Injury Advice

Hey guys,

I finally got out on the lake last weekend for the first time of the summer! On my second pull, I got up and crossed the wake. The water was nearly whitecapping it was so rough because of of wind. It was also really cold out! Never the less, the front of the board dipped into a wave and I faceplanted.

Aside from the awesome streaming blood from my face, I could tell my knee felt weird. I think my face actually collided with my knee!

It's been 5 days, and, while I can walk on my leg, I am still limping. If I am stationary for very long, it really hurts to move it - but so long as I am staying active on it, it doesnt really bother me. I cant fully stretch my leg out without feeling some pain...

Obviously I should go to the doctor, but part of me just tells me I pulled something. If I had an ACL injury I wouldn't be able to walk, right?

The pain is very localized in inner left side of my right leg.

Any advice or information would be greatly appreciated! BTW - The day before this happened, I purchased my first boat. Great timing huh? Probably wont be able to ride behind it! DOH!

Go to the doctor! You could probably stretched your inner knee tendon (or whatever doctors call that), or even torn it! If you can walk it is not so bad (1-2 weeks out the water), but let the doctors say what.

Never ride without a proper streching/warming exercises before you get into the water!

(Message edited by Georgi on May 18, 2006)

The ACL is located on the front of the knee, so I think that is where you'd feel the pain if you injured that. Since it's the inner part of the knee, that's the MCL. It's usually injured by extreme e\pressure applied to the outside of the knee. In my case, I smacked the wake hard with the outside of the knee, and strained the MCL. I kept riding, didn't think it was that bad, later on in the boat I could tell it was getting worse, and next day couldn't walk. It's likely you have strained it to some extent. I was out for 4 months of physio, but it has totally healed now. I would get it checked out just to be sure. The best thing for it is rest.

Me myself half-torn the MCL (the missing word ) on my left knee on snowboarding this winter. An extremely stupid injury with low speed... However I was completely "out of the business" for 6 weeks and then started snowboarding with knee braces. Now, almost 6 months later, I still feel pain in some cases. And that was the better case! If you torn your ACL or MCL completely, surgery is inevitable and you are out for at least 6 months... Be very careful with your knees!

The 1st time my son blew out his ACL and tore up his miniscus last sept, he couldnt walk and had swelling, when he completely tore it again last month no pain just some swelling, no miniscus damage and is still riding. Go to the Doctor!!!
It could be nothing but a strain or it could be more .

The ACL is not located on the front of the knee. I have had to ACL reconstructions in the last two years ... both times after about 10 minutes I could walk with some swelling but very little pain.

Sounds like a deep bone bruise and some tendon strain ... go see a knee specialist.

If it is an ACL only (no MCL or miniscus damage), you can be back on the water/snow in 3 months.

My apologies - the ACL is located in the middle of the knee. All I knew was that "anterior" means forward, so I thought it was located in the front of the knee, but I guess it is referring to the forward motion of the knee. I've only injured my MCL, so I'm not as familiar with the ACL.

"The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), in the center of the knee, limits rotation and the forward movement of the tibia. "

I had an acl reconstruction done 2 yrs ago and I partially tore my acl wakeskating. I was convinced when I did it that I was just being a wuss and, like you, thought I prolly only pulled it. I rode for 15 more min. then limped back to my car. Was still limping later that evening, but able to walk on it, and when I went to go down a stair case with my friends and I really struggled doing it my friend took me to the hospitol where I recieved the bad news about the knee. so, if I were you I would def. get it checked out. The doc said that it was ok to walk on it and whatever but if I didn't have it taken care of I risked damaging it more and also destroying other parts of the knee. Def. hit up ur doc. Good luck to you and hopefully its nothing major, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Roll your thumb(with pressure) on the the inside of your knee at the largest part of the bone. If that hurts, it's MCL. If so, that is pretty common and should feel better in a week or two if it's just tweaked. Knee braces are designed specifically to prevent this type of injury. Might want to look into it. Not saying you shouldn't go to the Dr. You probably should.

My experience with having torn both my ACLs is that, I at least, had very little pain after and very little swelling. If your knee feels stable to walk on and you can go down stair with knee stability (those that have torn ACLs know what I mean) then the ACL is most likely fine. The fact that it is OK whem active leads me to believe in my non-medical opinion that it is either a partial tear or heavy bruise, possibly torn cartilige too, but no matter what go see a DR! And make sure to go see one that you have a good referral from another patcient, there are a lot of surgeons out there that say the operate on knees and then there are those who specialize in the knee, that is who you want! Good luck

goto doc. ended up with partial tear of my mcl just jumping 25' off of a boat in st. thomas (don't ask!). it still hurts, but doc said i'm good to go in a few more weeks with a brace. the pain after being stationary is most likely fluid in the knee and/or the healing process and scar tissue. the physical therapy is good for it too. some squats with your back up against the wall, your feet a foot or so from the wall and then a towel between your knees. you need to strengthen your inside leg muscles. doc's going to take xrays make sure you didn't chip bone, give you a brace and send you to physical therapy. good luck.

Sounds like An MCL injury, def. go it could be as simple as a straight leg knee imobilizer for 6 weeks and then therapy all the way up to surgery. You only have one set of knees for your entire life, take care of them. Go see a quack and good luck

Just an update for all of the people who were concerned - Looks like I have a bit of a bone contusion (sp?) but that is it. Told to stay off of it for two more weeks - but gradually start running, etc until it starts to hurt.

BEST NEWS POSSIBLE! Thanks for the advice!