H's ACL and Meniscus tear.

by Hurpal
(UK)

Hi,

I initially damaged some part of my knee Oct 2009 playing football on a Sunday morning. Within the first 10 mins of the game I simply jumped over a sliding player and landed in a perfectly normal manner except feeling my knee jolt forward feeling a lot agony at the time but eased after a day. I felt I didn't do much it must be a slight strain. I was out of action for 5 weeks until I decided to the the doctor whom told me its minor and i needed physio. Physio told me some exercises. This lead to me being out of sporting action for 8 months when i took the courage to play again (June 10). I played football for the first and second week but the third week after half an hour i simply turned and drop to the floor as my knee completely gave way. I felt my knee twist and move forward. Instantly I knew this time I had damaged something a lot more and was taken to hospital. A few weeks later the MRI scans revealed a completely torn ACL and ruptured Meniscus cartilage. After the injury I was on crutches for at least 6 weeks and my operation was not until Sept. The operation was done in two stage: Firstly the surgeon stitched my cartilage which took 8 weeks to heal and being able to bend my knee for that period. Very nervous, scary and depressing at the time of the injury and before the operation as I had never been under the knife before, but I just had to pluck the courage and plough through. For my second operation (Mar 11) I was a lot more confident as I knew what I was expecting, so to speak I was more upbeat about getting it over and done with. Consulting with the surgeon we agreed on using the graft from my hamstring tendon rather than the patella tendon as I knew i would have to be kneeling when performing my job. At the moment (Apr 11) i'm experiencing a lot more discomfort because I was thinking on a different scale of recovery time and decided to stop taking painkillers earlier than I should have. But in truth it has helped me to be strong. My advice would be to forget about the injury and defiantly keep talking to friends and family and catch the sunlight as much as you can. Overall even though its a long procedure for recovery it should be worth it in the end.