ACL Surgery and playing again

[MurphDurph]

Hello all. All I've got to say is Great Site! Joined the other day and all I've been doing is reading. Now to the topic at hand.

On Father's Day while playing baseball in my adult league I tore my right ACL. I had surgery on July 27th so right now I'm about 2.5 weeks out, getting better everyday.

We all know that Tiger played with a torn ACL as well as a fractured tibia and he was on the shelf for 8 months. My question is has anyone on here had the same issue? I realize he had more done than I did but when is a reasonable time to set to expect to be back playing? Any input/stories are appreciated

[woodzie264]

As an orthopedic PA, the text book answer is "ask your surgeon;" having that being said, your probably looking at 5-6 months. Again, there are lots of variables that only your surgeon knows when he looked in there, but that's a safe "ballpark" answer.

[MurphDurph]

I knew that was coming hahahahaha. I don't see him again until the 26th. I was just curious as to what I might be looking at. I was told "ballpark" for full activity (which for me is baseball and hockey) 6 months to be safe. I just wasn't sure that since my right knee doesn't take a much stress in golf as it would say when I play baseball or hockey if I might be able to get back to it sooner. Thanks for the reply. Where abouts in VA are you?

[Kingfisher]

Hello all. All I've got to say is Great Site! Joined the other day and all I've been doing is reading. Now to the topic at hand.

I can offer you some first hand insight.

I had ACLR (Hamstring Auto-Graft) surgery back at the start of February this year. The surgeon said he was pleased with the procedure and everything looked good inside the knee once he was done. By the way, my surgery was on my right knee (I'm right handed), so it is somewhat less critical to my golf swing than Tiger's injury was to him (left leading leg). The first 4-6 weeks we're probably some of the most frustrating and boring times in my life. Minimising all weight bearing for 2 weeks (i.e. sitting on my ass all day every day and only standing to go to the bathroom!), Crutches for 2 weeks, Very limited range of motion, lots of swelling, pain, new noises coming from the knee...all in all very, very depressing, confusing and frustrating. From day one, the hospital had me on a rehab program, most of which relies on your own desire to do as you are told. The first 3 moths of rehab consisted of lots of icing (possibly the single most important treatment), elevation, stretching / non-weight bearing exercises, gradually moving onto ankle weights, increasing the load each week, then onto gym machines again, with an emphasis on gradual progression - the last thing you want to do is be a hero and re-injure yourself, that would just suck, big time because they wouldn't be able to operate on you again for several months, because there's still too much carnage inside the knee from the original Op. My rehab protocol saw me have a 'biodex' test at the 3 month mark, to determine the strength of my injured leg against my good leg. Ideally, at the 3 month mark, they expect your injured leg to be ~75% strength of the good leg. I failed the test at 3 months and had to go do more strength training and passed it at the 4 month mark. This is really the hard part - getting your strength back - there's a lot of muscle wastage on the injured leg and because your body wants to protect your injury, you'll end up favouring your good leg. This is precisely what happened to me - my good leg got stronger, because I was relying on it too much, so it was hard for me to stregthen the injured leg sufficiently to catch up to the good leg! Got there in the end though. Once I passed the 75% test, they put me on advanced rehab. This is where we start to get into dynamic exercises - jogging forwards / backwards, side-stepping, hopping, jumping all of which is designed to re-train the muscles in your leg. At first, it is like hell on earth, the full impact exercises are really a shock to the system and you go through another period of experiencing new pains and sensations as the muscles start to wake up again. It's very hard to trust what the physio is tellling you to do, when it doesn't feel at all good. Your body is telling you to stop and rest, but the physio is telling you it's going to be ok and that you should keep at it. I'm due to have a another test in a few weeks time, which is the 6 month mark (will be 7 months for me) during which I need to try and hit 95% strength vs my good leg. From the other patients I spoke with, 95% is apparently a very high bar and nobody ever fully meets it. As long as you are there or thereabouts, they'll discharge you from the rehab and you'll be on your own and just need to keep on top of things. Once I'm off the rehab, I'm going to make sure I do some regular conditioning work with yoga and/or gym work. Ok, did I bore you yet? lol Now, to the most important question - when can you start playing golf? We are all different and all recover at different speeds, so there are no hard and fast rules on this. Once I had started my advanced rehab at 4 months(jogging, hopping etc) I thought to myself "if I can do this, for sure I can chip and putt" so I did. I spent a couple of weeks just heading down to the practice green every other day and did some short game work. Thankfully, it still worked! One evening, at ~4.5 months post op I got the itch to hit some shots, so I went to the driving range and hit a few easy wedges. It felt ok at the time and I waited a day or two, just to make sure there were no ill effects and there weren't. I went back again a couple of days later and again no problems, so hit a couple of mid irons. Same again, went back a couple of days later and hit some woods. I didn't just jump in and suddenly hit full swings, rather I went through the gears slowly and made sure I didn't hurt myself along the way. I had my first game on-course at around the 5.5 month mark (which kind of ties in with what the orthopaedic guy posted here). There were no ill effects from the swing itself, but the walking definitely got me feeling it the next couple of days. I'd recommend that at first you may want to consider riding in a cart or at least pulling a trolley, because walking 18 with a bag is going to be a workout! Happily I've got a few games under my belt now and am getting stronger and stronger all the time. It's been a long and frustrating few months, but now I can see the daylight again The most important things in the rehab are: 1) Keep a positive mindset at all times 2) Ice will become your best friend in the world! 3) Listen to your body - 'no pain no gain' is bulls**t. If it hurts, stop and rest, this is not a race. 4) Listen to your surgeon and physios - if you are not sure, ask. Don't pretend to know more than they do! Don't try and fast track your rehab, just do as you are told! Good luck with your rehab!

[MurphDurph]

Thanks for the input! And it didn't bore me haha. I've been mostly sitting all day since the surgery. I was making great progress in PT (started 2 days after surgery) and then I somehow got a wicked bruise on the inside of my right ankle making it very painful to put full weight on it. I had actually gotten down to walking with 1 crutch before the bruise popped up. I don't even remember how I could have gotten it so now I feel as if I have taken a step back. I have home exercises that I'm trying to do atleast once a day depending on how I feel up to 3 times; as well as going to my physical therapist twice a week. Again thanks for the input. Now I have something to read while I sit on my ass all day hahahaha.

[twc]

My insight is not as in depth as a few post up but I tore my miniscus 8 weeks ago. I realize its not as serious as a torn ACL but I injured my right knee as you did. I was playing again a week after the injury and I think the only reason I was able to play was because I don't rely on my right leg as much as my left during my swing. You will probably be able to play golf much sooner than baseball or hockey.

At 8 weeks I was able to wakeboard again, which probably wasn't very smart but I just took it easy on the board and it was all good.

Good luck with your recovery!

[Kingfisher]

Thanks for the input! And it didn't bore me haha. I've been mostly sitting all day since the surgery. I was making great progress in PT (started 2 days after surgery) and

The bruising and swelling is normal. There were times when my leg looked like a pig! The surgery is very invasive - like a traffic accident inside your knee and there'll be a lot of fluid (they flush fluid through the knee throughout the surgery) which will stay in your leg for some time. You really need to keep on top of the exercises, as the sooner you start to get range of motion back, the smoother the rehab will be. Quad activation and hamstring stretches are vitally important.

To help with the swelling you need to keep your leg elevated - don't sit with your leg on the floor (like eating dinner at the table) or stand for too long, because it will swell up fast. Just prop it up under a couple of cushions. Another tip I got for the swelling was to do 'ankle pumps' whilst the leg is elevated - just slowly flex your foot back and forth to help stop the fluid from settling for too long. For the bruising - ICE. I bought a couple of big bags of frozen peas from the supermarket and just iced 3-4 times per day on the knee and ankle. The pack of frozen peas kind of molds itself around your leg. Like I said, it's going to be a very trying and frustrating time, there'll be a lot of things that happen which will make you panic - I guarantee at least once you'll think you have torn your graft and will go running to the surgeon only to have him tell you everything is ok! Just try to keep your spirits up and you'll be just fine. Of course, your physio is gospel, but if you want any input from a patient viewpoint, just post here or PM me and I'll gladly chip in with my 0.02 worth wherever I can.

[MurphDurph]

My goal was to be able to play before it gets too cold outside. Here in Va it's not uncommon to have a ~80 degree day into mid November. Only reason being, with coaching high school baseball from February - Mid May, I only had the opportunity to play at full 18 once. Yup I said it I've played a full round once, played a total of 3 times (par 3 course twice). So I was really hoping for one more round for 09.

[M2daRizzle]

I was back playing golf in 2 monthes, back to contact sports in 6 monthes. It has been 18 monthes since my surgery and my knee feels no different now from the way the pre-op knee felt.

I rehabed as much as possible and pushed my limits as much as the doctors would allow so I was able to recover fairly quickly.

[soup]

Had ACL surgery in June 1993 - right after senior year of high school. I did a number on it - the ACL tore at the base of the tibia and actually took a piece of bone with it...I thought my leg broke in half. On baseball scholarship heading to college. My doctor was a good one - he did Larry Bird's heels and Bernard King's knees.

His mindset on recovery and rehab was to get full range of motion back asap - which took a good 6 weeks. After that we did as much as I was comfortable doing. I was jogging in mid-August, about 2 months post op. I was able to participate in fall workouts at school - no live scrimmages, but running, taking infield, cage work etc. was actually full go around January 1st, but it took 2 months (which coincided with the start of our season) to get the leg back to full strength - and we actually got it so that it was stronger than my "good" leg. I wore one of those ultra-light, heavy-duty braces - but I bagged it pretty quickly, which wasn't suggested, but I felt fine. Had one bout early on with scar tissue that was very painful and lasted for about 10 days at the 6 or 7 month mark.

I did it to my left leg - so a lot of stress on it for golf. I could have played 3 or 4 months out of surgery, but was too busy with school and ball to play. When I played the following summer, no ill effects.

16 years later - the ACL is still in one piece. I had the hamstring graft procedure done - which was a pretty advanced procedure back in 1993, as most ACLs back then were fixed with Patella tendons or cadaver tissue. It does get sore and I can feel two of the screws threw my skin and the areas around the two scars are still numb. I've taken up a pretty good exercise regimen the last six months (I'm 33 now) and the jogging is a bit of a chore. I get a tingling feeling in the scar areas often - more of a nuisance than anything.

Once you have full range of motion, the swelling is gone and you can get a decent jog going, I would certainly start hitting some wedges and work off of that to see what happens.

Good luck with it. As for my baseball career - I had a blast, got to play in The Big Dance a couple of times and did well. However, I was a 4.5 40-yard dash before the injury and was a 4.7 after the injury - so I definitely lost a step. I love my scars - especially the one on the top of my tibia - it's a nice straight scar that's a conversation piece when I'm tan and the scar is a little lighter and visible.

The rehab was a bitch, thinking back, but it had no effect on my golf game. Even now it's fine....though walking up #15 at Bethpage Black it'll give me tickle every now and then.

Post some pictures of your leg - I remember when they took the bandages off for the first time, I nearly passed out - gnarly stuff. A week out of surgery and my thigh and calf muscles were already gone.

[MurphDurph]

KingFisher- I like the idea of the frozen peas/veggies as ice packs. Mom's going shopping today and I just asked her to pick some up. For the life of me I can't understand how I got the bruise on the inside of my ankle. It was realllll swollen, then the swelling went away and bam, bruise. I have PT here shortly so well see how the icing goes afterward.

Rizzle- That's encouraging. I hope my recovery can be like yours! haha. I know everyone's different though. Thanks for sharing.

soup- I had the patella tendon graft. So I have a ~3" scar from the bottom of my knee cap to the top of my tibia. As well as 3 scope holes and a guide wire hole about 2" above my knee cap but directly at 3:00 on my leg.

Where did you play baseball? I played a little D-3 ball and now I coach baseball and football at the high school level and play in adult leagues. Can't get away from the game. I LOVE IT. I'll get a pic up soon. And I agree with you, I've been wearing no bandage for about a week now and I've already had questions about it from complete strangers. Definitely a conversation starter.

[MurphDurph]

I know it's still a little bit disgusting looking. I haven't really tried to scrub the marker lines and the orange crap off since the area is still numb and it just feels awkward. Fun stuff.

[Kingfisher]

Surpisingly, the patella tendon job looks a lot neater than some I saw in the past - the scars used to be way bigger. I guess the technology is getting better.

Here are my battle scars taken the morning after the op right after they took the dressings off - at this stage my leg looked fine, but it was downhill after that!

[MurphDurph]

Those pics don't look bad at all haha. I was swollen from the time I woke up in recovery until....well now I'm still swollen a little bit, but it's less noticable now. I hadn't tested my limits yet before today. I fought through the ankle bruise and now I can walk (with the brace locked) unassisted. I'll probably use 1 crutch for the next day just for comfort, plus I'll actually be on my feet tomorrow.

At PT today I saw 2 people close to my age that were also rehabbing ACL surgery. They were both about 2-2.5 weeks ahead of me. My goal now, is to be better before them haha. I crutched in today and both of them walked in like nothing was wrong. I want that to be me. Now I have some competition haha.

In all seriousness, I want to get better fast but I'm not going to rush things. One day at a time.

[apex53]

ouch, that picture brings back some memories... take it slow, you'll want to get out as soon as you can but just be careful... go to the practice green and putt, putt, putt and then putt some more... that way your feel will be there when you can start playing again... best of luck!

[Captain Hook]

All i can say is i have torn my R/knee (ACL) twice, just 10 years apart. It will get better trust me, although i have alot of pain with mine due to Artritis and my age, I have to have a total knee repacement, Next

[MurphDurph]

I'm hoping I don't have to go that route. I'm planning on limiting this to a one time only experiance haha.

[MurphDurph]

I hit 120* of bend today...it nearly killed me haha. Planning on going to the putting green sometime next week to atleast get out of the house.