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Skiing without ACL?

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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
Hello

I wonder if anyone here went skiing with a torn ACL?
Ive torn mine 2 1/2 months ago and had no surgery yet. The doctors told me that you either have to get the surgery on the same day or when the bruises are gone and the knee is fully flexible again which can take up to 2 months and more...

2 months later I was told that I would get my damn operation in mid september but now it looks like it will be delayed again which would result in no skiing for me this season which is kinda unacceptable.
So far I've felt pretty good without that crappy thing. I was cycling alot and even used my tramp! No feelings of instability... although Im still kinda afraid of falling...

Of course I've asked about the option to do the surgery next summer but when I was explaining what I do in winter with the term "newschool" and said its similar to what boarders do they just laughed at me :(

Long story short... any experiences with torn ACLs and skiing?
Would be glade to hear some stories... keep my spark of hope glowing...

thanks



Sep 4 2008 12:29PM
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followCam
Posts: 1907 - Karma: 446
hahahaha...haha...ha..ha.......ha

No, that is quite a bad idea i must say
Sep 4 2008 12:32PM
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maclem
Posts: 2497 - Karma: 17
people have. do whatever your comfortable with
Sep 4 2008 12:46PM
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skifiend
Posts: 2063 - Karma: 13
I've blown out my ACL twice in the last 8 years.  Both times it was repaired.  With that said, I never skied after I blew my ACL.  In my mind, waaaaayyy too risky because you have a greater potential to blow out your whole knee if do get in a twisting fall or what have you.  Take a season off if you have to.  Think about the long term bro.
Sep 4 2008 12:50PM
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neon1peace
Posts: 998 - Karma: -1
Yeah your better off taking this season off, cause as hard as that would be, it would be really easy for you to damage your knee furthur and ruin skiing (or at least make it harder) for the rest of your life

That really sucks missing a season but its definitly not worth the risk
Sep 4 2008 3:45PM
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HPskier
Posts: 1072 - Karma: 30
ok im not saying that you should, that being said, my mom tore her acl in jupiter bowl in december and skied the whole season on it grant it she did only groomers but it is possible, but i would stay away from park and wear the best brace that you can get
Sep 4 2008 3:52PM
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titsLOL
Posts: 7485 - Karma: 396
maybe if you bought a baller brace and just filmed, I wouldn't push your luck beyond that. but if you or a friend has a dope camera and you could just spend the winter filming that could be fun.
Sep 4 2008 4:24PM
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Heath.
Posts: 838 - Karma: 149
I skied for about a month after I tore my ACL without a brace. I did this mainly because I didn't know it was torn. Your muscles can compensate for your ACL and you can operate without it, its just very risky. You can damage your meniscus very easily and really mess up your knee much more than it already is. I don't recommend doing it unless you really need to. If you just work out your knee a lot it can work but its really not the best idea. If you do decide to ski, try to get a donjoy brace, all though without insurance, a brace is like 500+ dollars. It's doable, but I don't recommend it at all.
Sep 4 2008 4:30PM
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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
aww shit
guess Ive to storm the hospital then... John Q. style :(

ok well
Ill try to get my hands on some nasty cam equipment then

just a last question
how long does the recovery take?
Ive heard anything from 2 1/2 up to 6 months (from different orthopaedists)
whats more realistic?
Sep 4 2008 4:47PM
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Heath.
Posts: 838 - Karma: 149
Realistically you're looking at 4 month minimum. I started skiing just before my 5 month mark with a brace, i had done some pre season skiing 3-4 months after surgery but just a back yard rail. Docs will tell you 6-8 months which is if you just sit around and don't PT that much. Ask them about an accelerated rehab program, that is what i did and was hitting mogul courses 5 months after.
Sep 4 2008 4:54PM
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meltonsnow
Posts: 680 - Karma: 601
i skied for a full season with a torn acl.  i didnt ski to my full potential, but still had a shit ton of fun.  there were a few times when i twisted it ever so slightly and had to take the rest of the day off because it hurt so bad.  its real risky cause like someone before me said, the chances of  you blowing out your knee completely are MUCH higher.  its sketchy man, but it's deff possible. 
Sep 4 2008 5:08PM
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dave44
Posts: 11052 - Karma: 113
probably seems like one, but it's possible. there was some athlete who competed without an ACL for like 15 years, because a) he didnt know it was torn, and b) his muscles made up for it in a way that worked

probably best to get a brace. the problem with having an op now is that you'll be rehabbing for 6 months, which will take us to... march - there will stil be skiing but i dunno if you can stand sitting through the winter.
Sep 4 2008 5:13PM
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spudz
Posts: 2564 - Karma: 5
talk to ender.

i was there when he tore his acl and there for the month that he ski'd on it.
Sep 4 2008 7:50PM
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Big_Willy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 6
It depends on how hard you want to ski and how much you want to gamble. I don't think it's a great idea, skied on mine and hurt it more. Maybe go to another doc and see if he'll do it earlier. If you do plan to ski, find a good physical therapist and strengthen your knee as much as you freaking can. Good luck either way.
Sep 4 2008 7:57PM
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Hertz
Posts: 238 - Karma: 30
i tore my acl and my mcl and fractured my knee
but i could not ski

Sep 4 2008 8:18PM
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jca
Posts: 4171 - Karma: 6,311
my dad blew his acl skiing and shredded the rest of the season and biked all summer without getting it checked and he just thought he sprained it a little  and after a couple of weeks he was fine.
there are some people with the right muscle build up that can take as much strain with their muscles as the ligaments would

but the safest thing to do would just some really mellow skiing with a brace because its not worth destroying your knee
Sep 4 2008 8:27PM
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rossiskier93
Posts: 781 - Karma: 103
i would definitely go with the doctors advice on this.  this is not some minor injury, this is something that could mess up your knee the rest of your life.  would not take the chance at all.  probably the most important part of your knee, knee probably the most important part of you leg.
Sep 4 2008 8:37PM
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Bangor
Posts: 9599 - Karma: 129
I blew out my ACL in Feb '01, never got it repaired. Been skiing with a brace ever since.


I'm kind of a special case though, because my joints/ligaments are a bit stretchy, so the ACL didn't actually tear all the way, it mostly just stretched and is now basically not giving the knee any support.......

With a proper brace, and not throwing cork 9's, you should be fine. I don't spin/slide rails much, but I still huck straight airs and ski gnarly shit.
Sep 4 2008 11:42PM
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papasteeze
Posts: 12055 - Karma: 913
CTi2 Brace.  google it. 

They have a ski boot attachment that locks everything together.  I blew my knee before a western trip and didn't want to cancel it.  Take it easy though cause if you rip your knee even more in a fall, you could be screwed for life.



Sep 4 2008 11:53PM
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Brodie133
Posts: 109 - Karma: 14
hey man im in the same position excpet i tore mine in march right now im playing football and i plan on skiing basicly to my full potential my dad tore his acl and mcl and he skied for 5 years before surgery im not saying that he was ripping park and that shit but hes a damn good skier and im pretty sure bumps would be harder on your knee then park i say do it until it hurts thats wut im doing
Sep 4 2008 11:59PM
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B.Aussie
Posts: 5852 - Karma: 4,531

The ACL is more of a rotary ligament.  It is not used very much skiing so you are able to ski without it.  It is used to stablise in sports with a twisting motion like netball and basketball which is why there is a huge ACL injury rate in these sport.  The ACL is only useld in skiing pretty much when you fall so it is okay to ski with an ACL brace and you hsould be fine.

My friends mum has skiied without an ACL for 5years and she didn't realise she didn't hvae it until she stuffed the other one.  She skiied this season without either ACL and has been fine. Even slaying powder. But it is entirely up to you and requires a strong muscle base to not do anymore injury.

Sep 5 2008 12:40AM
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1080bio
Posts: 2042 - Karma: 5
Evan Dybvig skied in the Olympics with a torn acl, granted he ended up blowing more stuff in his knee during his run but im prity sure he may have skied some other comps and trined on it before.  He was also skiing moguls which is fairly stressfull on your knees, not to mention skiing moguls on a profesioonal level.  So yes you can definitly ski without your acl.  If you want to, i sugest finding a physical therapist to help stregnthen your musceles in your leg/knee to help supprt your knee and maybe take it easy this year stick to the groomers if you wana play it safe.  If you wana ski park take it easy you don't need to be a hero and learn new tricks. 
Sep 5 2008 1:09AM
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manwiththemetalleg
Posts: 1636 - Karma: 91
I hurt my knee in March, took a week off and carried on riding. In April i overshot a kicker and was left in intense pain. After speaking to the surgeon who did the reconstruction, he said that i most probably tore my acl in March, carried on skiing and the tore my meniscus upon overshooting in April. This was most likely due to having skied on a torn acl. In addition, my knee would then dislocate whenever i stepped off a large step, or twisted to look at girls arse etc.. So in short, its not worth the risk. As for recovery, i've been told a minimum of 9 months before freestyle. I'm going to wait a whole year to be sure.
Sep 5 2008 9:36AM
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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
What the hell?!
My doctors secretary just called me and told me I don't get a surgery...
I should try skiing this season and see how it works out...
Sep 5 2008 10:12AM
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Bangor
Posts: 9599 - Karma: 129
Yeah that's pretty much what I've been told as well.

The key is to keep your muscles around the knee strong, which will help reduce injury by not letting your knee flop around like jello, and also putting a brace on it.

I've been considering putting a brace on my other knee as well just to help lower the risk of me wrecking my good knee.
Sep 5 2008 11:19AM
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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
Ive a friend whos into dirtbiking hitting pretty big jumps.
Hes torn his ACL years ago, wearing a brace since and never had a problem...
Problem is I cant say how high the potential risc of overrotating your knee is compared to skiing? Actually I think both sports are compareable when it comes to knee injuries.

Ill definatly getting myself one and looking for a good therapist working my ass of. I cant do anything else but ski full potential.
Sep 5 2008 12:13PM
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skifiend
Posts: 2063 - Karma: 13
I would say closer to 6 months for sure...keeping in mind I've done this twice.  If you have surgery, listen to your doctor, listen to your PT, do everything they say to the letter.  You really loose a lot of muscle after surgery due to lack of use.  So you need to get in a good PT program to bring everything back, without destroying the newly grafted ACL.  PM me any time you have any questions dude, I'm almost 4 months post-op right now (had surgery May 2nd, 08), so I'm right in the middle of PT.
Sep 5 2008 2:11PM
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smuggs
Posts: 6561 - Karma: 1,375
i heard there was a patroller at alta who hasnt had a acl for like 20 years.
Sep 5 2008 8:03PM
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mmallender.
Posts: 5805 - Karma: 936
could this be one of the patrollers who was left with the responsibility of the destruction of chads gap?
Sep 5 2008 10:25PM
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agame4life
Posts: 185 - Karma: 30
I completely tore my acl, mcl and meniscus in december last year. I came back and January and skied the rest of the season with no acl and torn meniscus. It just sucked to fall haha but i progressed
Sep 5 2008 11:17PM
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Astomp
Posts: 10090 - Karma: 344
i tore my acl 2 and a half years ago and never fixed it. still shred park and hit cliffs and shit.
Sep 6 2008 1:02PM
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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
Ok... keeping you guys up to date if anyone is interessted or and in the same position.
Spoke to my new therapist today and he told me that its actually a good sign if you get an orthopedist who wants to avoid a surgery if possible. According to my therapist about 50% of freeskiers and snowboarders under his treatment can continue the sport without operation. It really depends on the individual anatomy of the injured knee so there is no "best solution".

If you get old and cant keep up the training you can still get the surgery...



Sep 6 2008 3:36PM
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-kk
Posts: 28 - Karma: 19
that's crazy that you can use the trampoline still.  i would totally just get the surgery although that sucks it took so long to work out.  I've had the surgery twice and personally if you're going to be jumping or want to jump--get it done.  you'll be so temped to be in the air even though you'll tell yourself you'll stick to flat land.  good luck!
Sep 6 2008 7:52PM
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TheWorst
Posts: 7883 - Karma: 17
bad idea dude... listen to the doctor's, there doctor's for a reason, they know there shit and see people with torn ACL's all the time. You could severely fuck up your knee if you decide to ski.
Sep 6 2008 9:45PM
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niels.
Posts: 1282 - Karma: 14
just take the whole thing out you dont really need it
Sep 6 2008 9:52PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445

well you can always just get the surgery so u wont have as much problems in the future.

or if youre really determined and really dont want to get the operation, you would have to work out and be very determind and gain like 5 times the muscle you have right now in your legs and also wear a brace while doing activities. some footballs players actually do that

Sep 6 2008 11:40PM
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Edward.
Posts: 9366 - Karma: 445
but i think everybody will agree that you should get the operation. it will be much better. i got mine reconstructed and now im happy
Sep 6 2008 11:42PM
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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
thats what I do
and they told me to try the therapy first
if it doesnt work or feels right I can still get the surgery
Sep 7 2008 5:44AM
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tommihq
Posts: 905 - Karma: 11
I did it last winter. It wasnt too bad but when i landed badly it hurt like a bitch. In february i had some minor surgery on it but they cant fix it for at least a year because that would fuck up my growth. So im going to be skiing next season without ACL again...
Sep 7 2008 9:44AM
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Dizzl3
Posts: 15 - Karma: 15
I'm in the same boat as you bud. Tore mine on my 6th day of the season this year. Boohoohoo, but you just have to be determined to come back better than ever and hit the gym hard. If you have very strong quad and hamstring muscles they should be able to hold your knee together enough to ski groomers, I'd definatly use a brace though. I've got "asterisk knee braces" on both knees and like the way they feel, however they don't keep it from blowing out again, they just add support (I was wearing mine when I blew it). But be careful because if it goes out you may end up tearing the other ligaments (like MCL), damaging the miniscus, and needing total knee replacement, which would suck even more. Try and maintain the muscles in your legs as much as you can before surgery, it should speed up recovery.
This will be my second reconstruction (I blew the other knee 4 years ago). So this is my experience from the last one. After surgery I was in bed on painkillers for a week and a half, crutches for a month, second month is tons of physio, and getting back to usual by month 3. I was allowed to ski after 3 months but only jumping after 5 months (even then I stuck mostly to rails). The mental stuff is hard to get over. I'm having surgery in 2 weeks, so my goal is to be back for april skiing and back in the park for July on the Glacier (Mmmmm soft slushy landings... droool). Wishing you a speedy recovery. See you back out there.... eventually.
Jan 2 2009 2:41PM
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grifter
Posts: 933 - Karma: 102
ditto, I'm led to believe that without an ACL you build up a ton of compensating muscle,but yea, if you fall badly you could end up - 1 x knee
Jan 2 2009 3:04PM
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Vinci
Posts: 701 - Karma: 1,472
Wow this thread still exists?

Maybe someones interested in how good Ive done so far...
I got a couple of slope/ pow days on my knees and it feels quite strong. I can't really say if I feel any drawbacks since the left one was always way better trained. On my 10 days (+-?) Ive done anything from dropping cliffs to hitting/jump into trees or go switch tip dive at approx. mach2... (profile pictures)

I had a little mental barrier at the beginning (and always have now at the beginning of the day) but when I get stoked I forget about it fast.
Tomorrow will be the first park session of the year with a nice medium sized booter. I'll sure start off slowly but Im really confident that things will work out.

It was definatly the right desicion for me not to get the surgery. Not only because I would have missed some amazing pow days, but also because theres no point in fixing a stable knee.

Hope this might help a couple of you guys. Stay tuned!
Jan 2 2009 3:46PM
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grifter
Posts: 933 - Karma: 102
Awesome dude, keep it up. Where abouts in Austria are you ?
Jan 2 2009 3:59PM
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bpalmer
Posts: 2408 - Karma: 93
i tore my acl about a month and a half ago, the doc told me he thought it was my meniscus, and to just take it easy for a few weeks, so i didnt ski for 2-3 weeks and then was at it again, skiing pretty hard, jumps and all... then just out of nowhere, it just collapsed on itself and i went to the same doctor and this time made them give me an MRI... the mri revealed that it was my ACL that was torn, and that i needed surgery, but i skied hard between getting the MRI and getting the results, with just a shitty neoprene brace, i was fine... i honestly went to the ortho guy thinking he was giving me great news, and almost right away he knew it was my acl, without even looking at the MRI films...

anyways, i'm going skiing tomorrow. nothing wrong with ripping groomers and jumps with my ipod, im just staying away from rails.
Jan 2 2009 4:20PM
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WeK
Posts: 1894 - Karma: 11
im sure you could but know that your pretty much garanteed to mess up your maniscus. my friend recently tore his by tripping over a bit while walking a month after he tore his acl. still, even with a torn maniscus it'll heal before your acl will so recovery time isn't longer, i think theres only 1 muscle on which the recovery time will be longer than your acl, and that things very hard to tear, but your still risking messing up your knee which has longer term affects.
Jan 2 2009 4:31PM
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CraigAK
Posts: 1871 - Karma: 320
so what kind of exercises did you do to strengthen your knee? im just curious because i have been having problems with my knee since last spring... and the other day it was hurting kinda bad, so i got a friend of mine how is on ski patrol to check it out, he said where i was describing the pain when he pressed on it and whatnot, was where my acl is. So any advice on what i could do to strengthen my knee to keep from blowing it out would be appreicated. I have been skiing wiht this cheap brace, and skiing pretty hard ever since (i only had to take 2 days off from skiing after i had the pain), but it hasent even been a week yet, and sometimes my knee does not feel stable at all, and i have to call it quits early. Thanks and +karma for any exercises to help wiht acl injuries
Jan 2 2009 5:50PM
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grifter
Posts: 933 - Karma: 102
lie on your back legs straight out try keeping your thigh on the ground and lifting your foot of the ground, if it hurts like a bitch and you can't do it with your bad leg, then you've fucked your ACl keep doing it, untill it's easy and as good as / better than your other leg, that will build allot of compensatory muscle, then cycle & Swim, then slowly put more and more dynamic load on the knee, trampoline, wall sits anything like that, but don't over do it, first signs ow weaknes or pain stop and go try to lift your foot off the floor for a few more days,

that should speed things up pretty significantly.

Also see a doctor, cus' this is just what I was told to do, you may be told different and you should get it checked out although it worked amazingly well on me. Speedy recovery dude.
Jan 2 2009 7:15PM
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KNUCKifyouBUCK
Posts: 1330 - Karma: 9
i tore my acl/mcl/meniscus two years ago, shit sucks... just do hella PT and do the accelerated rehab

... i dont actually know why im telling anyone that seeing as someone bumped this old thread but thats my experience with knees
Jan 2 2009 7:18PM
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T_orageskiier
Posts: 580 - Karma: 13
My dad has had alot of knee problems 2 seasons ago my dad didn't have a ACL at all it just fell apart in his knee (he's had sugery's on it previously) He skied the entire season without his ACL just with a very good knee brace. He just didn't ski hard like he went don't groomed runs always and just took it easy. If our gonna do it then don't get carried away
Jan 2 2009 8:37PM
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inactive
Posts: 4772 - Karma: 97
your icon is a facepalm
Jan 2 2009 10:34PM
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Steezasaurus-Rex
Posts: 12 - Karma: 13
i tore my acl skiing in july as well and i got the surgery about two months ago so im out for the season but i wished that i tried skiing with a brace first.. the doctor told me park awas out of the question with the brace and no acl but who knows.. maybe just get a brace while you're waiting for the surgery and ski very lightly and see how that goes
itll fill ur time
just be careful but it sounds like ur knee is REALLY stable well as stable as it can be with out an acl
Jan 3 2009 12:53PM
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