Yo!

3 weeks ago I broke my tibia and pulled my ACL and PCL slightly from their insertions at the bone tricking around on a 20" whilst drunk. I landed a 360 bunnyhop short and straightlegged myself into a bad hyperextension. Lesson learned.

Anyway, I was fortunate in that my ligament damage was isolated to the insertion, and should be able to heal on it's own, kind of like pulling velcro up, but only half way. My tibia was a hairline fracture, so they're just letting that heal on it's own as well.

I'm on crutches and my progress is better each day; after 3 weeks I can support myself on 2 feet standing, but I'm discouraged bc I go back in on 12/21, and they'll tell me if they think surgery is still in the cards. Even without, I'm bummed that I compromised the integrity of my knee in a sport that's notorious for damaging them.

Has anyone ever had a knee ligament injury, and if so, did you have surgery? How long until you were out riding again?

rumrunn6

every knee injury is different, even if the "label" is the same. basically you should get your head around being patient. really patient. meaning plan other activities that will get you through the next few seasons. walking swimming. upper body weight training, etc. that leg will atrophy and that stinks but over the next couple of years you'll be able to build back up. I had minor knee surgery 11 years ago and only about 5 years ago did I feel great again. good luck buddy.

WoundedKnee

I've had surgery on both my knees, the right one was similar to yours. That was almost 3 years ago, I still have a little grinding/popping now and then.. you're probably going to need a bit of physical therapy. Especially for muscles that control lateral tensile strength.

You're probably gonna be out of commission for awhile, so rumrunn is exactly right.

spcialzdspksman

Hey, sorry to hear about what happened, hope you get better man.

PedallingATX

my condolences, man. You will be better eventually, though, and if you put a lot of work into it who knows how fast you can recover.

In the meantime, Modern Warfare 2 on XBOX 360 is legit.

hairnet

Well I didn't have surgery, but my right knee was really f-d when I was hit by a car about a year ago. It took me about a month to be able to stand on that leg and I had to work some muscles with weights, up until a couple months ago, to get my leg back normal. I was able to ride normally a few months after the crash, but my knee was still weak and I had to take everything at a slow and easy pace.

My knee has come a long way but it still does this ^^^. Sometimes I have just have to move my leg very purposefully while walking.

Good luck though. The first day back on the bike was a joyous moment for me as I'm sure it will be for you.

bratton

just don't get into WoW while you're out of commission. your ass will never see a bike seat again.

Yo!

Hahahha that's hilarious. I don't own any video game consoles, so I think I'm alright.

This definitely sucks; there's a ride almost every night of the week now and I have to watch them cruise by my house from my rainy window. Sigh

elTwitcho

I haven't had any experience with knee injuries so take this with some salt; you can greatly reduce the strain on your knees while riding the bike and this may help with getting back in the saddle while you're healing up. A few things, like either getting a geared bike or running a really low gear (like, 60 GI) will probably help, as will switching to shorter cranks such as 165s. I used to get knee pain fairly regularly until switching to shorter cranks and the difference in knee strain is noticeable.

A professional fitting will also help immensely.

As I said, I haven't had serious knee problems so I really don't know if riding at all is even feasible, but if there's a point where your knees can handle some exercise, I believe these suggestions would be helpful in keeping you pain free in the saddle. The increased blood flow from exercising will likely even help with the recovery.

TRaffic Jammer

I ruptured a ligament that bled into the knee over night in the 80's skateboarding, the bike was my physio, and got me hooked. More recently, I dislocated my kneecap skateboarding at 36 years old. It tore a nice hole in the back of the kneecap, and the lower portion of the joint. (it's a hole about the size of the nail on my pinkie finger). After the arthroscopic removal of the bone fragments, I was using a cane for six months before I could even get on the bike. It was a year before I could fully compress my knee without feeling like my kneecap was going to shoot across the room. I now have very little lateral stability and am terrified of dancing as one wrong move could drop me to the floor. They still want to "cork" the holes with donor bone and cartilage, but my knee guy says so few people have had that surgery there is no long term data on the after effects. He wants me to wait until I can barley walk. Yes they are all different. It's gonna take time though. Spin spin spin.

Yo!

wow dude. My situation is vaginal at best next to that ^

I found a 42t chainring I'm going to use to really drop my gear inches for when I start getting on the rollers. I'm guessing when I have to get back on the bike out in traffic I'll need to stick to my SS, but the general consensus is that I need to spin and keep gear inches low.

TRaffic Jammer

Easy gears and spin light, if it hurts ice ice baby 15min on 15 off, lest you freeze cartilage. Once the doc says it's ok. After a while you'll be playin' with power once more.

PedallingATX

also, i know you don't wanna hear this considering you have a beautiful NJS bike, but you might have to resign yourself to getting a bike equipped w/ a front brake. Not to turn this into a brake vs. brakeless thread, but I think that most would agree if you are having/had bad knee problems, you should run a front brake.

TRaffic Jammer

Hell's yes get off fixed til you're better, back pedaling would be the worst thing in the world for your knee!!!!!!!! Freewheel and brakes.

Rhythm of Life

Make sure you let it heal FULLY, it doesn't matter if it "feels" better. If you don't give the ligaments enough time .... POP ... and your back in crutches. It happens way too often to over eager athletes.

Yo!

Exactly right; I've got a SS bianchi CUSS I'll have to ride until my knee is ready for fixed again. I recognize it's going to be a while before I can be riding a brakeless track bike again.

Rhythm of Life

Just thought of it as a good FYI, I ended up wrecking my shoulder up for life as a result of not listening to the advice I said above.

Glad your smarter than I was and just remember, the wait makes it that much better.

lancer1558

I had an ACL repair, meniscus repair and cartilege clean-up operation a few years ago. I was on crutches for 9 weeks and full recovery was 6 months. Surgeon who did the work is one of the best in LA.
I went to rehab twice a week for 12 weeks after surgery.
Surgery totally successful.
Gary

soze

I shredded my ACL many moons ago on my snowboard, repaired by an orthopaedic who invented an artificial knee. It held for three years then popped again with some patellal damage when I was playing hockey. It's been a downhill slide since then with subsequent knee injuries. I've had to move off of my fixie entirely onto a 'cross bike since I'm in hilly country. If I were back in Chicago the terrain would probably let me stay fixed.

Every injury is different, surgery isn't going to be magic. And do your freakin' PT. I know it's boring, they don't make you do it because it's fun.

adamzee

I had surgery a few years back on my meniscus and PCL. I cannot stress proper post-op PT enough. Do the entire program to heal the quickest. I can't say yes or no to surgery (case by case,) but PT regardless is crucial. I was back out in a few months. Good luck!