Mountain biking after Cruciate ligament surgery??

[totti]

Just a bit of advice needed really...

Playing football back in '09 I got taken out and badly injured my right knee. I had mri's and xrays taken, my doctors diagnosis was that I had completely torn my anterior cruciate ligament. Bad news.
Anyway I had a ACL reconstruction operation in May '10, this used part of the hamstring as the new ligament. Nice.
A major complication in the operation resulted in me getting Compartment syndrome in the thigh and calf.
The next day I had a thigh decompression, where the leg is cut open to relieve the pressure. 10 days in hospital, 3 pints of new blood and 39 stitches on the back of the thigh later....
This proper messed me up for 6 months at least.
The surgeon gave me the all clear to return to sports back in November, saying it is mechanically sound (unlike my bikes!!) so I still do the exercises set by the physio and a lot of gym work.

I have been cycling a moderate amount too, with trainers and flat pedals though. The knee feels fine - no aches or pains, quite pleased with that.

Back in my teens I did a stupid amount of training and racing, but being 33 I will never get the time to do that again.
But I do want to get back into riding with SPD's again, I'm a little cautious about the twisting motion...
Also going off road, with flats. am I worrying over nothing?

Has anyone else had knee problems/surgery? How have you coped with post op cycling?

Be good to hear from anyone who has had knee surgery....

Cheers,

 

[REKIBorter]

Haven't had knee surgery but best wishes for getting back on the bike.

 

[jonnyboy666]

my mate had the same injury as a result of skiing, he's back skiing again and i would have thought that skiing is more abusive to the knee area than mountain biking.

i would suggest trying spd's with the largest amount of float you can find but also a pair that are good size to offer support (not egg beaters for example). see if they cause any discomfort, if so stop using them. also keep them on the least amount of tension on the springs.

 

[trickylad]

I did my acl, pcl and both medials in my right knee playing football.

Just took a year of rehab, physio and patience.

Walked back on the pitch in my first game back and got clobbered.

Lay on the floor, couldn't feel a thing and assumed worst.

However the knee had held firm and it was a massive confidence boost.

Continued with the gentle rehab and got it back to normal.

Still suffer knee aches after a long game, especially on hard ground but well, that's not a bad trade off.

Everyone's different, listen to your knee and take your time. Best of luck.

TL

 

[totti]

I did my acl, pcl and both medials in my right knee playing football.

OUCH! There is no way I'd step back onto a competitive pitch again after what I went through. £80K a week would make me think otherwise though...
My surgeon advised me to think about giving up contact sports...
No more football, rugby and cage fighting then... LOL
It was just footy that I played, I'll miss it but every team in the league seemed to be out to injure you.
No great loss then, I'll stick to Fifa on the PS3!

As for mtb'ing, like you guys say I guess it's just common sense...

 

[taffy]

The missus had an ACL reconstruction and is ok but would be better if she hadn't had a misdiagnosis(dr: you have the Rolls Royce of knees - there is nothing wrong.. cue 6 years later for the reconstruction) and the fact she's a lazy so and so and the only sport she'll do is skiing. (so not much there then!)

From my own experience you can get some pretty horrific injuries and still make a good recovery - though the younger you are the better and speedier the recovery. Take things easy and slowly and don't push too hard or fast with exercise.

 

[Bensherman]

Different injury but playing 5 a side when I was 19 slid in for a tackle and a hefty lad stepped onto the side of my foot, big toe side. Ever since it used to swell when playing football. Stopped playing when I was 30 as I used to ache like a bugger for days.

20 years later starting Mtb again and no problems, went on a 3hour ride last week. Took my sock off to find a hard lump by my big toe. Still hasn't gone down so I expect I'll have it now till I stop riding? Thing is I'd been riding for 3 or 4 days in a row nothing and then all of a sudden my foots a freak again.

 

[silverclaws]

I got the same injury not playing football strangely, I was at the time involved with mountain rescue and carrying someone off down a scree, well I got a footballers injury, the anterior cruciate ligament stretched, on the MRI with leg straight the ligament wasn't straight anymore, but sort of squiggly. I never had surgery for it, but learned to walk differently and build new muscles to support it. It gave me gyp for years, but now, no problems, no twinges, nothing.

But cycling after surgery, the physican has given the go ahead to get back into sports, so do so so, but take it easy to build the confidence and get you knee back into the idea that sports are on the cards for the future, so any relaxed muscles can build to support it.

Yeah, and I also think spuds might not be a good idea for a while, if your leg needs to move sideways, then let it, don't confine it with spuds.

 

[totti]

Good to hear I'm not alone!

Went out for the first hard(ish) off road ride in about 18 months, coped well.
Just sat down and dug in on the climbs, climbing out of the saddle was a bit strange and the knee clicked a few times :roll:
Ended up being about 13 miles, with some road inbetween. The knee aches a little now but no strange pains - I also forgot to ice it afterwards.

Found this thread which maybe of some interest:

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=297199

Really enjoyed the ride, infact this forum and the last SW retrobike meet at Haldon (didn't ride though) has re-ignited my passion for Mountain Biking!

 

[Rich Aitch]

Have you thought about an egg shaped chain ring such as Shimano Biopace or Sugino Cycloid? They slightly reduce the speed of your legs during the phase where your knees change directions, so they take less of a hammering.
I've never used toe clips or SPD's off road, they are just too much hastle and I've never had problems without them.