Skiing after ACL Surgery?

B.Lyfe

B.Lyfe

Member
I tore my ACL last summer and had a patellar graft dont december 16th. the doctor released me about a month ago to go back to normal living.

i feel stable but my leg still gets sore and isnt 100% as strong as the other leg.

I am filming a team at Liberty Snow flex in June. Do you think that is too soon to throw on some skis?

 
bra, I would work out a ton first.I had the exact same surgery around the same time, and while it feels stable for walking, it sure as hell is not on a trampoline.
 
went through the same surgery last season. if it was me, i wouldn't hop on skis in june. just focus on getting as strong as possible and give it some more time.
 
if you kept your knee flexed, so your acl was not fully engaged, I bet you would be fine. I skied without an cal for two weeks before I got an mri, just keep it flexed, and take it really easy. seriously.
 
You tore it in the summer and then got surgery in December? Holy shit. I had to wait a month for surgery, and I thought that was a long time.

I just got the patellar tendon done too, so threads.
 
snowflex is scetchy, do a lot of training to get all your strength back before and make sure you feel up to it.
 
I had ACL surgery in February, but I had the cadaver graft instead. I have physical therapy twice a week and a bunch of exercises at home, but according to my doctor I can do pretty much anything (skiing included) after 6 months. Also, do you have a knee brace? I got some nice metal one that I'm supposed to wear for any kind of strenuous activity in the first year. Seems like you would be okay (especially if you're only filming, not hitting features) if you wore a knee brace.
 
I feel the need to include myself in this thread, as I'm laying in a bed 5 days after my ACL and meniscus reconstruction. I had the patellar graft also. My PT guy said that judging from my current progress, I should be 100% and skiing in 6 months MAX.

I'm counting on getting a good knee brace before any of that, which would probably help you out as well. I don't know much about braces but check out Asterisk, I know they make super good, low profile ones for motocross.
 
got hamstring in feb a few years ago, didnt ski till next decemberish and it felt fine tho. had no problems going back to skiing. however, i rehabbed HARD and wore a donjoy brace. Also played a season of football. Definitely wouldn't rush anything tho
 
or donjoy.... i had a custom one for football... i did acl pcl mcl and cartilage in one go... blew a shit ton... had PT like 4 days a week. took a fair bit longer that 6 months due to the extent of my knee getting shit on.... but i skied and did all strenuous activity with it on. custom knee brace is the way to go. there super expensive unless insurance cover it. get better man!
 
Rehab, rehab, rehab. You should have been spending a ton of time both at physio and at the gym getting strong again from all the muscular atrophy following the injury and surgery. I've blown my ACL's in both my knees and had hamstring tendon grafts in both of them and they've held up and haven't re-torn. I spent 2-3 days a week at physio post-op though and 5+ days a week in the gym getting strong again and re-learning proprioceptive and eccentric control. If you don't/haven't put the time in at physio and the gym you're just going to re-injure or delay getting back to 100% of your pre-injury skiiing level.
 
that makes complete sense. My eccentric movement is still lacking. walking down stairs my leg still wants to give out.

as for the wait on surgery I got deployed and my unit commander told me not to say anything about my knee. So I went to Charleston SC for a TDY (temp duty) and sat on the beach and drank beer for 60 days. Then I went back to school, had surgery during winter vacation

-B
 
For the eccentric control, my physio had me doing a TON of single leg lowers on tiny stools over and over and over again. At first, starting out using a ski pole for balance, then without. Make sure you aren't twisting or cheating using momentum or the other leg. Keep the knee over your toes when you bend stacked under your hips and shoulders.

Do them while you brush your teeth, 10 sets of 3 twice a day. Should help out a ton. Really work on the hamstring strengthening exercises too. ACL injuries are usually a result of an imbalance (stronger quads, weaker hammies)

Hope that helps and good luck! Keep in mind 18 months later (1.5 years post op) your new acl will be 1.5x stronger than your native ACL if you've done your rehab properly.
 
It took at least a year for me to feel comfortable skiing park again. Rehab like your knee depends upon it, because it does.
 
Dude wait until you are 100% recovered. Nothing worse than re-injuring yourself possibly for life. So would you wanna take a little extra time off or never ski again without pain?
 
dude this is so motivating for me, im 20 days out of acl/pcl surgery and im kind of starting to go crazy. due to the pcl injury i have to start slow for the first staying at 90 degrees and no walking for 4 weeks. i know ill be back this winter but its very hard mentally at this point.

i plan to buy a road bike this summer and ride up all of the big hills a bunch of times and to just ride a whole lot in general along with hitting the gym pretty hard to get my leg strong again.
 
Biking is probably the BEST thing you could be doing, lots of road biking does wonders for knee injuries. Especially since the clip-pedals use way more hamstring on the up stroke and thus help with the quad/hammy imbalance. Usually bad knee injuries involve some joint/bone damage too, and running usually makes this worse, especially on cement. Stick to grass or softer tracks if you plan on running.

It's not worth rushing the rehab and returning to snow too early, this is a knee (and ligament hopefully) that you will have for the rest of your life. A month or two of next winter aren't worth it when you think of every other winter you plan on having.

That being said, there is light at the end of the tunnel. I blew my left ACL in 2003 and right ACL in 2005, both of them are still intact through 3 years of racing Ski Cross, stomping 50ft cliffs in the backcountry and some gnarly crashes where I swore I must've blown my knee but managed to walk away. I don't wear a brace on either knee anymore, and haven't for 3 years.

Best of luck with your recovery, and while you can't walk.. to stop from getting depressed or going crazy I used to go to the gym and bike with one leg, with the other on the handle bars in the straight leg brace. You can still do that, and some core exercises and upper body work. Exercise as we all know releases endorphins which keep you happy. Getting injured is extremely depressing, especially with longer recoveries. Also swimming is a great way to stay active, you can use the pull buoy between your legs so you're just using the upper body for laps. Hope that helps, shoot me a pm if you have any other questions on how not to lose your mind.
 
I got ACL surgery back last May and I skiied all winter no problem but I still feel super unstable on the trampoline. I think you should go skiing but take it really easy man.
 
If you push it too early you can stretch the ligament and it can heal loose which might be why it still feels unstable on the trampoline, that or muscular weakness.
 
this is something that I like to point out in all of the ACL threads that I post in, while it can be valuable to hear other people's experiences THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR YOUR DOCTOR'S AND THERAPIST'S ADVICE. They did your surgery and led you through rehab, they know where you're at and what you're ready for.
 
Listen to you physio and Sledneck. Do exactly what they say, no more, no less. I started doing more at first inflamed my fat pad and then got held back. I did everything after that correctly, got to the benchmarks (leg pressing over 1.5x body weight, certain amount of single squats per minute and good technique landing from a height etc.) until you're able to do those things I wouldn't recommend skiing. I was able to ski at 6 months but wasn't allowed to ski until the 9 month point where I was back doing everything I could before, big jumps, ski cross courses and competition.
 
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