Riding with torn ACL?

Ok so I tore my right ACL and medial meniscus a week and a half ago. I tore my left one last summer. I'm not wanting to call this season quits yet. If I grab another brace for this knee could I still ride? Has anyone rode with a Torn ACL and how long did it take before you could ride? Was your riding limited?

Depends on how bad the tear is and how much damage to the meniscus. If it's a clean tear to the acl then you should be ok, just get a good brace, but if it's partial you should get it fixed. Really the meniscus is the big problem, if you have damage there I'd call it quits and get it fixed.

Totally agree about the ACL. I had a clean tear on mine in the fall, but was feeling so good about 3-4 weeks after I tore it, I wanted to get a second opinion just to make sure that I really did hurt myself. I'd say hit the gym and buy a brace.

This is a terrible idea. Without an ACL your knee has the freedom to slide forward over the tibial crest... this puts increased pressure on your patella making it very likely you'll tear that. It also reduces the structural integrity of the knee as a whole, making you more susceptible to MCL, LCL, and meniscal damage.

I am 9 weeks post-op ACL and medial mensical repair and it sucks... but think a little further out than "this week" and go get that thing fixed. You'll be out for 4-6 months, but you will be MUCH better off in the longterm.

Hi Micah,

I'm having the same question...... but I don't think I'm ready for wakeboarding, I think I might get away with wakesurfing.

http://www.wakeworld.com/MB/Discus/messages/87668/719032.html?1248879883

Lurker, my wife cleanly blew out her ACL and multiple doctors told her to wear a good brace, do resistance training to strengthen the muscles around the join,t and not get it fixed as long as it it isn't causing her pain. She had zero meniscus damage. In the long run they said the operation would cause more issues. If it had been a partial tear they said she would have needed surgery.
Many athletes have gone entire careers without their ACL, and have had zero problems with proper care. Hell John Elway played his entire career sans an ACL.

Yeah... I guess you're right. ACL surgery is probably just a conspiracy for doctors to make some $$$. You really don't need one for extreme sports anyway.

I say go for it.

luker........your being safety minded......well i never.......

ACL surgery is nesseccary in some cases and not in others. It's unique to the indavidual and the injury. If you aren't experincing pain and can keep the joint stable you can go without it, atleasst for a while. I'll take the doctors, we saw, advice we saw over some guy on a message board.

In the end see a orthopedist and get his opinion on what you shoulod or should not do before you do anything.

Michael... LMAO. Quite humorous I admit.

This is a no brainer though... he's not asking about some goofy preventative care... the kid is hurt and wanting to ride. Although apparently I'm an "outlaw" as far as saftey goes... I would never ride injured, what's the point? You'll never progress and the likelyhood of getting further hurt is huge.

.....despite all our age differences we can all see the humour in life.....and yes i agree with you luker.

Like I said, see a doctor first. No matter what he's asking none of us are qualified or have enough knowledge of his injury to really give him sound advice. I'll tell you form the statement about the meniscus I can't see a Doctor telling him to go for it, but he they may. I thought my wife was in for definite surgery, instead walked out with a good brace and a a keep an eye on it while on the mountain.

"none of us...have enough knowledge of his injury to really give him sound advice"

hmmm.... you tore your ACL? Here is some unquestionably sound advice for your long term riding career. GET IT FIXED.

The only real sound advice is see a doctor and get perfessional advice, period!!

I have ridden with a torn ACL for months at a time, but with a custom brace. My decision was based on knowledge of the extent of the injury and the fact that it happened in the summer. Therefore, I chose to ride until the "off" season. And, I can vouch for the lack of progression during this time, but it was more about just being behind the boat for me!

I agree with those that have suggested seeing the ortho doc first for a diagnosis and ask the expert questions about riding with the injury identified.

I have worked with a lot of athletes that tore their ACL early/mid season and decided to finish out the season using a brace. It is actually pretty common, especially if there is limited pain with their injury. Often, there is only a small window of time for many of these athletes to make money and build their own brand. There is always someone up-and-coming and spots and salaries are limited. It can often be critical to their career (especially for their salary paying sponsors, etc.) that they remain out in the public's eye getting exposure. Although very unfortunate... it is a lot of times the case.
That being said, I would not suggest it for someone who's livelihood is not dependent on them being able to ride. There is definitely risk involved and you can cause yourself more damage and even longer recovery times. Not to mention, you often compensate for and favor your injured knee - which leads to injuries to other parts of your body.
I would get it fixed. Good luck!

When Watson did his ACL a ways back (not this most recent time I don't think), didn't he brace up and finish the Pro Tour that year? Agree w/ Brett though that he had a lot more to gain by riding injured than most people on this board.

I did my ACL three weeks ago, and will be going into surgery in around 4 weeks time. Personally I wouldn't think of riding hurt. I still go out with the boys to drive, film, coach, hang out, etc, and it kills me not to ride but long run it's not worth it. On the other hand, I'm only 27 and looking at this as an opportunity to increase my longevity in the sport. I wasn't as flexible or as strong in the legs as I should be. Plus at times I'd get lazy, not pay attention to my landing position, and on occasion even "reach" for the water w/ my board. 6 months of rehab and focused training and I'll be stronger that before I got hurt.

Luker, I'm curious, what graft did u get? My doc is suggesting (and I am leaning towards) paterllar tendon. Just curious what you and any others have gotten and what your doc said were the pros/cons. From some of your recent photos (going huge off cable kickers) it's no wonder you blew out. Those are some brutal landings on flat water and not much forward speed. I always feel like I jumped off a high dive w/ my board on when hitting the kicker at KC.

i tore my right acl last summer and the doctor is 90% sure i just tore my left acl and it has been getting better everyday but i am definitely not riding on it. i will most likely get surgery

Partialy torn MCL for years now. Have kept everything else strong and ride with a brace. Mikah, get professional advice and evaluation. It's possible you'll be fine with a brace and some strengh training till the seasons over.

I know several friends that have done it for years but they are very diligent about strength and health in general. It is a definate risk with a sport like wakeboarding but doable if you strengthen it and listen to your body.

sparky -- Apparently MCLs can regenerate themselves ;) ..unless its a full tear. Lucky for you.

Ive rode about 3 times this year with torn meniscus and a complete ACL tear. Not much pain, but the hardest part is getting past the mental block and just ride correctly. Trying not to go to big or not land in the flats....it really messes with your head. And im not trying to go ride the way i did before but just jump the wake a lil and just really be on the board.

strengthen the •••••••• of your thigh muscles, especially your hamnstrings with an ACL defficiency...all last semester I worked under my biomechanics professor determining which group of muscles plays the most crucial role in protecting the knee under various loads and all the hamnstring muscles includnig semitendinosus, semimembrinosus, and both biceps femoris heads...but make sure you maintain overall strength of the entire leg...also for you guys wearing braces whether they are for ACL, MCL, meniscus or whichever make sure you strengthen your legs in the gym WITHOUT the brace on so your brain doesnt get to used to the support of the brace and proceed to not activate the quads in times of stress like a fall or trip or whatever...Im glad i learned that bc I used to use my brace as a safety blanket with everything i did and there a lot of studies that say it can make u more vulnerable to a repeat of a tear if u rely soley on the brace all the time...good luck with the knee, ligaments suck when they dont work damnit!

"sparky -- Apparently MCLs can regenerate themselves ;) ..unless its a full tear. Lucky for you."

LMAO - I was thinking the same thing.

Im pretty sure I have a torn meniscus so I read earlier in this thread that you should definitely not be riding with one of these injuries. Why is this? I've been doing light cruising on the roam board and clearing the wake heelside once in a while (hurts to do it toeside) and was thinking about maybe stepping it up a little by doing some of my old tricks before the injury.

Sorry to change the subject.

"I would never ride injured". C'mon knock that purse off your shoulder...

Dustin - I had a hamstring allograft. One of my best friends and Jr. Mens rider Alex Graydon had the same surgery last season with the same ortho and has had great success. I'm no dr... but doing what we do, I want to keep as many of my current working "parts" intact as possible... so getting a cadaver hammy rather than my own made the most sense to me. I have another good friend who had a patella graft and after rehabbing for 5 months came out and split his knee cap into on a double up... not saying patella is a bad surgery, just giving my experience with them.

Sparky - I love the fact that you are attempting to chime in an give me sh*t on every thread on this forum, but the bottom line is you have had nothing but useless posts for the last 2 days... you just claimed above to have ridden on a partially torn ligament for "years" (proving you're an idiot)... and that weak a$$ straight HS wake jump with a helmet on in your profile pic proves you've got no business talking trash to me. Go find something else to do.

So what was usefull about your "riding with a helmet behind the boat is worthless" thread? Everyone found that very informative. You should practice what you preach. And I HAVE been riding a partial torn MCL, that's a fact. Who's the idiot? You must be a poser. I bet that pic in your profile prolly ain't even you! And the pic in my profile... is a Heel Mute 180...

Three summers ago in August, I completely tore my ACL and partially tore my meniscus. Didn't ever really hurt, just swelled up, felt loose and unstable. I didn't go to the ortho right away because it didn't hurt, I even went wakeboarding about a week later and was fine (I don't do anything to crazy by any means). My knee continued to feel unstable so I finally got it looked at and got the news.

I love wakeboarding, but I really love snowboarding. Since the snowboard season was just around the corner I begged the ortho to let me try to snowboard. He basically thought I was a moron but said it was my knee and I could do what I wanted. He sent me to a physical therapist who gave me a bunch of exercises to help strengthen the quad and hammy. I also was fitted for an over the counter Don Joy brace that I wore everytime. I was able to ride all winter, but with a bunch of swelling and some pain. I also made sure to not do anything to stupid on the board (stayed out of the park the entire year). I had the surgery the following April (patella graft).

I would talk to your ortho and see what he has to say. From my experience, it sounds like every ortho has a little different outlook on torn ACLs. One thing to keep in mind is it depends on how you plan on riding. I made sure to not hit anything too big and held back quite a bit that winter. Would you be willing to do that on the wakeboard? It's a decision only you can make. I did not and would not recomend wakeboarding if you know you have a torn ACL just due to the nature of the sport. The entire purpose is to go as big as you can, which isn't good for a person with one good knee.

Luker's first post on this topic is right on. That is exactly what my ortho said to me when I said I wanted to try snowboarding with the torn ACL.

Chris... I am from the midwest and there are many Bronco fans here (thank god I am not one of them). When I told my ortho I wanted to snowboard, I told him that John Elway won two Super Bowls without an ACL (which really hurt because I am a Marino fan and cannot stand Elway), why can't I snowboard without one. He looked at me and said that Elway has probably had to have a couple of total knee replacements since he retired. Not sure if it's true, that's just what he said.

Good luck Micah and speedy recovery to Luker.

hahahahahaha oh sparky, that's not mute buddy. good try though you almost had him with that one!! luker wins, now and forever. amen.

bottom line, riding injured is stupid. you may think it's a good idea in the moment but one wrong move and not only is your season done, you could be done all together. just think a little more long term before you decide to do something idiotic, that's all i'm saying.

Mute... Melan... its the same grab right? And these center fins are to help me get extra pop. D-Bag.

"And these center fins are to help me get extra pop."

BAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAA!

ummm....thats not a mute. agreed.

Yeah it was a set-up to see if Luker-Poser caught it. I guess he ain't such a poser...

...yeah no athletes ever play injured... uh-huh. You should definitely not do anything if your hurt, exept maybe call the wambulance. lol

sparky you obviously have no clue what your talking about

sit down sparky. you wear a helmet behind the boat, you do weak 180's, you don't know grabs, you ride monstrous center fins, and you'll never progress because you're riding with a bum knee. just stop it. thanks

let someone with a degree in exercise science say something: when you have a torn ACL...the stability of your knee decreases drastically. You might be able to get away with walking your grandma to the doctors office or play golf for a weekend if you have a strong core and quads kinda like Tiger Woods did. If you keep up with sports then you know that when Tom Brady tore his he didnt even think about playing football until it was fixed. Wakeboarding??? yes...if all you do is ride and do a few harmless ollies. The second you go wake to wake and get more than 4 feet of air...your knee is probably going to bend medially (toward the inside) and you will end up with an "unhappy triad" which is the worst knee injury with the ACL MCL and Meniscus pretty much exploding as if Brian Urliker(6'3 250lb linebacker from the Bears) diving into your knee. So its like you volunteered to let this guy hit you for fun! IDIOT!!! You have a huge chance of never wakeboarding again...not just out for the f****** season. Wear a knee brace...a physical therapist should be your best friend....I legally can't tell you what to do but you will probably be doing some basic stuff keeping your hamstring and quad firing so that you can be as strong as possible before surgery so that post-op you can be on a shorter path to recovery. Then when you're better...workout....workout....workout...wakeboard ing is for serious athletes....unless you take the bayliner out on the weekend and show all the girls how you can do an ungrabbed backroll and can't jump toeside.

BBS Jeff! miss you

Rob says manbush!

Yeah... Poke chimin in! Coming down for Expo and you better hang this time... we didn't see your a$$ the whole time on our last trip.

hahahahah miss you too poke. we shall see you soon!!

Depends on your level of skill and how hard you push it. You can ride without an ACL if you don't push it too hard and aren't going too big. If you want to ride 100%, you need to get if fixed. I rode 3 months without an ACL and got more and more confident. I stomped a trick in the flats and the knee gave out and I injured it way worse that it was before. It was also my single worst painful experience. If you can stay mellow, go for it, but for me that goes against the spirit of wakeboarding. Get it fixed or you may pay a more severe price!