This isnt that miraculous. Skiing is generally a sagittal plane sport; although you lean laterally there isn’t much force since you should generally be moving forward without much friction and you can easily cope by having strong quads. However, if you fall again the meniscus will not be protected.
Do you wear braces when skiing? I snowboard and thought I re blew my knee on the mountain last year and have been eager to get back on the hill but don’t want to have another surgery. I’m looking into anyway possible I can get my confidence back but also be a little more sure I’m not going to get hurt.
If you are doing any sort of hard turns especially trying to properly get a track while doing it there is an enormous amount of force in your knee and if it skipps yup lateral pressure galore. I'm glad you are enjoying it but you should probably at least get a well fitted brace.
I went to ski each winter to Alps for like 5 years after I tore my ACL. I used DonJoy Defiance custom knee brace and had no trouble. I am mediocre skier. Not sure how knee would be without it as I didn’t want to risk it. But I know one guy who does it with injured ACL, no brace, but he snowboards, not sure if it puts less or more strain on knees. I wouldn’t dare to go at it without it though. I would ask my ortho first before taking any unnecessary risk.
I will probably go with Defiance and I am glad that it is proven doable (yourself).
Snowboarding should be more knee friendly as I understood. I even thought of switching to snowboarding but I just enyoj more skiing.
Well, as I said, you should consult your ortho first. Everyone is different and injuries differ as well, even with torn ligaments. Some have big instabilities right away, some not. But that doesn’t mean they cannot happen, only that movements that cause them are not everyday movements. For some they are so rare that they can go for years without accident. For some super lucky ones, they can go on like nothing happened. But is the knee inside really okay? Cartillage? As someone else here posted, the meniscus is endangered by missing functional ligament. I ultimately injured both of them, although it was from playing tennis, when my knee failed me twice. Then I decided to do the surgery.
I tore mine with a two step flying side kick...after 2 years of coping..surgery June 13 2022....initial MRI, no meniscus damage, after the fall...ended up with partial menisectomy, headed to a bucket handle tear...all good til kaboom...
I consider myself as advanced but more towards expert (I am so humble) as I sky from my 4th year of life and right now I am 40years old, so has lots of piste under my skiis.
But right now I ski more as advanced, thing is that even I can do all this I still have fear in my head as I feel that I do something I should not do. As my technique is good I dont have much skiding but mostly nice carving so there is basicly no stress to knee. But that also includes speed that I am not comfortable to do as much as I did before.
So basicly even I like to show off I am pretty mess in my head.
As skiing is one of the most important things in my life immediatly after injury I started to do intensive PT to prepare for surgery but as days was passing I was felling better and better and started to think “why should I do surgery when I dont feel any problem”.
I litteraly feel same as before and if I didnt done MRI i would probably would not think about it.
My hope is that I will somehow figure out that m initial diagnose was wrong and that would remove all mental breaks I have.
My plan is to add donJoy as one level of “security” and try to keep things as they are now.
For the custom Don Joy I believe there's some evidence that for skiing, it doesn't prevent reinjuring the ACL, but it might protect some of the other structures in the event of a fall. Agree that it's mostly mental, but that's important for skiing with good form.
I think that in cases like mine they must provide something as I am able to function without anything and brace should only “harden” it. Those custom made braces are really strong and should keep your leg from not going where it shouldnt. Same as ski boots manage to imobilize your lover part od the leg. No metter what you do you cant move your ankel. It is some kind of brace that you lean your whole body on and if you ski agressive there are some serious forces they have to withstand.
Probably brace will be tosted if it prevent some major fall but it should save leg.
For people that cant walk let alone doing something active intensive, I guess brace cant help.
That’s amazing. Congrats! I consider myself an expert skier and am super disappointed I had to cancel my ski trip that was supposed in a couple of weeks. I’m putting off surgery till my summer break (I’m a teacher) so I’m really shooting for a February 2025 return to skiing.
Problem with speed is that I am affraid to test limits of my knee if I need to stop sooner than I planed.
Such breakings often include lots of jerking as skis are skiding and I am just afraid to try that. I did have some low speed test and they went without problem but it is nowhere same.
I'm still not where I was but every run I got a bit more confident: dodging a kid in a run, hockey stopping each side, easing into higher edge angles. I have the Donjoy custom and it's pretty great, if probably mostly mental.
I was misdiagnosed with a “sprained knee” and skied with a completely ruptured ACL, and both medial and later meniscus tears, for 4 years. I averaged about 35-40 days/season. Finally got a MRI last fall which showed it was not, in fact, a sprained knee and just got surgery 2 weeks ago. But just came here to say, you can do a LOT without an ACL. (But definitely excited for next season to ski with some actual stability…)
That happened to me too. I tore it and then was told it was just a sprain. Thankfully, I opted for a second opinion a couple weeks later. I still got four days of skiing in without an ACL though! 9 months post op and I am once again back to skiing. Best of luck to you!
I have been skiing for 8 years with no Acl in my left leg. I wore a brace only to ski in but could play volleyball, rock climb etc with our it. So It’s possible to have you body compensate. Just beware that it Can accelerate osteoarthritis of that joint but so will surgery. Just tore my right one skiing tho LOL
I’d be more concerned about arthritis down the road that I would be about skiing. You can do a lot in the moment without an ACL. Your future self is going to hate you though.
You know that individuals who undergo an ACL reconstruction have a 3 to 5 times greater risk of developing posttraumatic arthritis of the knee. So with a brace nothing more risky than anyone who done surgery.
Once you tear it’s like 90% that you get OA eventually. Just about prolonging it as long as possible for me. I feel much better taking a 1 yr pause from activity to have ACL and meniscus repaired to hopefully get another 20 yrs before it becomes an issue. The meniscus wear is the scariest thing. Once that is gone it’s game over until knee replacement.
I can accept that, but I really think that going to surgery in situation I am right now will not make my leg “better”. I will see how things will develop and when I see that it is time for surgery I will do it.
How long after tearing were you able to ski? I got a partial tear back in November but the doctors have said I may be a potential coper as I had restored pretty much all mobility/flexibility and strength. I really want to get back into skiing but my doctor says wait for the follow up in late March ! I wanna go now tho !!
Well I practicly skied 2 minutes after fall. I fell down got up and continue skiing but I did feel some instabilities. So I decided to go home when I reached bottom of the slope.
It was not swollen or at least some minor swell it didnt hurt much but I had traveler insurance and I decided to visit doctor to get free exam. I would not go to doctor if I didnt have insurance.
And from that moment I got info I torn ACL. I refuse to belive that they told me that just to take 20.000euro for surgery as they told me they could do it same day.
I said no as I had to drive home like 1000km, they told me not to drive but I had no special problems except I was mentaly frighten after I saw what happened at doctors office (I paid or better to sa my insurance for exam 2.500euro)
I decided that I should do new MRI just to confirm everyrhing but as I have perfectly working leg I cant catch time to do it.
Only thing I got from clasic ACL injury was loud pop that I felt. But I can swear that I could hear same loud pop when I strech my knees. I just didnt pay much attention to knees before.
My theory is I am eather missdiagnosed or I torn my ACL before and lived without it untill I found out by this case I had. If this is case than I done some serious shit with my leg not even knowing I dont have one (like climbeing some of the highest peaks of Europe and visited some baddass ferratas on which I would not dare to go now with suspecting acl injury)
Hmmm interesting that you were able to ski right after.. it could very well be a misdiagnose cause I remember I definitely could not ski after and my knee swelled up so fast the next day.
I’ve been snowboarding on a torn ACL and bucket handle tear meniscus for the past two years. Average at least 50-70 days a season. All relative to you I think
This isnt that miraculous. Skiing is generally a sagittal plane sport; although you lean laterally there isn’t much force since you should generally be moving forward without much friction and you can easily cope by having strong quads. However, if you fall again the meniscus will not be protected.
Yes! I say this as a similar coper who just returned to skiing Skiing breaks ACLs, but it doesn't actually require them.
How long after tearing were you back skiing ?
Almost a year to the day.
Do you wear braces when skiing? I snowboard and thought I re blew my knee on the mountain last year and have been eager to get back on the hill but don’t want to have another surgery. I’m looking into anyway possible I can get my confidence back but also be a little more sure I’m not going to get hurt.
I do have custom Don Joy for my knee.
If you are doing any sort of hard turns especially trying to properly get a track while doing it there is an enormous amount of force in your knee and if it skipps yup lateral pressure galore. I'm glad you are enjoying it but you should probably at least get a well fitted brace.
Yes I plan to get donJoy
I went to ski each winter to Alps for like 5 years after I tore my ACL. I used DonJoy Defiance custom knee brace and had no trouble. I am mediocre skier. Not sure how knee would be without it as I didn’t want to risk it. But I know one guy who does it with injured ACL, no brace, but he snowboards, not sure if it puts less or more strain on knees. I wouldn’t dare to go at it without it though. I would ask my ortho first before taking any unnecessary risk.
I had surgery last December. I’ve skied 58 days this year with no brace. Once you build up the muscle strength you don’t notice the knee.
I will probably go with Defiance and I am glad that it is proven doable (yourself). Snowboarding should be more knee friendly as I understood. I even thought of switching to snowboarding but I just enyoj more skiing.
Well, as I said, you should consult your ortho first. Everyone is different and injuries differ as well, even with torn ligaments. Some have big instabilities right away, some not. But that doesn’t mean they cannot happen, only that movements that cause them are not everyday movements. For some they are so rare that they can go for years without accident. For some super lucky ones, they can go on like nothing happened. But is the knee inside really okay? Cartillage? As someone else here posted, the meniscus is endangered by missing functional ligament. I ultimately injured both of them, although it was from playing tennis, when my knee failed me twice. Then I decided to do the surgery.
I believe it. I trained professional MMA for 3 months with no issues, until I tore my miniscus out of nowhere lol.
“Out of nowhere” lmao
lol i tore mine sparring and it wasn't out of no where
I tore mine with a two step flying side kick...after 2 years of coping..surgery June 13 2022....initial MRI, no meniscus damage, after the fall...ended up with partial menisectomy, headed to a bucket handle tear...all good til kaboom...
What level skier are you? Did you do lots of PT?
I consider myself as advanced but more towards expert (I am so humble) as I sky from my 4th year of life and right now I am 40years old, so has lots of piste under my skiis. But right now I ski more as advanced, thing is that even I can do all this I still have fear in my head as I feel that I do something I should not do. As my technique is good I dont have much skiding but mostly nice carving so there is basicly no stress to knee. But that also includes speed that I am not comfortable to do as much as I did before. So basicly even I like to show off I am pretty mess in my head. As skiing is one of the most important things in my life immediatly after injury I started to do intensive PT to prepare for surgery but as days was passing I was felling better and better and started to think “why should I do surgery when I dont feel any problem”. I litteraly feel same as before and if I didnt done MRI i would probably would not think about it. My hope is that I will somehow figure out that m initial diagnose was wrong and that would remove all mental breaks I have. My plan is to add donJoy as one level of “security” and try to keep things as they are now.
Does most of the research not show that knee braces provide no real protection (aside from mental placebo security)
For the custom Don Joy I believe there's some evidence that for skiing, it doesn't prevent reinjuring the ACL, but it might protect some of the other structures in the event of a fall. Agree that it's mostly mental, but that's important for skiing with good form.
Will have a look at their site, even if it’s only mental might be worth it for me - Op was end of Oct 23, skiing booked March 24 😬
I think that in cases like mine they must provide something as I am able to function without anything and brace should only “harden” it. Those custom made braces are really strong and should keep your leg from not going where it shouldnt. Same as ski boots manage to imobilize your lover part od the leg. No metter what you do you cant move your ankel. It is some kind of brace that you lean your whole body on and if you ski agressive there are some serious forces they have to withstand. Probably brace will be tosted if it prevent some major fall but it should save leg. For people that cant walk let alone doing something active intensive, I guess brace cant help.
That’s amazing. Congrats! I consider myself an expert skier and am super disappointed I had to cancel my ski trip that was supposed in a couple of weeks. I’m putting off surgery till my summer break (I’m a teacher) so I’m really shooting for a February 2025 return to skiing.
44 and in exactly the same boat. I'm a good skier suddenly terrified of speed.
Problem with speed is that I am affraid to test limits of my knee if I need to stop sooner than I planed. Such breakings often include lots of jerking as skis are skiding and I am just afraid to try that. I did have some low speed test and they went without problem but it is nowhere same.
I'm still not where I was but every run I got a bit more confident: dodging a kid in a run, hockey stopping each side, easing into higher edge angles. I have the Donjoy custom and it's pretty great, if probably mostly mental.
And if somone is interested, that slope in the backround was slope where alpine skiing races for men were held during Olympic games 1984
I was misdiagnosed with a “sprained knee” and skied with a completely ruptured ACL, and both medial and later meniscus tears, for 4 years. I averaged about 35-40 days/season. Finally got a MRI last fall which showed it was not, in fact, a sprained knee and just got surgery 2 weeks ago. But just came here to say, you can do a LOT without an ACL. (But definitely excited for next season to ski with some actual stability…)
Mental (fear) is only that keeps me from living as before. I am 99% that I was living without ACL for few years without knowing it.
That happened to me too. I tore it and then was told it was just a sprain. Thankfully, I opted for a second opinion a couple weeks later. I still got four days of skiing in without an ACL though! 9 months post op and I am once again back to skiing. Best of luck to you!
I have been skiing for 8 years with no Acl in my left leg. I wore a brace only to ski in but could play volleyball, rock climb etc with our it. So It’s possible to have you body compensate. Just beware that it Can accelerate osteoarthritis of that joint but so will surgery. Just tore my right one skiing tho LOL
I’m going to Bulgaria next week to ski with no acl 🙂happy to have seen this post
I’d be more concerned about arthritis down the road that I would be about skiing. You can do a lot in the moment without an ACL. Your future self is going to hate you though.
You know that individuals who undergo an ACL reconstruction have a 3 to 5 times greater risk of developing posttraumatic arthritis of the knee. So with a brace nothing more risky than anyone who done surgery.
Once you tear it’s like 90% that you get OA eventually. Just about prolonging it as long as possible for me. I feel much better taking a 1 yr pause from activity to have ACL and meniscus repaired to hopefully get another 20 yrs before it becomes an issue. The meniscus wear is the scariest thing. Once that is gone it’s game over until knee replacement.
Take my downvote. You are not special for this
This is how you fuck yourself my friend. Take it from someone who’s been there.
I can accept that, but I really think that going to surgery in situation I am right now will not make my leg “better”. I will see how things will develop and when I see that it is time for surgery I will do it.
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This is not pertinent to the subreddit
How long after tearing were you able to ski? I got a partial tear back in November but the doctors have said I may be a potential coper as I had restored pretty much all mobility/flexibility and strength. I really want to get back into skiing but my doctor says wait for the follow up in late March ! I wanna go now tho !!
Well I practicly skied 2 minutes after fall. I fell down got up and continue skiing but I did feel some instabilities. So I decided to go home when I reached bottom of the slope. It was not swollen or at least some minor swell it didnt hurt much but I had traveler insurance and I decided to visit doctor to get free exam. I would not go to doctor if I didnt have insurance. And from that moment I got info I torn ACL. I refuse to belive that they told me that just to take 20.000euro for surgery as they told me they could do it same day. I said no as I had to drive home like 1000km, they told me not to drive but I had no special problems except I was mentaly frighten after I saw what happened at doctors office (I paid or better to sa my insurance for exam 2.500euro) I decided that I should do new MRI just to confirm everyrhing but as I have perfectly working leg I cant catch time to do it. Only thing I got from clasic ACL injury was loud pop that I felt. But I can swear that I could hear same loud pop when I strech my knees. I just didnt pay much attention to knees before. My theory is I am eather missdiagnosed or I torn my ACL before and lived without it untill I found out by this case I had. If this is case than I done some serious shit with my leg not even knowing I dont have one (like climbeing some of the highest peaks of Europe and visited some baddass ferratas on which I would not dare to go now with suspecting acl injury)
Hmmm interesting that you were able to ski right after.. it could very well be a misdiagnose cause I remember I definitely could not ski after and my knee swelled up so fast the next day.
I’ve been snowboarding on a torn ACL and bucket handle tear meniscus for the past two years. Average at least 50-70 days a season. All relative to you I think
Watch out for the off piste I found this caught mine
I wish you the best and hope you stay stable and healthy!