Help With the Knee

About 2 1/2 years ago I severely injured my left knee in a football game. I tore my ACL, MCL, and PCL. I had surgery to re-atatch my ACL but due to the canadian health care system I had to wait for just over a year for the surgery. During the wait I brought my leg strength back up to about 70% of what it was and my MCL and PCL healed naturally. Then I had surgery and it was pretty much the same story. Well, here I am now completely healed, much stronger and my left leg is only about half an inch smaller than my right. My question is; I have the opportunity once again to play for a team that will get me seen and hopefully pay for school and I would just like some input on what to do to get my knee prepared for football again. I have roughly four months untill conditioning begins and 7 months untill the season begins. I play middle linebacker if it is of any help. Thanks in advance for any positive input.

-Jon

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Originally Posted by JonClark

About 2 1/2 years ago I severely injured my left knee in a football game. I tore my ACL, MCL, and PCL. I had surgery to re-atatch my ACL but due to the canadian health care system I had to wait for just over a year for the surgery. During the wait I brought my leg strength back up to about 70% of what it was and my MCL and PCL healed naturally. Then I had surgery and it was pretty much the same story. Well, here I am now completely healed, much stronger and my left leg is only about half an inch smaller than my right. My question is; I have the opportunity once again to play for a team that will get me seen and hopefully pay for school and I would just like some input on what to do to get my knee prepared for football again. I have roughly four months untill conditioning begins and 7 months untill the season begins. I play middle linebacker if it is of any help. Thanks in advance for any positive input.

-Jon

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sounds like what you are doing is working! keep it up. leg extension and curls i think are the 2 best knee rehab exercises. also the use of a wobble board with various movments for proprioception and balance will also help alot. dont forget about leg adduction and abduction exercises, as well as plymoetrics!!these will help so much with the knee and you game. not just in the vertical plane, make sure you also do lateral movements and bounding. also, dragging a weighted sled for 40yd dashes will be useful or th horizontal plane and help increase overall stength. try walking lunges, 2- 3set for 30- 40 ft. and some cardio on a bike would be helpful for some endurance work.
keep the reps btwn 8- 12.

I agree with Dr S----keeping your quads strong will be key! Also, try getting a knee brace made that's custom-fitted for you....it will really help to keep it protected! Wouldnt be a bad idea for you to get one for the opposite leg too!

Thanks for the replies. I'll definetly give what you said a try. As far as the custom fitted knee brace, I'm trying to see if I can do with out because it's gonna cost me about $1200 but I'm thinking it could be the best thing. Anyway, thanks again you guys.


-Jon

Hey jon, just be careful though. I also tore my acl and mcl...about 6 months ago for me. PT said to go very slow on exercises like extensions and curls..he didnt say not to do them (well he did until a certain time), just start light because of all the stress that puts on your knee as the pivot point and no support. stretch and move your knee every day, not just lifting. good luck!

There is an injection you can get that will supplement the synovial fluid that your knee already produces. It remains effective for six months and decreases friction more than your body can by natural means.

I can't remember the name of the injection..

try taking some glucosomine. it will really help your joint strength and longterm joint health. After i had surgery on each knee, i did a lot of work with bands when i got back into the lower body training. The low impact, steady resistance of the bands worked really well.

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Originally Posted by redmango

try taking some glucosomine. it will really help your joint strength and longterm joint health. After i had surgery on each knee, i did a lot of work with bands when i got back into the lower body training. The low impact, steady resistance of the bands worked really well.

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also good advice! as far as the synovial fluid injection, that is out of my realm, you aren't thinking of cortisone are you?

i think he's referring to synvisc...and it's great for people who are at the point of needing knee replacements due to osteoarthritis...basically is a man-made-hyaluronan (secreted by cells in the cartilage of joints and is one of the major molecular components of joint fluid, giving it the viscoius quality that allows for the cartilage surfaces of joints to glide in a smooth fashion). For osteoarthritis, the studies show that synvisc decreases pain and extends the amount of time till patients need knee replacements....but other studies show no benefit....and to top it off, it's usually $500 for a series of 3 shots!!! And that's the cost WITH insurance!

BUT---> for help after acl/mcl tears, or any injury of the knee....it's NOT recommended! Basically, just helps with osteoarthritis....which luckily, you don't have :)

I agree, try the glucosamine/chondroitin. Also, I doubt if you'd harm yourself by doing leg extensions to strengthen your quads. We tell patients when they have had surgery to definately do them in order to help them rehab...granted, it's not your specific case...but it's a common thing to do after your type of injury. Now, don't use weight at first. Just sit on the side of a bed and extend your leg up to parallel with the floor and hold for a count of 10; then rpeat. Or, do them while laying on your back. Good luck!
And NMS---you've got some GREAT advice...what's your link to the medical field? You've got Dr Sust and I intrigued :)

so the jury is out on synvisc. for djd or oa, have you personaly seen good results?

i've seen good results, personally. but, only for djd or oa. Usually, the ortho guys at the veterans hospital use it a LOT! Their patients' knees are full of arthritic change after years of hard work....and they basically need knee replacements. But, we know that knee replacements are hard recoveries, and don't last forever. I've seen results as far as decreased pain, increased rom and they've been able to put off needing replacements for up to 5 years. But, others, it doesnt seem to do a bit of good with. For my private patients, I've also seen a good amount of help....but it takes about a month to get insurance to cover it :) gotta love it!

i will have to keep in that mind , thanks for the knowledege. and yep all insurance sux!!

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Originally Posted by liftergirl

i think he's referring to synvisc...and it's great for people who are at the point of needing knee replacements due to osteoarthritis...basically is a man-made-hyaluronan (secreted by cells in the cartilage of joints and is one of the major molecular components of joint fluid, giving it the viscoius quality that allows for the cartilage surfaces of joints to glide in a smooth fashion). For osteoarthritis, the studies show that synvisc decreases pain and extends the amount of time till patients need knee replacements....but other studies show no benefit....and to top it off, it's usually $500 for a series of 3 shots!!! And that's the cost WITH insurance!

BUT---> for help after acl/mcl tears, or any injury of the knee....it's NOT recommended! Basically, just helps with osteoarthritis....which luckily, you don't have :)

I agree, try the glucosamine/chondroitin. Also, I doubt if you'd harm yourself by doing leg extensions to strengthen your quads. We tell patients when they have had surgery to definately do them in order to help them rehab...granted, it's not your specific case...but it's a common thing to do after your type of injury. Now, don't use weight at first. Just sit on the side of a bed and extend your leg up to parallel with the floor and hold for a count of 10; then rpeat. Or, do them while laying on your back. Good luck!
And NMS---you've got some GREAT advice...what's your link to the medical field? You've got Dr Sust and I intrigued :)

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Thanks again for the advice. I think you may have misunderstood me though. My knee is in pretty good shape right now. I'm sqautting 405 and leg pressing around 800 without any knee pain. But I don't go too heavy on leg extensions because that is the one exercise that does give my knee pain. usually use it as a superset with front sqauts, slow and controlled holding at the top for 1-2 seconds. Anyway, thanks again for all the advice. I'm gonna pick up some glucosamine/chondroitinwith my next pay cheque.

-Jon

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Originally Posted by JonClark

Thanks again for the advice. I think you may have misunderstood me though. My knee is in pretty good shape right now. I'm sqautting 405 and leg pressing around 800 without any knee pain. But I don't go too heavy on leg extensions because that is the one exercise that does give my knee pain. usually use it as a superset with front sqauts, slow and controlled holding at the top for 1-2 seconds. Anyway, thanks again for all the advice. I'm gonna pick up some glucosamine/chondroitinwith my next pay cheque.

-Jon

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Great! You should be able to find the glucosamine/chondroitin for a pretty reasonable price!