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April, 2025

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Skiers who have gone through acl and meniscus tears

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Thegenericskier
Posts: 2901 - Karma: 33,963
What was it like to ski after you've recovered from rehab. How did it feel different?
5 years ago
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jca
Posts: 4180 - Karma: 6,363
I don't have ACLs in either knee and a small meniscus tear in my right knee. I got really into heavy squats, deadlifts, power cleans, lunges, mobility work and they feel really good for everything except doing the whip kick while swimming and also running. I've actually finally been able to start running again after 8 years of it causing lots of pain in my right knee.

So rehab hard - lift weights (properly), stretch, yoga, ride bikes up and down steep shit, and most importantly - listen to your body, don't push too hard too fast. You should be able to get to close to 100% if you stay strong.
5 years ago
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Michael_Thatcher
Posts: 523 - Karma: 3,469
Had my ACL reconstructed with an allograft and meniscus repaired with darts. Went hard with physiotherapy for 6 months after surgery and returned to skiing after 8 months. Wore a custom knee brace for the first three seasons after the injury but I've given up wearing it since. I'd say my knee is 100% and I don't notice it at all while skiing.

The key for me in recovery was pushing hard through physiotherapy, icing my knee to reduce swelling, and then stretching a lot to regain knee flexion.

If you do have to ski with a brace you'll forget you even have it on after a couple of runs.
5 years ago
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Darc
Posts: 138 - Karma: 669
Had a part tear cleaned up and a meniscus section removed. Pretty much what the others are saying if i stop doing something leg based it becomes an issue, if i keep up my gym work its pretty much perfect now. I find the stabilization muscles esp glutes and the one inside the knee are king, if i let those get lazy i get all kinds of stability issues skiing. After surgery it felt like my leg had been shortened about 1cm (half inch) so that was super weird to get use to for about 1-2 months but that was well before i was allowed to return to sports. I personally think doing some plyo based work at the gym is huge, especially negative based stuff to keeping everything engaged off season.
5 years ago
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Anti-Hero
Posts: 1269 - Karma: 344
I had a torn acl at age 9 and got to go skiing the next season with no surgery. Sometimes my knee feels a little loose but usually there are no problems
5 years ago
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SkierPT
Posts: 2209 - Karma: 4,910
I’m currently helping @BagOTricks rehab his ACLR
5 years ago
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BagOTricks
Posts: 819 - Karma: 3,379
Yeah tore mine in February and am aiming to return in December. Definitely a LOT of work if you wanna do the recovery right, but you'll be feeling better and better every month. At this point I'm feeling pretty confident in my knee, but still have a bit to go. Lifting more weight than I ever was pre-injury, but mobility wise I'm lacking a little bit. I'll update when I finally get back on skis!
5 years ago
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Thegenericskier
Posts: 2901 - Karma: 33,963
BagOTricksYeah tore mine in February and am aiming to return in December. Definitely a LOT of work if you wanna do the recovery right, but you'll be feeling better and better every month. At this point I'm feeling pretty confident in my knee, but still have a bit to go. Lifting more weight than I ever was pre-injury, but mobility wise I'm lacking a little bit. I'll update when I finally get back on skis!

Tore mine in February too with a bonus of a really bad spiral fracture on my humerus. When did you get your surgery?
5 years ago
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Anti-Hero
Posts: 1269 - Karma: 344
I guess I also tore my meniscus a little bit
5 years ago
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BagOTricks
Posts: 819 - Karma: 3,379
ThegenericskierTore mine in February too with a bonus of a really bad spiral fracture on my humerus. When did you get your surgery?


Surgery in March for ACL + both sides of my meniscus in the same knee. Had bad bone bruising as well. So I'm about 6 months out at this point!
5 years ago
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CatdickBojangles
Posts: 6470 - Karma: 66,255
I am in the like 5% of people who managed to tear their MCL and meniscus but not ACL oh and I did it twice. I was in the military when I tore mine both time so granted the care wasn't the greatest but the first time I did not take rehab seriously and did not take the recovery time serious hence how I did it twice. Rehab like your life depends on it and be patient.
5 years ago
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Thegenericskier
Posts: 2901 - Karma: 33,963
CatdickBojanglesI am in the like 5% of people who managed to tear their MCL and meniscus but not ACL oh and I did it twice. I was in the military when I tore mine both time so granted the care wasn't the greatest but the first time I did not take rehab seriously and did not take the recovery time serious hence how I did it twice. Rehab like your life depends on it and be patient.


I’m 4 months out last week therapy is my entire life right now
5 years ago
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fghtoffyrdmns
Posts: 3003 - Karma: 6,955
i dont hit a jump over 35 feet anymore lmao
5 years ago
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Thegenericskier
Posts: 2901 - Karma: 33,963
fghtoffyrdmnsi dont hit a jump over 35 feet anymore lmao


ironically enough i tore it on a small side hit on the way to the park
5 years ago
4 0
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iced
Posts: 3070 - Karma: 17,985
fghtoffyrdmnsi dont hit a jump over 35 feet anymore lmao


personally I feel way better going down on a steep ass landing than a smaller jump
5 years ago
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brian.walker
Posts: 885 - Karma: 1,160
I did ACL and both my medial + lateral meniscus a year ago in March then had surgery April 30.. Went hard in PT (4-5 days a week) and was back on snow for the first day of the season last year on November 30th. Took it super slow on snow the for the first 15 days of riding. I started off with just taking a few runs and slowly working up to skiing for two hours, while each time adding a little more time on snow. Had a check up after the 15th day of riding and the doctor (Dr. Orr, straight legend in the knee world) gave me the full clearnence to get back out there. I took it pretty mellow throughout the season with very little jumping and sliding mellow rails (big kinks make the meniscus hurt a little bit I think). Now when it came to skiing powder I skied like I hadn't missed a beat and the knee would definitely be sore after a long day. When I got home I made sure to ice and stretch which definitely helped.

MY BIGGEST piece of advice is to really warm up before skiing. I don't know if you have a stationary bike at home, but I would hop on that for about 10 minutes before I head to the hill and then hit some of my warm ups from PT and that made a huge difference for my day of skiing.

If you thought you could tell a landing was flat before, you really know when one is now.
5 years ago
1 0
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fghtoffyrdmns
Posts: 3003 - Karma: 6,955
i dont have a menisus so the impact is what gets me
Thegenericskierironically enough i tore it on a small side hit on the way to the park
5 years ago
1 0
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Thegenericskier
Posts: 2901 - Karma: 33,963
brian.walkerI did ACL and both my medial + lateral meniscus a year ago in March then had surgery April 30.. Went hard in PT (4-5 days a week) and was back on snow for the first day of the season last year on November 30th. Took it super slow on snow the for the first 15 days of riding. I started off with just taking a few runs and slowly working up to skiing for two hours, while each time adding a little more time on snow. Had a check up after the 15th day of riding and the doctor (Dr. Orr, straight legend in the knee world) gave me the full clearnence to get back out there. I took it pretty mellow throughout the season with very little jumping and sliding mellow rails (big kinks make the meniscus hurt a little bit I think). Now when it came to skiing powder I skied like I hadn't missed a beat and the knee would definitely be sore after a long day. When I got home I made sure to ice and stretch which definitely helped.

MY BIGGEST piece of advice is to really warm up before skiing. I don't know if you have a stationary bike at home, but I would hop on that for about 10 minutes before I head to the hill and then hit some of my warm ups from PT and that made a huge difference for my day of skiing.

If you thought you could tell a landing was flat before, you really know when one is now.


best response. got my surgery in early may will do everything you did on top of what im already doing
5 years ago
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Alextheskibum
Posts: 63 - Karma: 423
I tore my right acl and slightly tore my meniscus back in 2016 while skiing. I recovered for 9 months and went skiing in November before the resorts were even open. At first it was very awkward and I wore small knee braces (still to this day, though I don’t think I really need them anymore.) after about a week of skiing lifts I was back in the game and started taking chances. Ever since then it’s just gotten easier. It probably helps that I was so young when it happened because I don’t feel any problems 4 years later.
5 years ago
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wyld_stallyns
Posts: 475 - Karma: 4,630
My knee injury experience was quite different than most others here but still tragic. Never tore any ligament or anything, but living up in the northeast in NH, wasn't that big of a surprise when I tested positive for Lyme disease. It has all different symptoms for different people, although sore and swollen joints are very common, which is what happened to me when both my knees swole up to the size of cantaloupes. Became bedridden for 3 months, unable to walk or move around at all. Literally every joint hurt for months. Even after my antibiotic course and the swelling went down, my knees have never been the same since. Despite all the PT I've done to restrengthen my knees, they still feel weak and uncomfortable when active. Put a real damper on my skiing career, forcing me to become a backcountry powder skiing, as my knees just can't take heavy impacts on hard-packed snow like they used to in the park. Sad days.
5 years ago
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brian.walker
Posts: 885 - Karma: 1,160
Thegenericskierbest response. got my surgery in early may will do everything you did on top of what im already doing


Thanks man! Yeah just keep working hard in PT. Even when those workouts are killing you and you feel tired, just put skiing at the front of your mind to push through and keep thinking about getting back on snow. It's the best motivation.

I also picked up some lightweight knee braces that wear on my other knee as it is/was having issues and that helped that a ton. They're made by CEP and they're just a nice compression brace.
5 years ago
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Thegenericskier
Posts: 2901 - Karma: 33,963
brian.walkerThanks man! Yeah just keep working hard in PT. Even when those workouts are killing you and you feel tired, just put skiing at the front of your mind to push through and keep thinking about getting back on snow. It's the best motivation.

I also picked up some lightweight knee braces that wear on my other knee as it is/was having issues and that helped that a ton. They're made by CEP and they're just a nice compression brace.


I got fitted for a donjoy brace last week, really looking forward to getting it so i can do things that are a little more fun.
5 years ago
1 0
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SnowGaper
Posts: 11 - Karma: -142
@Thegenericskier hope the recovery is going great.

Not sure if this helps but I wrote a post on the subject here: https://snowgaper.com/is-skiing-bad-for-knees/ let me know if it helps and keeps us updated with the injury.

All the best,
Frank
5 years ago
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Thegenericskier
Posts: 2901 - Karma: 33,963
SnowGaper@Thegenericskier hope the recovery is going great.

Not sure if this helps but I wrote a post on the subject here: https://snowgaper.com/is-skiing-bad-for-knees/ let me know if it helps and keeps us updated with the injury.

All the best,
Frank


Thanks! great read
5 years ago
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SnowGaper
Posts: 11 - Karma: -142
ThegenericskierThanks! great read


No problem, glad you enjoyed the post :)
5 years ago
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Abu_Hajaar
Posts: 2751 - Karma: 3,908
Tore my ACL skiing about 7 years ago. Half assed the PT, and tore it again a year later on my backyard setup. Actually did the PT the second time. I still wear a brace when skiing to this day. Knee works fine but is still kinda fucked. Almost no feeling in my shin.
5 years ago
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