"You've
got a torn ACL"
Dr.
John Hoffman
I originally injured my
ACL about 5 years before I had ACL surgery. I was playing touch
football with a bunch of guys and I was running full speed. The ball
carrier cut back the other way, so I started to cut back to catch him.
When I did, my foot caught in the grass and my momentum kept me going
in the original direction... I kind of hyper-extended it a little and
then heard the infamous "pop". I felt pain immediately and went right
to the ground. It took the breath right out of me. It also seemed to
start swelling right away. I got up and hobbled home (I only lived a
block away.) I used ice and elevated it, but it got pretty swollen and
sore. I don't remember for sure how long it was before I could walk on
it. A couple of days anyway. Eventually, the swelling went down and it
started to feel better. I never did see the doctor.
About 10 days later, I went
to play another game of football... this one had been planned for a
month or so and I didn't want to miss it. I wrapped my knee up and went
on my way. Everything went well until about halfway through the game. I
had just caught a ball and was on my way to picking up a good 20 yards
when a guy came in low and hit me from the side right on the knee. I
could feel it go out of place and heard a faint "pop". That was it for
the day. I could still walk on it and I got to my car and went home. I
took care of this one the same way... with ice and elevation. I could
walk on it the next day so I wasn't really concerned.
A couple months passed
and I didn't have any more problems. I was still playing football and
basketball, I was just careful of which foot to plant. One afternoon
while I was playing 2 on 2 basketball, I went up for a rebound and came
down on someone elses foot. I felt my knee go out of place and then it
went right back in. I hate that feeling!! I was in a lot of pain, so
one of the guys took me in to the emergency room at the hospital. They
were little to no help. The told me to stay off of it for a while and
wrap it up. They didn't say anything about ice or if had a torn ACL or
anything. It was a total waste of money. They took x-rays and that was
it.
I made
an appointment to
see a doctor the following week. When I saw him, he said I probably had
a torn ACL, because my knee was a little loose. He said I could try
to rehab it and try to avoid surgery, so that's what I did. BIG mistake.
I rehabbed and continued
to play sports. I probably averaged about 2 injuries/year. They weren't
always severe, but they involved my knee "giving away." The last injury
happened on November 8th, 1998. I was playing touch football and I had
the ball, I turned to do a flea-flicker and my knee gave way. Again,
there was a faint "pop." I sat out for a while, I could put some weight
on it, so I played for the last half as quarterback. That way I
wouldn't have to run... I could just chuck the ball away if I was going
to get sacked. After it was over, I went home and took care of it. At
that point, I decided I had had enough.
I saw a new doctor the
following week... I already knew I had a torn ACL and was ready for
surgery. So I went in, he checked me out and asked me what I wanted to
do. I said "fix it." He said ok and explained how he would perform the
surgery. I made an appointment to have the surgery in two weeks.
On December 2, 1998, I
had ACL surgery using the patellar tendon method. You
can read all about it and my rehab in my diary on
the web.
There were a couple
reasons I didn't want to have surgery in the beginning. First off, I
didn't have any insurance, and I didn't have the money. There wasn't
much I could do about it. The second reason was because the doctor said
it would be a minimum of one year before I would be active in any kind
of sports again. That's not what I wanted to hear. Of course in the
process of not having the surgery, each time I reinjured my knee, I
caused more damgage. I ended up with torn ACL, torn meniscus, and
damage to the bone. I will have arthritis at an early age now. I do
feel bad that I didn't have the surgery sooner, but I also feel lucky
that methods have improved vastly in the past 5 years. Now, rehab is
only 6 months and the reconstructions are more refined. Bottom line...
I should have had the surgery much sooner, but it's definitely better
late than never.
If you have any questions
or comments, please e-mail
me by clicking here.
|