Knee reconstruction

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MrNatural

MrNatural

Club Legend
Veteran
Oct 9, 2007
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Melbourne
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So ive damaged my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) :(

I am currently in the process of getting the MRI scan done and about to see the specialist.

I'm curious to hear from those of you who have had knee reco's.
How many of you returned to footy? and if so how long till you were confident in the knee?
Did you ever re-injure it?

Id also like to know if the new LARS surgery is available to the general public, or is it just confined to elite sportsmen? And if so, is it worth it to have it done?

Of course the specialist is the person id like to ask these questions, but id like to get a bit of a heads up from anyone on here first.
 
i would think the LARS surgery would be an outlandinsh cost to the general public, you've got to have the right sort of tear for it though and you still need to rehab just as hard
 

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captain_crab said:
Unlucky is the first thing i can say..
secondly, i've just had my 3rd knee reco, with this being the 2nd on my right knee.. Go the LARS is my advice.. If you have private health cover anyway.. cos the cost is in excess of $10000, but i payed $200 excess + the cost of the anaethesist. And that was it..

With Lars i was weightbearing that night.. With the traditional method, your knee is in a brace and you cant walk for 6 weeks. I was back playing AFL after 7 months with traditional, but then did my left knee. The only reason i got back quicker was cos i did alot of cricket wicketkeeping.. do as many squats as you can..

With the LARS. im hoping to make it back for the Semi-Final then Grandfinal.. which will be 14 weeks after surgery..
Click to expand...


I do have private health so thats an advantage

But how many surgeons actually do the LARS at the moment?
 
MrNatural said:
So ive damaged my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) :(

I am currently in the process of getting the MRI scan done and about to see the specialist.

I'm curious to hear from those of you who have had knee reco's.
How many of you returned to footy? and if so how long till you were confident in the knee?
Did you ever re-injure it?

Id also like to know if the new LARS surgery is available to the general public, or is it just confined to elite sportsmen? And if so, is it worth it to have it done?

Of course the specialist is the person id like to ask these questions, but id like to get a bit of a heads up from anyone on here first.
Click to expand...

I had a knee reco in 2007 but got the surgery done the conventianal way. The key is to get yourself a good surgeon and the most important thing is to do the rehab properly after the operation to give yourself the best chance of a proper recovery.You can virtually start running about 3-4 weeks after surgery but only in straight lines but your surgeon will advise you to see a physio regularly at least twice a week for the 1st 4-5 months who will help you during the rehab process. He should also give you a program of strenghthening execises to do at home in your own time to aid the recovery. I didnt feel my knee get back to full strength until a good year after the surgery but never played again as i was 35 at the time and thought it was a good time to give it away anyway
 
captain_crab said:
Majority of them do it now.. and wont even consider doing the traditional method, unless your knee has too much damage to it, that the LARS isnt suitable to do.
Click to expand...

That's not true, there is still more tradional reco's being done than LARS.
 
captain_crab said:
Unlucky is the first thing i can say..
secondly, i've just had my 3rd knee reco, with this being the 2nd on my right knee.. Go the LARS is my advice.. If you have private health cover anyway.. cos the cost is in excess of $10000, but i payed $200 excess + the cost of the anaethesist. And that was it..

With Lars i was weightbearing that night.. With the traditional method, your knee is in a brace and you cant walk for 6 weeks. I was back playing AFL after 7 months with traditional, but then did my left knee. The only reason i got back quicker was cos i did alot of cricket wicketkeeping.. do as many squats as you can..

With the LARS. im hoping to make it back for the Semi-Final then Grandfinal.. which will be 14 weeks after surgery..
Click to expand...

I had the traditional ACL op 7 months ago and this was not my experience - the docs got me weight bearing the night of the op. I was off crutches in two weeks and I went on a two day trek up Mount Kinabalu (4,100m) 9 weeks after the op.

My surgeon told me that it takes 9 months for the new 'ligament' to toughen up enough to withstand the sideways movements in footy/basketball. I guess it is different for everyone though - I think 7 months is very quick.

LARS wasnt offered as an option for me. Arnt you better off going with the tried and tested approach, instead of the new one, which seems to have worked in the short term but hasnt had much of an opportunity to be tested long term?
 
LOL.

I'd suggest two things: do it yourself on the kitchen table, make sure you sharpen mum's knives and check that there's heaps of staples in the stapler;
and
don't ask for ridiculous advice on the interwebs.
 
I'm in a similar boat. I tore my ACL 3-4 years ago now, and i tore it again (doing light cricket training, slow jog then bowling. It went again as i landed) 6 months after having the operation (hamstring graft). I decided to hold off getting it fixed for a while, i have been pain free, occasionally my knee sort of clicks out, i give it a shake and its back in and right to go, but things arent the same.

I have just booked in to see a LARS surgeon mid August, this one in particular has been using the LARS method for 15 months, and would do this procedure around 3-4 times a week. All patients he has had so far have been extremley happy with the result.

Thought id give it a crack as im after a quick recovery time and an adventual return to cricket, possibly football.

Anyway, good luck with everything :) Ill drop back in here when i find out more about the LARS option and how it all goes etc.
 
Good luck with whatever path you take. I had a knee reco 5 years ago and it has been really good ever since. I was a bit slack with the rehab so it took me a bit longer to get back and a bit longer again to get confidence back but I eventually did go back to playing footy and basketball. If you do get the traditional method make sure you rehab the hamstring as much as the knee. While me knee is great my hamstring is really weak. Surprisingly i've never injured it but I can't leg curl a great deal of weight due to not taking the rehab that seriously.
 
Hi All,
I am a 40yr old male who recently ruptured his ACL for a 3rd time (God damn you Aussie Rules) so I have used both my hamstring tendons and a Patella tendon already. I am not keen to have a patella knee reconstruction (again) due to the slow recovery, the pain post op and the "after effects" I am still suffering from the first one. So it looks like my choice is limited to LARS or LARS!

I am interested in reading about anyone's personal experience with LARS reconstructions and what you think the failure rate would be for someone who has retired from all sports? Do you think the fact that I am 40 and not actively playing sports anymore will increase my chances of no failures down the track?

Looks forward to all replies.

PS - Here is a great site with LARS info:
http://www.thesportsphysiotherapist.com/acl-reconstruction-with-the-lars-ligament/
 
Hey Richo75,

I had a LARS ACL reconstruction September 28 last year, im 23 and i already had the hamstring reco in 2005 but re tore that 6 months later but i left it for a few years before deciding to get it re done.

I know everyone is different but my recovery comparison is as follows:

Traditional:
was walking with crutches around 3 week mark
walking without crutches around 6-8 weeks
Was doing physio 3 times a week as well as 1 Hydro session, regained full range of movement after around 12 -14 weeks.
Was allowed to start lightly jogging at around 20 weeks

LARS:
Walked out of hospital the following day with the aid of crutches
Walking without crutches 2.5 weeks
Physio 2 times a week, no Hydro, regained full range of movement after around 6-8 weeks
Played my first cricket match 14 weeks post op with no pain or restrictions. (Was told not to bowl though until the leg muscles built up a bit more)
Started joining in football preseaon training (i coach so it was limited participation but it is at Under 16's level so its a decent intensity) at around 20 weeks.

Have joined in a local soccers club pre season training (started a few weeks ago), and I have played a basketball game last week all with no pain or restrictions.

So from my experience i think the LARS has a lot of good benefits, reduced pain and swelling and increased recovery time.

People who dismiss LARS because of what has happened with Rodan and Malcheski (sp?) need to take into consideration that those guys are training at the elite level almost 6-7 days a week. The amount of force they exert is going to be far greater than what most of us would exert.

I think the most important thing to gain a speedy recovery is to get good range of movement before the surgery. because i had left mine for a few years, i was still playing cricket but with a knee brace on so my movement and muscle strength was pretty good.

If you have any questions fire away :)
 

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I had a reco in 2007, injured it very innocuously playing footy (slipped changing direction with no-one near me), had the Hamstring graft standard reconstruction, returned to footy the following year, still get uncomfortable pain and suffered ITB (some inflamation around the band that connects the hip & knee) which was related to the initial knne injury, but I've never felt nervous or that it is going to snap, feels very strong and I'm sure you will find out that your other knee will feel the more 'loose' one once you get the bad knee strong.
 
Thanks for the feedback guys!

Especially Michaels - Great info mate!

Seeing I have used all my other ligaments I really don't have many choices but the info on the LARS surgery was great.

Can you give me the difference in the pain post op for each?
 
Do you actually need a reco?
If the knee is giving way or hindering everyday life then probably yes, but if your managing ok and have no plans to get back to sport I would try 6-10 weeks of rehab and if the knee is functioning well then not worry.
 
In terms of post op pain the hamstring operation was far worse. I was using the pain killer button every 5-10 minutes (basically whenever it wasnt locked out) as any slight movement hurt a fair bit. The swelling was also much bigger for longer. Once i was back at home i was on 3 different types of pain killers on a rotation basis for around 2.5 weeks. I was only able to sleep in a recliner chair for around 2 weeks as i just physically couldnt sleep with my leg moving slightly during the night.

LARS still had slight pain, but i was taking just standard pain killers for it every couple of hours. It wasnt too bad. Swelling was still present but went down at a good pace. Once home i was on Endone and tramadol (two fairly strong pain killers) but i wasnt taking them often at all. i stopped taking these pain killers at around 1 week and moved back to panadol. I was able to sleep in my bed straight away which was fantastic. (All of this is obviously a case by case thing though)


The only thing you will probably end up with is a biggesh buldge on the front of your leg from exessive scar tissue building up from having two operations in the same spot.

This does go down in time, but it needs to be worked on. i was told to massage bio oil (can be purchased from the local chemist) into it morning and night as it helps break it down.

I also found that as soon as i was on a exercise bike or jogging, the lump went away a lot quicker.

If you want to read more about post op recoverys from every day people, type in 'Knee Guru' into google, and there is a link that takes you to a forum where people post their post op stories and give regular updates etc. There is a number of LARS patients on there and from what i read, none of them had any bad experiences (i didnt read every persons thread though)
 
In terms of 'post op pain', this is what knocked me around alot and remains the real bad memory of a knee reconstruction. Despite the assurances from doctors & surgeons I would walking the next day, I was virtually couch-ridden for 2 weeks, very difficult to get around and I had terrible feeling of general leg soreness in my thigh for 2 weeks, it was borderline excruciating. If the LARS surgery reduces this pain, I would seriously consider it.

How long ago did you do your knee? Because I had a 3-month gap in between the injury & and the surgery, and in that time, the knee feels quite good, so the 'post op pain' associated with the Reco can really knock you around because you think just last week before the surgery I felt fine.

Again, this is just my experiences and everyone might be different, but my experiences are certainly along the lines of Michaels in regards to the 'Hamstring' surgery.
 
Gumbo said:
Do you actually need a reco?
If the knee is giving way or hindering everyday life then probably yes, but if your managing ok and have no plans to get back to sport I would try 6-10 weeks of rehab and if the knee is functioning well then not worry.
Click to expand...

Good point mate but I am in a job that sees me occasionally out bush so I need the stability a ACL gives.

Thanks for all the info guys it has been great to get all the different feedback.

For your info my Patella Knee Recon was VERY painful and similar to Michaels Post Op pain. The two hamstring ones were MUCH less painful until I retore the spot where they took the graft from the hamstring slightly and then it was excruciating pain everytime I moved my leg!

I was off the pain killers after the first few nights as I had oxicodine (morphine tablets) and they whacked me out pretty bad (lol)

It looks like I will have 8 weeks from my "clean out" until my LARS knee recon so I hope to get full range of movement back and strengthen the muscles before I go under the knife again. The 8 week break was my idea for a couple of reasons.......work, a holiday I have planned and to get fit before I go under the knife.
 
meh said:
In terms of 'post op pain', this is what knocked me around alot and remains the real bad memory of a knee reconstruction. Despite the assurances from doctors & surgeons I would walking the next day, I was virtually couch-ridden for 2 weeks, very difficult to get around and I had terrible feeling of general leg soreness in my thigh for 2 weeks, it was borderline excruciating. If the LARS surgery reduces this pain, I would seriously consider it.
Click to expand...

Ridiculous that they told you, you would be walking the next day. I had the patella graft reconstruction and didn't walk much further then the toilet for around a week. I didn't find the pain to bad, but got sick from the meds and was vomiting a bit. Sleeping with the huge brace was difficult to. Freaked me a bit when my lower leg turned yellow to :) Played footy after a year though and haven't felt pain during games at all. After games I hobble around for a day or so (more to do with the cartliage damage then ACL) but during games it is fine. Having said that I am definitely slower and my leap is terrible
 

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