[monsquid]

I'm 33. I was relatively healthy and had been doing running and weightlifting since 19 years old. I was never ripped but I maintained healthy routine. Then I fucked up my knee in January.

I'd never gone skiing before but a buddy of mine who is kind of a crazy adrenaline junkie wanted me to go on a ski trip with him. I said why not and I've always wanted to try skiing anyways. He taught me the "pizza slice" slow down routine for about 30 minutes then took me to the top of an intermediate slope right away. I was scared shitless and tumbled my way down the mountain slowly. Somehow I didn't get hurt. He thought it was hilarious. I spent the rest of the day of the beginner's slope by myself. Gained some technique and felt good about the whole thing.

Next day my buddy was impressed with my skills and took to me to the advanced beginner's slope. I was terrified but somehow made it down. We went up again before he left me at the top to go down a more advanced course. I was feeling tired and very sore in my legs and should've quit right there but decided to go down the slope anyways. At one straight section I sped up too fast and started losing control. To the right was a near vertical fall into the woods and the left was a snow bank. I went straight into the snow. My skies caught the edge of the bank and acted as an anchor while my body was still flying at full speed. I immediately felt a pop in my left knee and a flash of pain.

Somehow I made it back down the mountain but my knee was shot. It didn't swell too much but became very stiff. Over the next few days I couldn't walk. About a week later I could limp around. Three weeks later I went to see a general practitioner doctor and she identified it as an MCL tear and recommended rest and NSAIDs. It got a little bit better but still felt very stiff and hurt at night and in the mornings, especially when I straightened my knee all the way out. Over time it was getting better slowly. I had an x-ray done and she said there was some calcified cartilage near my MCL which indicates a previous injury which has healed, but my knee wasn't improving. She didn't want me to go to an orthopedic specialist and try physical therapy instead but it hasn't come through, maybe an issue with my insurance.

Weird thing is since the x-ray my knee has gotten worse. It hurts in a lingering dull pain all day. Waking up in the morning I feel there is sharp pain. I'm getting frustrated and I messaged my doctor I want an MRI and a consult with an orthopedic surgeon. I'm suspecting a torn meniscus. I think my MCL has more or less healed.

I guess I'm lucky that overall I still have stability in knee and it doesn't lock up. And it looks like I escaped with my ACL intact.

I'm used to having regular exercise 2-3 times a week. It was my stress relief mechanism for well over a decade. And I'm starting gain some weight and feel flabby. I also have a shoulder injury from the same fall and unable to do pushups. Needless to say this is starting to become a major depressant and downer in my life.

What do you guys think? Have you dealt with limiting injuries? What are some mental and physical strategies to dealing with this?

Advice: Health is the most important thing guys. Especially as you get older do not take unnecessary risk by doing sports or other activities that you are not used to.

[realologist]

If you feel confident enough push your own physical therapy. The info is all over online. Took me 30 seconds to find this.



If I were you look at what you can do with your knee. Start in that phase and work your way up patiently. Know the difference between soreness, pain and injury pain. It's better to take your time rehabbing and come back late than come back too early and make it a life long issue.

[Bienvenuto]

It won't get better on its own, it will only get worse.

Don't rest until you find an exceptional physio. Nothing else will do.

Generalised knowledge in books and online is just that general.

My knee injury was given an MRI scan which recommended surgery which just made it worse.
Years of UK NHS physio did nothing, worse than nothing.

Found an excellent physio, he identified a (thankfully so far benign) tumour on my kidney that was pinching a nerve, broken bones in my spine, knee tracking problems, muscles all over my body that were switching off or firing incorrectly.

I showed him "becoming a supple leopard" he said 'yee-ah but its too generalised. it doesn't see the specifics of your specific injury. won't fix your injury on its own."

He referred me to an excellent physio 5 hours away (he was 2 hours away). She found damage to my ribs and diaphragm, dents in my skull and damage to my neck. all this has been confirmed by subsequent scans.

Now I am doing targeted rehab work that is specific and accurate to me and works.

Same time as I did all this my number came up for another round of free NHS physio - I went to see my private physios on the other side of the UK who were all about measuring testing and retesting the specific neck, glute, calf, foot, rib, knee work and its effects.

The NHS physio asked if students could sit in on my initial appointments? Sure. I felt sorry for those students. She never even tried to make an accurate diagnosis - just gave me sheets and sheets of generic knee rehab exercises, said 'as you get older your body starts to break down' and 'after 6 weeks go back to running and build it up slowly'

People sometimes slit their wrists on here about HB8s they hardly know or how much threatening suicide coined them.

They get tough love.

Your knee is more important than any HB7,8,9,10 /early morning meltdown .

Get a superb, international standard physio. Leave no stone unturned until you do, not one.

Your body and your quality of life in a few years will thank you.

[Bienvenuto]

Delete dupe.

[captainmack]

I get PRP Shots in my left knee every 6 months due to a old injury. They cost about $300 a shot and insurance won’t cover them but trust me they are worth every penny. Also if you have one where you live I do cryotherapy about once a week and that helps too.

[monsquid]

Thanks for inputs. I'm going to get the specialist to take a look at my knee. The MRI is going to cost a pretty penny even with insurance and I don't know what it would be if surgery is recommended. I understand that orthopedic surgeons are more likely to recommend surgery because it's more money for them. So I'm going to take the word with a grain of salt. Obviously if there are any options where you don't have to go under the knife or arthroscope, the better it is.

[ShapeShifter]

I had a similar situation some years back with my knee. I ended up going to an ortho surgeon and getting an MRI for my situation, which fortunately did not require surgery and got better with light rehab and time. You will have to get an MRI or at least a CT scan to see if there is any real damage in there to the soft tissue, an x-ray isn't going to a show you much. Meniscus would be my guess but you can't really rule everything out, it could be another ligament besides the ACL or MCL. It also could just be lingering inflammation from the original injury but seems less likely at this point. Good luck.

[Steelex]

Look pretty much unless these things require surgery to reattach pieces of tissue to where they go, it's a matter of rehabbing that knee to a point where the damaged tissue remodels.

It's not going to remodel back to full capacity unless you gradually train it back to where it was. This is a really long process, tendons heal very slowly due to lack of blood supply.

Also, NSAIDS help pain, but they also slow healing. Bloodflow and stimulation promote healing.

Healing this sort of thing is a day by day, active process.

[Brahman]

had a minor incident with my knee on the ski slopes in early january this year

- didn't bother with my GP, knew to go see an orthopedic surgeon immediately. We did a physical examination (some swelling, ACL was intact), an x-ray (bone bruising) and an MRI (meniscus tear). I had the option to do PT or surgery, but since the type of tear I had from the MRI wasn't going to heal itself, I choose surgery. Also, the longer you wait to have surgery, the less likely it is to heal successfully. The tear has the potential to spread or worsen if it catches.

Surgery was only 40 min. During arthroscopy, the surgeon discovered that I tore my meniscus completely through (MRI didn't show this but the scope video did) - so I am glad I had he surgery. Aside from stitching the meniscus back together, they also did a PRP injection and stem cells to help with the meniscus repair. I'm on crutches now and have to wear a knee brace for quite some time. Won't be able to do most sports for at least 6 months, but the trade-off is avoiding early arthritis and knee replacement.

[Rocha]

11 years ago I had a torn ACL and a meniscus tear from a football (soccer) tackle from behind. I was a broken student back then and went trough all the Portuguese NHS to get a magnetic ressonance imaging, just this lasted for almost a year. Then due to some luck of finding a connection inside an NHS Hospital with good orthopedy specialists, I managed not only to convince the NHS to operate me - is a non life treatening injury, that the injured is able to live a "normal" life -, but also skipped the queue to it, and after couple of months the procedure got done.

It was hard and painful...when I got up of the bed for the first time after surgery I fainted. After couple months with crutches I started physio for another couple months. Then went back to normal life. I stopped doing sports for some years, and gained a lot of weight, I looked much older than what I look now 10 years after...all my fault nonetheless. But the knee healed and I never had any issues with it, whether at BJJ, Kickboxing or gym. I never played football again though from a personal choice.