Dear Dr. NS

DrZoidberg

Active member
Alright, way back on the 21st of march I hit this cannon box in vermont. I guess the landing melted away and created a cannon box to cliff drop, and I hardly lost any speed on the box which expected to do. Despite surveying the landing, I basically took a 12 foot fall to flat and twisted my knee rather badly. Ski didn't come off because I lifted it up off the ground as soon as I felt it goin g the other way. I only ride a DIN of 6, I'm 120lbs with 166cm chronics and a 300mm bsl.

I saw an orthropedic, she moved my leg around in all different directions and it only hurt when fully flexed. She said she thinks all the ligaments are intact. Now it really doesn't, but I can hurt it from a high torque twist or high stress and twisting. By that I mean physical soccer games (Didn't try, I'll bet it would hurt though) and skateboarding, specifically 360s. I can walk, jump, run and change direction while running almost as good as normal. I can kick a soccer ball with decent power with that leg. Over spring break I had four days of hard (But not 100%) skiing in colorado. No park, but I did jump off some smaller stuff less than 7 feet to hard snow.

I just got an mri today, they say I have a full acl tear and a partial lateral meniscus tear. The orthropedic was very surprised, and having covered the knee in anatomy a few months ago I was too. Being that these are crucial for support of bones, shock absorbtion and other stuff, how did I do all of the above? How is my tibia still not obviously dislocated? And why isn't (or wasn't) my knee the size of a grapefruit? They also said I have brusing and some fluid on the joint, but I knew that already.

At the time of the incident there was no major swelling (only minor), no excruciating pain and I skied down, obviously favoring the good leg, but I still skied down.

I have another appointment of friday and will probably have more tests. Has anybody on here had similar cases where these injuries were present with few signs or symptoms. Being a skier+do-er of other sprts that involve the legs, my leg muscles are pretty large. For non-clamining reasons, my legs are all muscle and hardly any fat. My theory would be if these injuries are present, the muscles are holding everything in place. Does that even make sense?
 
Sounds just like my brother. Overshot a jump and tweaked his knee on Christmas Day, didn't think anything of it really. Went down playing soccer in April and had to go to the Dr. where they said his ACL had already been torn and was healing itself when he tore it again.
 
Your theory that the muscles can hold everything in place would be correct. I tore my ACL and MCL last January while skiing, and I made it down the rest of the slope no problem. I didn't really think anything of it since I was still able to run and everything, but since my dad is a doctor, and had torn his ACL a few years earlier he took me for an MRI where they confirmed what he thought. Even after I found out it was torn and they told me to stay on crutches for 6 weeks before the surgery I was still running around and doing pretty much whatever I wanted. Like you, I kept my legs strong with martial arts, soccer, tennis, and obviously skiing.
But the whole muscle thing is one of the alternatives for getting surgery, you can build up your muscles to support your knee and you'll be fine, not nearly as good as if you get a reconstruction, but you can still run and everything, you just can't handle torque on your knee as well.
 
Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest impact in your body. Like I broke one finger and I had a cast for a month because I broke a plate. That sucks. You had a bad orthepedist
 
The ACL isn't as important to some people as it is others. Some people don't even have an ACL (DeJuan Blair, the NBA player is one). Obviously your knee is held together with other tendons and ligaments, making your ACL less important to knee functionality. You'll still need surgery, I'm assuming.
 
My dad had something like that. They though it might be a slight meniscus tear but when he went for the MRI they found out it was actually a full ACL tear. Even weirder was when he went in for surgery. He had decided to just get stuff cleaned up and skip the reconstructive surgery because the lack or ACL wasn't really bothering him. When he went in for surgery they found out that the ACL had reattached and was repairing itself somehow.In the end he bought a knee brace and has been skiing for over 5 years just fine without the reconstructive surgery. For running, skimboarding and hiking he doesn't even bother with the brace, it's more of a percautionary thing.
 
you're definitely right about your muscles holding your knee together after you tore your ACL. i tore my patellar tendons two summers ago, and my knee specialist advised me not to get surgery and just do a couple months of physical therapy to keep my leg muscles strong.
 
So how long would a reconstructive surgery put you out, like months? Given the choice I'd say the acl and lateral meniscus (if that can be reconstructed) are rather important in a 18 year old kid and I'd go for reconstruction, unless a professional can convince me otherwise. That's assuming I'd have the choice, I don't know. I'm not really used to getting injured.

I'm probably gonna get another mri, most likely with the contrast medium for a better view and see other doctors. At this point I have conflicting evidence from doctors and myself. Hopefully this won't cancel surfing for the next few months.

To google! It's research time...
 
ahh same thing happened to me!

I dropped this rock two saturdays ago and twisted my knee pretty bad. i skiied down to the ER and they told me i dislocated my kneecap(i heard a couple pops) and i got an mri on saturday and just today i learned i tore my ACL and something weird is going on with my miniscus. it sucks because i can walk and i have full motion but parents still say i can't ski. and i'm getting surgery once school is out apparently... no mt. hood for me :/

i feel like i'm writing an FML haha.
 
Back
Top