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GayWolf420
June, 2025

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Just Tore My ACL and Meniscus

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Cons
Posts: 89 - Karma: 366
What's the recovery time look like after surgery? I read some posts about it some guy skiing all the way up to his surgery but I'm not tryna fuck up my knee forever.
6 years ago
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tae_asling_
Posts: 42 - Karma: 206
I cannot help you but I would like to say I hope you get better soon
6 years ago
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50Kal
Posts: 2836 - Karma: 5,551
Tom Wallisch qualified for the Olympics with torn ACL.

But for mere mortals expect at least 4 months recovery after surgery. If it goes well.
Talk to your doctor. He has your xrays.
6 years ago
5 1
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Tripleblacks
Posts: 120 - Karma: 599
This happened to my wife. Sorry to hear it. She got surgery in July and is skiing again. However, she will need a few more months to be really *back* at it. Definitely do as much PT as possible. That has been key for her.
6 years ago
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LivingDaLife
Posts: 352 - Karma: 1,349
8-9 months after surgery.
6 years ago
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Biffbarf
Posts: 7565 - Karma: 80,706
Expect a solid year. You will be 'healed' quicker than you will be strong, and you will be strong quicker than you will feel 100% with the joint. Everyone is different though. Expect the worse and hope for the best, you'll come out stronger than ever.
6 years ago
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Chron_Rabbit
Posts: 988 - Karma: 1,572
get a custom brace and continue to send (I'm not a doctor tho)
6 years ago
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AlmostCooler
Posts: 584 - Karma: 3,633
I did the same shit bout a month ago at Alta, ACL and lateral meniscus. I haven’t been skiing and couldn’t if I tried tbh. Having surgery in a few weeks. Best of luck and hope we’re both ripping it up next year.
6 years ago
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dan4060
Posts: 1458 - Karma: 847
I blew my ACL during January of my last year living in Tahoe. I had already decided it would be my last Tahoe year, I knew I was going to grad school the next fall, but I was petty bummed. I ended up getting a brace made and trying to ski for a couple of months, but in the end I decided to get surgery in March. One of my buddies did the same thing the year before, he was heading to med school, he ended up skiing the whole year with a brace and was fine.

Obviously you want to get surgery, but when to do it depends on your goals. If this is your last 100 day ski bum year, and you are about to retire to 35-40 day a year status like me, I would say consider a brace and skiing carefully. If this year is not all that important I would get the surgery now.

Regardless of what you do, get fixed and kill it in PT. I made a full recovery, I don't ski the same way, but that is because I am a decade older and ski 35-40 days a year, not 120. I would say you can make a full recovery. I still ski with my brace, but that is just because it could prevent another injury, I don't actually need it.

If you are careful and work hard in rehab you can come back 100%.
6 years ago
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xxACIDTRIPxx
Posts: 5980 - Karma: 8,185
Look into peptides for recovery srs.
6 years ago
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olic
Posts: 299 - Karma: 940
After both my ACL surgeries I left it a minimum of 9-12 months before skiing again, trust me it's not worth messing it up, the 2nd ACL repair surgery really sucks (sometimes needs two operations). Do what the physio and your surgeon tells you, build the strength back gradually. You can do some prehab before the surgery to help the recovery after.

Most of all though sending you good vibes and I hope you heal up fast!
6 years ago
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PeeDuBzz
Posts: 1010 - Karma: 134
++ Vibes OP

Considering you just tore it I'd say chalk this season up and get surgery ASAP. If you do that and grind recovery you'll be skiing by next season. Definitely get the brace if only for peace of mind. I had ACL, MCL, & 2 meniscus repairs back in May 2018. I was back on skis casually riding within 9 months after religiously crushing PT everyday and feel solid this year. It's a weird feeling re-gaining confidence in your knee but if done right, in theory you can come back stronger.
6 years ago
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oldmanski
Posts: 3642 - Karma: 27,262
Listen to your doctor and PT. You can be back shredding in about 8 months but it depends on how your body handles it and how much effort you put in. I just had surgery on my right ACL and MCL in March of 2019, I was back skiing the weekend after Thanksgiving. I probably couldve skied earlier but I didnt want to chance it. I tore my left ACL many years back and it recovered the same way. I did get the Don Joy braces after each injury and they seem to help. Good luck dude and cheers to a speedy recovery.
6 years ago
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bobby_vail
Posts: 49 - Karma: -227
sending prayers you're way and hoping for a speedy recovery, I tore my ACL two years ago and have been up with PT heavy the first Season Back on snow you may have to continue strengthening you're knee. Just take it easy ski the deep pow and stick on groomers away from the moguls and you'll be gucci. by you're second season if you play it safe you will be right where you left off but with a bitching new outlook on the whole sport...... Much love homie
6 years ago
2 0
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dan4060
Posts: 1458 - Karma: 847
olicAfter both my ACL surgeries I left it a minimum of 9-12 months before skiing again, trust me it's not worth messing it up, the 2nd ACL repair surgery really sucks (sometimes needs two operations). Do what the physio and your surgeon tells you, build the strength back gradually. You can do some prehab before the surgery to help the recovery after.

Most of all though sending you good vibes and I hope you heal up fast!

All of this.

After my surgery I was in my first year of grad school. I was in socal and did not have a Mammoth ski lease yet, and school was taking up lots of time, so there was not a whole lot of pressure to ski. I skied maybe once in January and took it easy, then again in late March when it had been about a year since surgery. Looking back I was lucky, my situation made it easy to focus on school and rehab and wait until I was fully recovered. The next year I got in around 30 days and I was fine.

If you are going to live in the mountains next year I would suggest doing the surgery as soon as possible, so that you will have time to rehab. If you are willing to not have a big year next year you can wait. It really depends on your situation.
6 years ago
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losh
Posts: 1126 - Karma: 4,707
I'm a week off the same surgery and yeah it definitely sucks but you got this. I'm sure you've done harder shit than this before, it sucks cause going into surgery you'll prolly be walking and feeling decent again. When you come out of surgery you can't do shit and is a great video game opportunity lol. But after surgery is over it's all up from there, stoked to actually be getting better now. We'll come back stronger than ever for sure. Longest break I've took from skiing since I was 3 years old. Do a patella graf, stronger for skiiers like us. You'll be outta surgery doped up and recovering in no time. I'm not planning on skiing until at least December, maybe January. Don't get to bummed, if you're anything like me you were prolly due for a knee injury haha
6 years ago
3 0
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losh
Posts: 1126 - Karma: 4,707
Btw give us the story, hopefully it wasn't as stupid as mine haha
6 years ago
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olic
Posts: 299 - Karma: 940
Throwing a surgery option into the ring, ask about an allograft, they take a tendon from an external source (cadaver or something) and it means you get to keep your hamstrings and Patella intact, did this for both my ops and had no issues, other than being an idiot and re-rupturing it after the first op.

A DonJoy brace or similar will also be your best friend post op.
6 years ago
2 0
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thepastapalace
Posts: 67 - Karma: 386
I was 11 months out of surgery and feeling great, until last week when I fucked it up again in this week. Now I have a ton of stress cause my knee is acting really weird. Definitely take it easy
6 years ago
2 0
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Kahvikuppi
Posts: 9 - Karma: 64
I skied for two months with torn acl before my first surgery because the knee felt stable and I got a permission from a doctor. But when I tore my acl's for the second and third time I couldn't even think about skiing before the surgery. It always depends on the fitness of the supporting muscles and on the looseness of the other ligaments in the knee. My first two recoveries took about 9 months before I was back to hitting jumps but I was doing basic carving after 6-8 months. Now it has been 12 months since the last operation (acl and meniscus) and I'm finally hitting some rails but I think I can't hit big jumps ever again.
6 years ago
1 0
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galardogod
Posts: 1716 - Karma: 5,336
Medical Bio student checking in here, sorry to hear about your injury, so skiing on a torn ACL, although a bad idea is possible if you have elite quad and hamstring strength and the knee is somewhat stable however you also tore your meniscus. here lies the issue that with a incompetent ACL the medial meniscus plays a larger role on the anterior stabilization of the knee, with the meniscus already Compromised you Lose this additional stabilization, you also run the risk of displacing the torn cartilage and locking it in your joint. This is painful and will not allow you to bend your knee. As far as recovery times if they repair the meniscus you will be non wieght bearing for 4-6 weeks this is different than if you just graft the ACL and remove the meniscus because you can typically start the weight bearing process earlier, earlier weight bearing means less atrophying and that leads to a faster recovery time. But meniscectomy is linked to quicker development of Osteoarthritis. If I where you I’d have both repaired ASAP , as the long you wait to repair the meniscus the lower the success rate, given it can be repaired in the first place. Wich meniscus did you tear and what type of tear ( if you know) did you have?
6 years ago
4 0
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galardogod
Posts: 1716 - Karma: 5,336
Time line for ACL no meniscus repair is 6-7 months with meniscus repair 8-9 months. Also clinical studies show a higher success rate of meniscal repairs with an ACL tear because of the blood that is put in the area.
6 years ago
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