New ACL and boarding

I need some reassurance, I blew my MCL and ACL in a simple wtw jump two summers ago. It was kind of a freak accident and I never thought it would happen to me because I was boarding for several years prior. Anyway, It has almost been two years and I'm ready to take up wakeboarding again. I am having a mental block and lacking confidence, even though its been a year and a half since surgery, plus I have a really good knee brace (Donjoy Defiance III). Has anyone been in a similar situation and surprised themselves when they got back on the water (regaining their confidence back to balls to the wall boarding)? I just don't want to go through that whole ordeal again, but all I can think about is boarding. Does anyone know of a decent board that is fairly forgiving on the knees? Sorry for the long post, I just need to come to terms with my reality.

Still working on confidence myself, but it is all mental for me. My knee has been great. Year and half since acl reconstruct.

Let me tell you something about knee braces and Don Joy in particular-- they don't do anything (except give you a false sense of confidence. If you have had a hamstring, patelar, or cadaver graft for an ACL, all it will take is a fraction of a budge in your joint to mess up the entire surgery site. What a brace might do for you is cause you to ride more carefully which in the end is safer- but the brace itself is not going to hold your knee so securely that it will not budge when the right (or should I say "wrong" ) landing comes. I don't mean to be a buzzkill, but too many people rely on their knee braces for support. Look at what history has shown on a professional level- the reocurring theme has been MULTIPLE surgeries. You are not out of luck though- the best thing you can do to ride safely and avoid more injuries is build your muscles up around the joint. Don't just get them back to normal, you need to supersize your quads and hamstrings. Moreover, time alone is not what will ensure you success. All time does is mend the site, not build strength. Time in the gym does that.

I have had two ACL repairs, an allograft of the femur, a cadaver maniscus implant, and two weeks ago I had the maniscus removed. I've worked with the Seahawks doctor, the Huskies doctors, and the US snowboarding and ski team physical therapists of Seattle. Not to mention the same PT place damn near every pro athlete in Orlando goes to - I hate my record, but the sad truth is that in order to get your confidence back (which you can have again) you gotta do a ridiculous amount of work and not just wait and then get a brace. By the way- I blew my knee out wearing a Don Joy.

Wow...Riley wins for depressing post of the year.

Agree with Riley, I've had both of my ACL's repaired. (Old soccer injuries) I still ride as much as possible. After the 2nd surgery I made an oath to myself, if I get injured again (knock on wood) it would be from an individual sport. Something I've done to myself while having fun, not some idiot tackling me......Doc told me specifically to never wear a knee brace and he had a reputation for the best knee surgeon in town before he retired.

I had my ACL repaired 11 weeks ago, it will be 13 weeks before I get back on a wakeboard. Will I wear a brace? Yes. Will that brace prevent an injury? No. What will prevent the injury is strength, and proprioceptive training. Will the brace decrease the severity if an injury were to occur? yes. damage control my friends.

I'm with thane on this one. I'm still gonna wear braces when I finally get back on the water. But I do know strength of muscle is far more important than the brace.

I have blown my knee twice, once playing rugby and once snowboarding. I only ride (wakeboarding) with a CTi brace now.

I know its mainly a mental thing - however the advantage for me is that I can lock the brace in certain positions that would not allow me to either hyper extend my leg or compress it – this was a huge help for when I starting riding after the recovery period. I felt that this was a little extra insurance...

Were any of you surprised at how well your knee held up when jumping wake to wake? I think the only way to regain my confidence is to retry the same move that I blew it on (wtw). Do you think a larger board would be more forgiving on the knees?

Beer makes you invincible and impervious to injury.

What does it feel like to get your knee blown out. Other than hurting. The reason I ask is sometimes I'll land and it hurts or is sore for a day or so in different places. So, where exactly does it hurt, back, front, sides, under cap, etc.? FYI, if you get a board with a large spine, it is supposed to make your landings softer, like the CWB Absolute. I'm sure there are a few others out there as well.

Well, mine was clearly blown because it folded sideways and I heard the loud "pop". Then it swelled immediately. my uncle had to jumb in the water and help me get my board off. I would have much rather broken my femur or something. I was looking at the LF substance 139. I am 5'7" and 160. (yeah, I'm a short sh*t). I was riding a 133 with hyperlite highback bindings.

OUCH!!! I have had mine go sideways as well, but it was just a little. Sore for a few days, and no swelling.

I'm with cosmocat. My leg compounded, folded sideways, and the POP sounds echoed thru my whole body. Never a sound I want to hear again. Oh, and my knee cap was half way up my thigh. Swelling started immediately, but I stayed on the boat thinking it would go away, and I would be better. After helping to clean up the boat that afternoon (because even injured, I never bail on my duties as a boat mooch. LOL), my knee wouldnt stay in place, so i figured I should head to the doc.

When it comes to riding, I was riding a bigger board, but my bindings were also too big, and I contribute that as a factor. I am still hesitant. I know i am on the verge of breaking thru, but it seems that my mind catches me at the last second and does all these stupid flash backs of what happened. I also wear a Don Joy, but I know i wont depend on it. Its all about making sure you are strong going into it, as the brace helps, but wont keep you from blowing it again.

I would love for a doctor to prescribe a brace for me but unfortunately they (the doctor's I've seen) don't trust them. Moreover, I don't have the 6 Gs to get one that would make me "feel" better about riding.

Byrd - me blowing my knee wasn't nearly as painfuly as breaking a bone. I just felt my bones displace (femur and tibia). It felt like they moved about 6 inches apart. Both my doc and therapist think that I originally tore 80% or completely in October of '02 then just finished it off in August of '05, because I had very minimal swelling. I rehabbed before the surgery and actually did quite a bit of snowboarding just wearing the cti2 brace.

Riley - I don't what brace you want but my Cti2 only cost $1700 total. I only paid $700 of that.

Got bad knees, lookin for a board that lands really soft? Demo a CWB Marius softest landing board on the market!Every little bit helps, Boards included. But you got to hit the gym, no question. Most important thing to do is build strength.

Riley: Asterisk knee braces.

I also had an ACL recon about 18 months ago and was wakeboarding at 7 months post-op. The biggest thing for me was I really worked hard to strenghen my leg, and in doing so, I gained the confidence to trust me knee and not worry about it. O.K. you do worry about it at first, then you work up from there. But you HAVE to start somewhere. So give it a shot and take it easy at first.

Aagh the pain, I remember it well.

I was playing basketball, driving hard on a fast break, went to step around a guy and it felt like someone standing beside me had kneed me as hard as they could in the knee, caving it inwards. As I hit the ground I looked around to see who had did this to me and noone was there.

The pain was immense, I thought I had broken my leg, any movement with my body, trying to sit up, rollover etc I felt this incredible pain from about half way up my thigh to my ankle.

After about 3 minutes the pain suddenly stopped, and I was carried off the court. No pain, unless I tried to touch the ground with my foot and I could not move my knee of course.

Did my ACL, 3 years ago, riding for the last year and a half with a CTI2 brace and would not enter the water, get on a basketball court or clip on a pair of skis without it. Will it stop me from injuring myself, yes (only because I have a special condition). Does it slow me down a little yes. Would my wife let me wakeboard without it, No.. Therefore brace stays on.

BUT..There is no substitute for strong muscles and co-contractions and this will do 100 times for you then any brace, to the point that a brace should become redundant.

My surgeon also indicated that he does not condone the use of braces (except in my case, but he would not put that in writing).

i m only 14 and i have torn my acl and im about to have surgery in june.

will i really have to wait 9 months to go wakeboarding again and miss the whole season as thts what the doctor says. or will i be able to
ease back slowly into riding if i try to build the muscles up earlier

thanx

I was at least wakeskating and taking it easy at 6 months. I also wore my brace. Basically, if you take it easy and build your confidence back gradually, you should be OK. This is my opinion though, and everyone is different. The ultimate wisest thing to do is to probably listen to your doc.

My son, Derek had surgery back in July 2005. He rehabed with a trainer for six months. He rode in Orlando for about a month to get ready for the pro tour and really had a lot of confidence. He came back on Thursday and went to a double up contest on Saturday and blew it out again with a CTI brace on. My advice is to rehab longer, wear your brace and take it easy. The brace will not save you.

man o man am i glad i have good knees so far

Yeah, let me just tell you, I've done some type of boardsports since 15, and I have always thought to myself "I have good knees" and then it happened...I'll probably never get back to where I was.