[JR]

Well fresh out of my elbow being fixed, some fucker wished it upon me that I know snap my anterior cruciate ligament in my left knee in a fucking forklift accident at work...

Has anyone had this fixed?  And if so how long did it take to get back doing things again.  Im goin in for surgery on the 9th.

Sucks to be me....  as always

[Bonjoy]

[dave]

at least you can campus now. every cloud, and all that.

[SA Chris]

Ouch. Will you get any compensation from work for it? I wish I could give you some good news. It's a common skiing injury, and takes quite a bit of rehab.

[Obi-Wan is lost...]

I think that was the one bigphil did in playing football. He has the knowledge, however you probably don't want to hear it... :cry: Bad luck fella.

[JR]

Ouch. Will you get any compensation from work for it? I wish I could give you some good news. It's a common skiing injury, and takes quite a bit of rehab.

Not sure about compensation, its my family farm and the details are quite complicated, fork lift licenses and all that so i dont want to shaft anyone.

They reckon 6 months intensive rehab, I will be able to walk on it almost immediately but they are pretty certain its fucked me starting marines training, on which i already have a place, but only time will tell. 90% chance of being able to ski again.  

Ive only been climbing once properly since i did my elbow - a quick yet wholly ineffective fix....

[Mike_H]

Sorry to hear about that JR, its a pretty grim injury to be saddled with.

Alot of it is pot luck in terms of the surgeon and physio you get. The physio side is the most important thing and if you are not happy see someone else, but its best to stick to what they say to the latter.

My best mate did his ACL whilst snowboarding over 3 years ago, he basically didn't listen to the physio did his own thing and has just had to have it operated on again and is redoing all his physio.

[JR]

well, im told by my current physio, that the recovery and rehabilitation of an ACL is easier than what i had in my elbow so theres a start.  I've had the same physio for ages now, and any injury ive had so far has been fixed, so im quite happy to stick with him.  Plus he has said that the surgeon is exceptional.  He does 5 of these operations a week, so he gets practice i guess!

[JR]

Alright JR,

Dunno if I mentioned this before. But when I fucked my knee, I asked to be referred to a guy called Prof J Richardson in Gobowen Hospital. As far as I know, he's one of the top knee guys in the UK/world. I got to see him pretty quick with NHS by saying it would affect my future career. Would probably be worth a try. If you really push the marine career thing, I'm certain you could get an appointment with him sharpish.

g

Im going to have chat with the top armed forces ACL surgeon as soon as i sort it out, so he'll know if the surgeon is any good and may be able to recommend someone else, but i think this guy i have is pretty handy.  I have private healthcare , so getting appointments is really easy (ie next day or day after most of the time)

Cheers though

[SA Chris]

Not sure about compensation, its my family farm and the details are quite complicated, fork lift licenses and all that so i dont want to shaft anyone.

Fairy nuff, I assumed it was industrial.

Hang in there mate.

[JR]

Well i had the op on tuesday.  Wasnt too bad nor that painful, especially with lots of morphine!  plus one of the nurses was a climber/boarder and basically chatted to me for most of the night, seeing as the passive motion machine made any sleep impossible, and then stabbed a needle in my thigh every so often...

Was awake for the whole thing after epidural, sat up and watched him drilling through my tibia and out through my thigh, all quite pleasant on a high dose of vallium!  I have the video of the keyhole bit which might feature slightly in the next beardown vid, its more mechanical and heath robinson than youd expect but highly techincal at the same time.

Pretty spaced out now on a concotion of painkillers and doing painful physio exercises but on the plus side the surgeon reckons ill be back skiing next season and hopefully back climbing in 6 months so big up to that.


If that doesnt make much sense its the drugs fault, it makes sense to me....

[bigphil]

Bad luck JR although its not all that bad.  I snapped mine in '99 and waited three years to get it reconstructed.  It works fine now although I never played footy again.  There is some all pervading fear that I'll do it again even though the bit of hamstring they used to replace it is apparently much stronger.  Apparently they can also use a bit of your patella tendon (underneath the kneecap) but this can result in problems kneeling down.

My advice would be to get it rebuilt as soon as, cos then your mind doesn't get time to alter its perception of how your knees moves and whether its week.  I had mine done at that private hosptial in Fulwood.  I can't remember the name, but it wasn't cheap.  Anyway, I have been climbing and biking since the operation and its felt fine, absolutely no problems.  Haven't been boarding yet but we'll see over the coming year.  I have felt a weakness in my left hamstrings though, which can affect heel hooks and rock overs using my left leg.  A pain in the arse sometimes but worth it as far as I'm concerned.

If you want to know anything else, PM me.

[Bubba]

plus one of the nurses was a climber/boarder and basically chatted to me for most of the night......and then stabbed a needle in my thigh every so often...

That just sounds kinda dreamy

Hope you can get it sorted JR coz you've had *way* more than your fair share of nasty injuries

[fatboySlimfast]

New someone who had it done but was like 10 years ago so couldnt comment on modern procedure. hes ok though, but didnt play rugby again but more from choice than physical probs.
I know two skiers who had needed acl's but were way down on NHS lists, would be more difficult know with linked insurance computers etc but they booked holiday on slopes in Switzerland, got medical insurance, went out, first day fell over went ouch ive done me knee and got it done in a fine specialist swiss hozzer that night!

[JR]

My advice would be to get it rebuilt as soon as, cos then your mind doesn't get time to alter its perception of how your knees moves and whether its week.  I had mine done at that private hosptial in Fulwood.  I can't remember the name, but it wasn't cheap.  Anyway, I have been climbing and biking since the operation and its felt fine, absolutely no problems.  Haven't been boarding yet but we'll see over the coming year.  I have felt a weakness in my left hamstrings though, which can affect heel hooks and rock overs using my left leg.  A pain in the arse sometimes but worth it as far as I'm concerned.

If you want to know anything else, PM me.

Yeah i had it done in fulwood... THornbury hospital it is.  Got private health care so paying was no problem.  ITs not too bad so far, fairly painfree with the drugs but swollen and requiring time consuming physio.  I had it from the hamstrings, though my surgeon thinks i shouldnt notice a difference over 12 months.  We'll see.

Cheers

[JR]

shit dog, glad i had private.  hope it gets sorted soon mate...

[bigphil]

Hey Gruff, shouldn't be all that bad.  As I said I waited three years before getting mine done private.  Mainly because I was too lazy to do something about it.  The only problems I have now are psychological, i.e. I had a weak leg for three years and even though its fine now I can't quite make my brain see that.  And I have problems heel hooking but there are ways and means around that, at least for some problems.  At the end of the day it doesn't stop me from doing anything so it shouldn't stop you.