bones stayed in their correct positions in respect to the bindings. This essentially guilatined the ACL. I felt a pop, but cannot recall hearing anything. I immediately yelled out in anger and the took the board off. Jumped up on the swim platform and put some weight on it to test it. My buddy on the boat that day mentioned that I would be screaming in pain had I tore my ACL, so I was a bit relieved to hear his diagnosis. I almost took a second set since it was "touchy" but felt okay.

I did a lot of research as well as talking to anyone possible regarding the injury, and what to do before and after surgery. I have been very disciplined as far as spending time on both the CPM machine as well as the Pilates ball ragarding ROM (range of motion). Going into the surgery I could walk fine, no issues other than the "sloppiness" feeling and the occasional fluttering within the knee itself. I personally think the biggest issue for most people is all the down time associated with tearing an ACL. Most scenarios I hear of people cannot walk on it. In this situation the knee atrophys while you wait for the swelling to go down, get an MRI, diagnosis, and eventually surgery; all the while scar tissue is building up within the knee. Luckily for me I was able to work my knee on a stationary bike and stretch out while waiting for the MRI results and setting up a surgery time. My situation is probably as close to perfect a scenario as possible regarding ACL rehab time I hope (crossing fingers and knocking on wood).

Do you have full range of motion in comparison to your good knee?

Here are a couple excersizes my therapist has me doing (these are for my right knee):

Lay on back, and point toe slightly to the right without twisting ankle or bending knees. Then keep your leg as straight as possible while doing leg raises from 2" to 18".

Lay on your right hip and cross your bent left leg over your right. Again doing straight leg lifts with your toes pointing to the right.

Lay on your back and spell a large W using leg lifts. One end of the W over your left knee, One over where your right knee would lay resting, and one to the right of that.

Do the same as above only laying on your stomach.

These are all what they have me doing for my personal recovery, some people may have better information or worse, I dont know. Hopefully you can work out your knee and build those small muscles back up. I personally plan on building my knees up using different excersizes including spinning, pilates balance work, etc. Anything that requires balance and some movement should be helpful (provided it doesnt hurt).

thanks for the replies everyone. I gathered from all the posts that everyone gets better at different speeds and when I'm ready I'll know. Good luck to everybody on their rehabs!! If anyone needs some advice I'd be happy to give it. I'm 5 months post & feeling great. I still have some not so great days.

how many of you wore a brace when you went back to riding

I've had 5 reconstructions (3 right and 2 left) and have had them use my patellar tendon once, cadaver ligament twice and hamstring twice. All I can say is definitely give the replacement time to heal before riding on it again. From my experience you will start feeling just about normal at a month and a half out but don't believe it. Just keep doing the rehab hard, my last doctor had me going to rehab the day after surgery. Believe me, it is much better to delay your return and get the muscles and ligament as close to 100% than to push it to start a month or two earlier and live to regret it.

i wore, and still wear a innovation sports cti2 brace. my confidence would be nil without it! it really helped me mentally (if nothing else) when i started to get back on the water. i guess it just depends how confident you are about your strength etc.

you also just never know when you might need it. i was riding in really rough water the other day and ended up landing completely straight legged (or almost - the extension stops in the brace saved my ass!) i would have screwed myself for sure without it...