I was told to bring my MRI and Medical card to the appointment with my surgeon - what did I bring...only my medical card!! Not too bright this one! But he didn't mind - Dr. John Richmond came in and introduced himself - he searched for my MRI online but no luck and we discussed the operation to ensure I knew what I was in for. He told me much of what Dr. Ritter has mentioned about my future ability with and without surgery - the purpose of the ACL - and the 'cutting' sports possibilities.
Once he was sure I was opting for surgery we discussed methods. He mentioned the main three methods - the patella tendon for the top of my knee, the hamstring graft and donor tissue. He said he did all three quite regularly but in my case he would recommend the hamstring graft or the patella tendon. I told him I had issues with my hamstrings - my left more than my right but he was still wary since it was my right knee that it could weaken my hamstring more and he was happy to go with the patella tendon. I was too as I had read that although it would obviously weaken your patella tendon (they take the middle third of it which becomes your new ACL) it can actually be stronger than your natural ACL afterwards. For all methods success rates i.e. getting back to previous levels of performance, was between 90 and 95%.
He finally gave me a rehab sheet which outlined the progress I should be making on a daily basis for the first 28 days and thereafter on a weekly basis. It was quite detailed. It generally the norm for the knee to be inflamed, bruised and swollen after an ACL tear so the surgeons like 4-6 weeks between the injury happening and the operation. This is for a number of reasons but a main one is leaving the knee recover before 'ripping it apart'. I was in a good place considering I could play tennis (badly) without too much pain. Therefore he suggested I see a physio and get some exercises in before the operation - pre-hab as I called it!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment