SkiBum
junior member
- Joined
- Jul 26, 2022
- Messages
- 58
- Age
- 58
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic region
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
I've been lurking for a couple of days... I guess it's time to chime in. 27 years ago I suffered a tibial plateau fracture with torn up lateral meniscus in the right leg. I had bone graft and cartilage repair done. After 6 weeks non weight bearing and about 4 weeks partial weight bearing I was standing back on a pair of skis 3.5 months after the accident. I had the hardware removed 10 months after the surgery because my bone had remodeled too well and had to be shaved down a bit as it was causing discomfort.
About 10years ago things started to deteriorate in that knee... 7 years ago I had it scoped and yes it did help. Since then it's been slowly getting worse and the HA injections stopped working. I now have limited range of motion (about 100 flex, and about 10 degrees of contracture). Needless to say last ski season was kind of miserable. I don't want to suffer any more miserable ski seasons.. not to mention the higher risk of further injury while skiing so gimped up.
I met with a surgeon today.... RTKR it will be. I'll get a date after my blood work comes back. Here are my questions/concerns, and yes I've read through the guides on this site. My surgeon says that ROM prior to surgery predicts ROM after and he wants me to do the "forced" flexion and extension exercises prior to surgery. Bonesmart seems to believe that if it hurts don't do it... these exercises do hurt but I don't disagree with the surgeon. ROM is my primary goal since right now I can't ride a bicycle or retract my leg well enough to ride a low ski lift or ski steep terrain. In addition, without full extension my hip and back (which is already very arthritic) are the next problems. The second conflict for me is the rehab timing.... while my surgeon admitted that full recovery takes a year or better... he also seemed optimistic that 3 or 4 months is realistic for a return to skiing. I've read the success stories of people who have done that so I believe it's possible. However this site has created some doubt. I would have done this surgery much earlier in the summer except it took 3 months to get in to see the surgeon and I didn't finish skiing for the season until late April this year. So I'm between a rock and a hard place on the timing... and no I won't easily accept a year off of skiing again since this is a voluntary surgery after all. I will accept the 1 year sabbatical I'll likely have to take from teaching skiing. That way I can go back to it at my pace. My goal is to be skiing again by January and big mountain skiing (inbounds) again by next March /April.
Realistic expectations?????
About 10years ago things started to deteriorate in that knee... 7 years ago I had it scoped and yes it did help. Since then it's been slowly getting worse and the HA injections stopped working. I now have limited range of motion (about 100 flex, and about 10 degrees of contracture). Needless to say last ski season was kind of miserable. I don't want to suffer any more miserable ski seasons.. not to mention the higher risk of further injury while skiing so gimped up.
I met with a surgeon today.... RTKR it will be. I'll get a date after my blood work comes back. Here are my questions/concerns, and yes I've read through the guides on this site. My surgeon says that ROM prior to surgery predicts ROM after and he wants me to do the "forced" flexion and extension exercises prior to surgery. Bonesmart seems to believe that if it hurts don't do it... these exercises do hurt but I don't disagree with the surgeon. ROM is my primary goal since right now I can't ride a bicycle or retract my leg well enough to ride a low ski lift or ski steep terrain. In addition, without full extension my hip and back (which is already very arthritic) are the next problems. The second conflict for me is the rehab timing.... while my surgeon admitted that full recovery takes a year or better... he also seemed optimistic that 3 or 4 months is realistic for a return to skiing. I've read the success stories of people who have done that so I believe it's possible. However this site has created some doubt. I would have done this surgery much earlier in the summer except it took 3 months to get in to see the surgeon and I didn't finish skiing for the season until late April this year. So I'm between a rock and a hard place on the timing... and no I won't easily accept a year off of skiing again since this is a voluntary surgery after all. I will accept the 1 year sabbatical I'll likely have to take from teaching skiing. That way I can go back to it at my pace. My goal is to be skiing again by January and big mountain skiing (inbounds) again by next March /April.
Realistic expectations?????