I’m not exactly an amputee but I like to think that my shower experience today was akin to that of the former. Thanks to my now repaired meniscus, I cannot put any weight on my right leg for another five weeks, which has sentenced me to crutches for that period. To make matters worse, I am forced to wear a Zimmer splint (Named appropriately after Hans Zimmer of course) over my right knee and I cannot get it wet.
Thus, after a four days of not showering, this morning I resorted to garbage bags and duct tape in a Red Green Show attempt (the hyperlink is for foreigners) at isolating my poor knee from the elements. The pitiful results are displayed in the photo below. Aside from the white duct tape (who buys white duct tape?), Red would have been proud.
In serious need of a cleanse.
So I swung my way over to the shower, and somehow made it into the tub balancing on my good leg. What followed was roughly five minutes of balancing on my left leg aided by the wall of course. Unfortunately, I was unable to exit the tub but thankfully my mother was there to brace me as I hoped over the side of the tub.
As I removed the plastic bags and duct tape, it was clear that some leakage had occurred, as it did not hurt to tear off the tape. Luckily, only a little bit of moisture got on the splint. So to anyone that wants to try this method, I recommend using a high quality duct tape and thicker garbage bags. I have tried this method previously with higher end accessories and it worked much better.
My current set up with my pants down. The Cryo/Cuff IC unit is hooked up to my knee.
When I went for my pre-operation appointment, I asked the physiotherapist if it was worth investing in a cryo-cuff unit. She told me that I could but she didn’t see a big difference between such a unit and an ice packs or bags of peas. But then my father ran into a colleague, who had gotten an ACL reconstruction three weeks earlier, and she raved about it. So the decision was made to purchase one. In fact, when I mentioned that I had acquired a cryo-cuff to my surgeon post-operation in the recovery room, he said that I should have brought it with me and he could have put it on my knee post-surgery, which would have made it easier to ice.
While there seems to be several manufactures of such units such as Breg, and Gameready, the Aircast product (manufactured by the same group, DJO, that makes Donjoy braces) was the easiest and quickest to order prior to my surgery. A notable difference between the Aircast model and the Breg and Gameready models is that the later models recirculate cold water continuously through a network of tubing, while the Aircast pumps it in and out through the same tube. The Gameready model has a sophisticated control system in place, hence it’s cost (over $500 from US Amazon), while the Breg seems to be more in the mold of the Aircast. While the Breg and Aircast models seem to be geared more for the average consumer, the Gameready system looks like something that you would see in a nice physiotherapy clinic or in a pro or NCAA college team’s treatment room. You can still rent such a system but it is expensive.
I should note that there is at least one study out there that links cryo cuff use to decreased narcotics use when compared to simple cooling options such as cold compresses. This makes sense, as with lower levels of swelling, the patient’s pain is reduced and the need for narcotics vanishes.
What came in the box
A knee cuff with two large Velcro straps
An insulated tube
A cylindrical cooler (very similar to a Gatorade sideline one but smaller)
The cooler lid with a built in pump
A piece of insulating material to put within the cooler
An AC adapter
Price
Perhaps the biggest deterrent to getting one of these units is that they are not cheap. While the Gameready and Breg systems, which seems to have more bells and whistles, are certainly more expensive, the simple Aircast device is not inexpensive. In Canada, OrthoCanada has it listed for $265.00, which is certainly pricey. My father was able to get it with a professional discount for roughly $180. This did not include shipping or tax and adding these in bumped the total price was about $250.00. The price I saw listed on the US Amazon site was U$S 180, however, a friend of mine said that she got it through a family member for $120. This may be true but it may not be the same model since there is a lower end model named the Cryo/Cuff Gravity Cooler and it does not have the built-in pump.
Still, when you consider the rental cost of such a unit (somewhere in the vicinity of $30/week) and the length of a post-ACL repair rehabilitation, shelling out the cash initially for something that might greatly help your recovery and pain levels is not the worst investment you’ve made. Also, (for you Canadians) if you have an extended medical benefits plan, it may be covered substantially. I have yet to submit the receipt to my student extended benefits and while I could have checked before buying the unit, I was still going to purchase it anyways. Thus, I will update this post with further details when I get an answer after submitting a claim.
I ordered the unit from OrthoCanada and the unit was received within 3 business days. The URL for the product off their site is the following: http://www.orthocanada.com/products/3036-aircast-cryocuff-ic-genou-g.aspx.
Differences between Models
The difference between the Cryo/Cuff IC and Gravity Cooler models is that the former has a built in pump. An external pump (the Aircast AutoChill system) can be added to the Gravity Cooler model and it would then perform the same function as the IC unit. So what is the advantage of having a pump? The pump allows you to avoid having to fill the knee cuff manually.
How it works
First, you fill the cooler with water up to the line indicated, and then add ice up to the maximum level. After making sure the lid is on tightly, you attach the hose to the cuff, which should already be on your knee. Bring the cooler level with your knee and plug it in. The pump will cycle on and off, applying cold pressure to your knee and then deflating. The process is repeated indefinitely Depending on how much ice you’ve put in, Aircast claims that you can get 6-8 hours of cold therapy. I’m not completely convinced by this claim but then again, I am not using for 6 hours straight. Realistically, just by judging how the water temperature is after a few hours, you should get maybe 3-4 hours of actual cold therapy.
Results
So far the Cryo/Cuff has worked quite well for me. Initially after my surgery, it was really hard to feel the cold because my knee was wrapped in elastic wrap bands and gauze. Now that I have nothing aside from some band-aids on my knee, it is quite cold and the effects are quite nice. After a session (10 – 30 min), there is some noticeable reduction in swelling in my knee. The compression makes a big difference when compared to a simple cold therapy bag, as it really pushes the cold into the knee, which helps reduce the swelling. The unit is a bit noisy due to the pump but it is nothing that you can’t get used to.
Conclusion
It is worth getting a cryo-cuff. Considering how long the rehabilitation process is following ACL surgery, it is a good investment and can be used down the road. The Aircast Cryo/Cuff IC is certainly a good option. The performance and convenience of such a system versus ice packs and bags of peas is much superior. The compression makes a big difference. Also, you won’t need to do anything after it’s set up, which allows you to relax and ice for hours. In the week that I have used it, I have been happy to use it and will continue as I rehab or even longer. Even though it may not quite look it’s price tag, it’s a quality product and I have not seen anything lower in price.
Update Some Years later:
The product worked well for a while (a year or so after this article was written) then the pumped within the lid failed. Maybe this is due to water infiltration within the lid itself but the circuit board was inspected at my work and there was some sort of irreparable short that was heating the board up to a hot burning level. That being said, replacement lids are actually available online though I never did replace it (more on that below). Regardless of this issue, it’s still a quality product. There’s no leakage whatsoever and the materials are in tact.
Without the pump working, it is essentially the cheaper gravity version of the product. It works fine but you need to do some work by lifting and lowering it periodically. In fact, once you have the desired pressure-level, you can even detach the cuff from the hose with minimal leakage.
The device was passed on to another friend, who had his ACL done, then to my father, who used it following a meniscus procedure. It finally made it’s way back to me after I retore my repaired meniscus last March (repaired ACL held up great, thankfully!). I used it to bring the swelling down after this re-injury and, following a partial meniscectomy surgery last week.
I’ll be admit that going in for surgery for the first time was pretty terrifying. You know what they’re going to do to you. You know that you will probably not remember a single thing. You also know that it’s probably going to hurt… a lot. I’ve had other uncomfortable procedures, such as a colonoscopy, and for the most part those have gone smoothly with a minor exception so I wasn’t overly fearful but it’s still there in you no matter how hard you try.
The fact that the surgery was also elective didn’t help. I could have continued to live my life very normally in my injured state and avoided getting cut up. I, also, probably could have probably played hockey half decently with my brace with the occasional buckling. However, at the age of 25, I wasn’t about to resign on being able to play my other favourite sports, such as soccer and squash, and try out newer ones that would surely require my ligaments in functional condition (i.e. kiteboarding, etc).
Thus, I succumbed to the temptation of getting the bloody ligament and my right meniscus repaired fully knowing that it would be a very long rehabilitation process, and that I would likely be in some pain for a while and that I would likely lack mobility initially (6 weeks on crutches).
Getting the timing right was also an issue. Scheduling the procedure such that it wouldn’t severely affect my research schedule, and my teaching assistantship responsibilities at the University of Waterloo, and my work at Bombardier Aerospace in Toronto was a challenge. Luckily, the surgeon had a reasonable operating room (OR) date a couple weeks before reading week. To make matters more complicated, I opted to get the surgery done back in my home province of Quebec, where I am still legally insured because I am a graduate student in another province. Truth be told, getting the operation at home would also make things easier for me, as I can count on my parents (both physicians) to help me out initially.
Yet, it is likely an axiom, that there is never a best time to get surgery so you just have to take the plunge and hope that everything works out.
ACL Reconstructions
ACL reconstructions have gone a long way thanks to the advancement of arthroscopic surgical techniques. Although some surgeons may still opt for opening up the knee, it seems that this technique is getting outdated and now, surgeons young and old tend to use a scope. Hockey legend Bobby Orr had many knee injuries and operations over his career in the 1960 and 1970s due to his rough style of play, and it’s been often said that had he received this less invasive type of knee surgery then he may have played for several more years. Then again, he was a lot tougher than most athletes nowadays, and played injured a fair bit so had the team taken better precautions with his health, he probably would have been out more time a la Andrei Markov.
I will not go into too much detail on this type of surgery as there are many great resources. Here is a very good article on the procedure including the different types of graphs. In summary, the torn ligament is replaced by a “new” tendon that is hooked into the femur and tibia at the joint through holes. An allograph uses a cadaver’s tendon, while an autograph employs the patients own tendon. Generally, a piece of your patella (kneecap) tendon or hamstring tendon are used for the autograph. There are good reasons to use both but my surgeon uses the hamstring tendon out of preference and because removing a piece of the patella can lead to kneecap issues down the road. Below you have a nice animated video of the role of the ACL, how to injure it, and an ACL hamstring tendon reconstruction.
If you are curious about how this procedure looks in real life and through the scopes, this video is very good. [Warning: not for the faint of heart]
You can find plenty of informative videos on this type of surgery, as well as meniscus repairs, thanks to the internet. I find that when you’re watching the animated videos or those that show the scoping, it kind of takes away the human element. Still, I’m sure many of you may prefer to just read about it or maybe, not…
Preparing for the surgery
Preparations were simple. I had to attend a pre-operation clinic two weeks prior to the surgery, where my blood was drawn, I met a physiotherapist, and I spoke to a specialist in internal medicine. I was given two anti-bacterial bath sponges and told to shower with one the night before and the morning of the surgery. I was also told that I could not eat or drink anything after midnight, the night before the surgery. The physiotherapist taught me how to use crutches, and told me that I needed to buy some to bring to the hospital and that I should wear baggy pants the day of. I was also instructed that I would receive a phone call confirming the procedure and the time I needed to be at Lasalle Hospital the day before the surgery.
The day before the surgery I tracked down some crutches for my height and fitted them. Surely enough, I received the calls from the hospital was told to come in at 6:30AM! I guess they were counting on not having to put me asleep and I’m definitely not a morning person. Took the shower with the provided soap (it smelled like a hospital) and went to bed at 10PM.
Day of the Surgery
I woke up at 5;30AM from a weak sleep, having slept somewhat squeamishly in anticipation. I showered again with the hospital soap put on my sister’s super baggy Roots jogging pants that she lent me and my dad drove us over to the hospital before even the break of dawn. We arrived at Lasalle Hospital right on time. The hospital looked uninhabited and was clearly undergoing some sort of renovations with the main access was blocked by a construction area. We arrived along with several other people, mostly older women. My dad commented that they were probably there for routine ovarian cyst surgery. Another older couple arrived with crutches although it was unclear who was getting surgery. In any case, we sat down in a narrow long corridor and waited for our names to be called out by a nurse. I saw my orthopaedic surgeon poke his head into the waiting room corridor for a split second probably hoping that his patients would all show up so that he could get paid. I got the impression that he was smiling but he looked alert, which is all that matters.
After reading some news articles on my smartphone, I was finally called by the nurse. She led me down a hall by several rooms with hospital beds. A patient was sitting on his bed in a hospital gown looking moderately terrified. The nurse came to me some consent papers, which I gladly signed and asked me which leg they were doing. I made sure that she got the right one down on paper. She then put some hospital bracelets on me brought me by a bed in an empty room and asked me to put a hospital gown on and leave my valuables in a locker. I got undressed and put it on shuddering slightly at how cold it was in the hospital and waited for her to come back. Finally, she came back and made me lie in the bed under some blankets and I was carted off through the hospital to the operating room wing.
This wing was a lot more busy with nurses and doctors running around, and I was pushed through a couple rooms into a slightly bigger one with a various selection of medical equipment such as baby surgical units piled into a corner. They installed me in the far corner and I waited. Another woman came up to me and confirmed once again that I was indeed who I was and that I consented to the surgery and that yes it is on my right leg. It’s good to know that they double check these things. Then I was approached by a young anesthesiologist with dorky glasses and he obviously needed a fresh shave. He was followed by a younger looking female medical student. He introduced himself and told me that he was the nerve blocking guy and wanted to confirm that I wanted it before he did it to me. Probably recognizing my age, he was really friendly and spoke with some slang, telling the student to pass him “that gizmo” (aka the ultrasound). First he placed an IV into my left arm and then proceeded with the help of a second and also very friendly slightly older anesthesiologist to find my femoral nerve with the ultrasound, while simultaneously teaching the medical student how to do so. What followed was a very painless placing of a catheter in my upper left thigh that was attached to a network of taped tubing up my left torso. He then injected some freezing solution that caused my upper thigh down to my upper knee to go numb, as my femoral nerve was blocked. Post-surgery I was to be given a “baby bottle” that would continue to supply the blocking agent for another couple days.
I was then carted across the room and the orthopaedic surgeon came out to briefly say hi and said it would happen soon. He left and I was stranded waiting with a frozen upper thigh, while another patient was carted into the room, out from an apparent shoulder surgery. Finally, I was carted into the operating room and was told to move to the much firmer operating table. The older anesthesiologist asked me what kind of anaesthesia I wanted. The options were spinal freezing combined with sedation and, general anaesthesia (GA). He explained to me the differences, which I remember quite clearly.
The spinal freezing option would numb my lower body so I wouldn’t feel a thing during the procedure. Sedation would be provided to relax me and I wouldn’t remember a thing. It would take me longer to leave the hospital since I would have to wait longer than if I were given the GA to unfreeze but this seemed like a much better option than being knocked out entirely and he also recommended it. Having accepted this option, I was turned onto my side and a needle was injected into me and past that point I actually don’t remember a single thing about the operating room!
Post-Surgery
I came to in the previous room with a slight pain in my hamstrings with a Zimmer-splint over my bandaged knee. Aside from this, I couldn’t feel a thing in my legs. Many warm blankets were placed over me as I complained about the coldness in the room. The surgeon came out and said it went well and that because of my meniscus repair, I would have to be on crutches for six weeks. I was then carted over to the first room away from the OR section and my parents joined me.
As I lay there on the bed, conscious and conversing lucidly with my parents, my freezing began to gradually wear off and I could feel even more soft pain in my hamstring. The older anesthesiologist popped in to say hi with a disposable “baby bottle” for nerve blocking (picture below) and hooked it up to the network of tubing leading to my leg. Once again my femoral nerve fell asleep and I felt a numbness through my thigh.
The solution is gradually squeezed through the bottle through the network of tubing into my thigh.
As my lower body slowly defreezed I could start to feel a bit more of the pain. Eventually when I was unfrozen enough, a nurse came to get me discharged. To do so, I had to urinate, which I did with a lot of trouble. While this was going on, the orthopaedic surgeon came to see me again, and prescriptions for drugs (Oxycodone and stool softener) and physiotherapy were handed over along with medical notes for work, and instructions on what to do post-hospital. He recommended that I go see a physio the next week. He also handed me an appointment slip to see him in two weeks.
I changed into my clothes and was put into a wheel-chair. My mother then carted me out to my dad’s car and, I somehow got in after moving the front seat back. We left the hospital at around 3:45PM the same day and to get home we had to brave through some traffic. As I mentioned earlier, the freezing was wearing off progressively and by the time we were in traffic, I was in significant pain for about an hour and a half, which was until after we got the oxycodone from the pharmacy and they metabolized in my system. Thus, I recommend that if you can, pick up some painkillers before driving home post surgery. It also did not help that the Montreal roads were bumpy. Aside from this, the pain really wasn’t that bad, which was rather surprising considering that I just had some holes put into my bones so that a piece of my hamstring could replace a ligament.
Once home, I ate some ravioli that my father prepared me. As you can imagine, I was starved as I hadn’t eaten since the previous night. Since I was still alert, we put on the Habs-Bruins game, and then I took some more oxycodone (2 pills) around 9PM and managed to pass out at around 10PM. In the end, you could say I had a pretty busy and productive day.
So before going into the details of the surgery, I wanted to describe my injury and show some other examples in professional sports.
In terms of ACL tears, athletes who practice a sport or activity that requires a cutting motion (i.e. soccer, football, basketball, rugby, squash) are at higher risk than those that are involved in sports that rely mostly on a gliding motion, (i.e. hockey, skiing, cross-country skiing, running, and baseball), however, in any sport excessive twisting will cause hyperextension of knee ligaments and potentially serious injuries (i.e. many serious ski crashes, Montreal Canadien’s defense Andrei Markov’s second knee injury).
Furthermore, it has been shown scientifically that women are also more susceptible to ACL tears for several reasons, including smaller ligaments, under-use of their hamstrings, and greater muscle flexibility. I myself have met many girls, who have had ACL reconstructions from tears due to playing soccer. Some of these have even had multiple injuries on the same or both knees. Promising Canadian striker Kara Lang had to retire at the age of 24 due to recurring knee injuries. In fact, there are serious long term health concerns involving early osteoarthritis in women. Thus, ACL injury prevention specific training programs for female programs have been developed all across universities in North America with the aim of reducing this common and painful injury.
Still, while you may be a professional or college athlete with years of top-notch physical training, legs the size of tree trunks, and a medical staff surrounding you, you can still suffer an ACL rupture. Personally, I think it’s a combination of physique, genetics, and most importantly, bad luck. In my case, I have been told that I have rather lax ligaments, which would fall into the genetics category. When I got injured, I was probably in the best physical shape of my life, and was having a great time playing soccer and hockey. However, as I learned, all you need is a little bad luck.
My Injury
So when and how did I suffer my injury? Over a year ago, playing a friendly pick-up game of beach soccer in Mar del Plata, Argentina with my uncles, cousin, and some other beach-going youngsters . As I took a pass, I moved the ball slightly ahead of me and then lifted my left leg to take a step forward. My right leg was firmly planted and the sand underneath my foot gave under my full body weight. Unfortunately, it gave in the direction away from my body’s side and this put my knee in an unstable position, causing it to buckle thus hyper-extending my ACL. I could hear a definite pop and immediately knew something was wrong, and that I likely tore something. Within the next hour, my knee swelled up and I was left hobbling around Buenos Aires with a swollen knee under a knee compression sleeve until my return to Waterloo, ON. After icing the knee for hours and hours over days upon my return, the swelling was eventually reduced and after consulting a sports medicine doctor, who detected the instability, it was recommended that I do some physio, get an MRI, and a brace.
An MRI back home in Montreal revealed (photo above) the damage to be a high-grade ACL tear (nearly fully ruptured), along with meniscus tearing, which is common to this sort of injury. I must note that while this all may seem to be very painful, it really wasn’t. Once the swelling was reduced, I was left with some acute pain on the inside of my knee but I could still walk and bike comfortably. Luckily, the damage to my ACL and meniscus was “clean” and I hadn’t hurt my MCL or anything else very severely. Still, the implications were serious. If I wanted to ever play certain sports again (i.e. soccer), I would require a reconstruction. I consulted a top-notch orthopedic surgeon in Montreal, who specializes in these types of reconstructions, and over a full year later, he finally performed the procedure on me. While I waited to get the surgery organized, I was able to run, bike, and work out. I had a custom brace made, which I wore depending on the activity. In fact, while I was incapable of playing a sport like soccer or basketball, I was still able to do quite a bit despite the injury and most of the time, my knee wasn’t in any pain. It would still give out on occasion, which is painful, but nothing compared to the original injury and rarely was the swelling bad. This type of buckling seemed to happen most when I least expected it (dancing, walking, taking an awkward step) and probably could have been prevented with my brace. Furthermore, sometimes my damaged meniscus would click, however, the pain wouldn’t last. The laxity in my right knee joint was also quite noticeable. In short, my knee was unstable and if I wanted to play certain sports and try out new ones, I absolutely had to get the reconstruction.
Knee injuries in Pro Athletes
While most ACL reconstructions are likely performed on amateur athletes, it’s worth talking about professional athletes since there’s a lot of footage and they are after all getting paid millions to play a sport. Generally, they get their surgery within days of sustaining their injury and are expected to come back ASAP to help their teams and earn their paycheck. While people often accuse Andrei Markov’s surgeon of doing a shoddy job on his reconstruction, I would probably put the blame more on rushing him back too quickly from the first injury. Now that he’s back and healthy, he looks a lot more like the player he was. That being said, it is important that the person is 100% ready to go back to the sport.
Earlier I mentioned that athletes practicing gliding motion sports where at less risk of suffering tears. While this may be true, it still happens, as Andrei Markov would know. But conversely and rather incredibly, Montreal Canadiens defenceman Josh Gorges played on a knee with a torn ACL for over eight years. After originally injuring his knee back in junior with the Kelowna Rocket in 2002, Gorges played hundreds of games with an ACL knee brace until finally being forced to get a reconstruction after tearing his meniscus earlier in the Habs 2010-2011 season. In fact, this is probably not altogether too uncommon in hockey players since they rely much less on their ACLs to skate. Several hockey players, such as Dan Cleary during the 2012 NHL playoffs, have been known to play through knee injuries in important games and get them fixed in the off-season. While it is unclear whether Gorges or Cleary had complete or serious tears, there are certainly some hockey players who are playing with braced weakened ligaments from less serious knee injuries but you just don’t hear about them and they are certainly not advertising this to the opposition.
Enough banter on hockey players, here are some videos of pro athletes that have had bad luck with their knees. Some have come back just as good or better, and some have faded ungracefully.
Notable ACL injuries
Here I will show some pro athlete injuries from various sports. I have opted not to include Andrei Markov’s injuries because all Habs fans such as myself are sick of seeing them and they bring back unpleasant memories of two relatively bad seasons after a great conference final run.
Tom Brady (Football)
Probably the highest paid and highest profile athlete on this list when he was injured, Brady was clipped on his forward facing passing leg by a defender trying to make a sack, while he was in the pocket. This type of injury is actually very common and has prompted certain big name universities such as Stanford to force their quarterbacks to wear a preventive brace on their forward passing leg. In fact, if you check out Andrew Luck’s left knee, he’s still got one on for this very reason.
Paul Gascoigne (Soccer)
In the 1991 FA cup final, Paul Gascoigne (or Gazza as he is known) managed to blow out his own knee going in for a very dirty tackle against Nottingham Forrest. Did he get what he deserved? Probably not but what’s impressive is that Gazza actually came back strong from that injury despite being (and he still is) a complete psychopath off the pitch.
Evgeni Malkin (Hockey)
Perennial NHL all-star Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin suffered an awful knee injury in 2011 after Tyler Myers fell into his planted right leg along the boards. The force of the impact on his knee caused him to tear his ACL and MCL. After sustaining the injury, Malkin sent a text to his team’s General Manager, apologizing for getting injured. Now that’s the kind of player you want on your team. Malkin came back to dominate the NHL the next season scoring 50 goals and posting 109 points in just in just 75 games.
Adrian Peterson (Football)
Here’s one I forgot and thankfully my buddy Dan reminded me! Minnesota Viking’s Adrian Peterson is another superstar who came back to have a monster season following a reconstruction. Following his awful knee injury, where he was tackle right on his left knee with his foot firmly planted, he came back to run the ball for the second longest yards in NFL history. As the Youtube video title wrongly suggests, his career certainly isn’t over.
Alex Galchenyuk (Hockey)
Current Montreal Canadiens star rookie tore his ACL in a freak play when his skate caught a rut in the ice, while playing for the Sarnia Sting. His recovery forced him to miss nearly the entirety of the 2011-2012 season yet he was still picked #3 overall in the same draft year. Despite the concerns related to his injury, the Montreal Canadiens saw that the talented 18-year-old, once projected to compete for the #1 pick with junior teammate Nail Yakupov, came back even stronger from his serious injury and impressed everyone at the draft combine. His successful recovery proved to Habs management that he had the work ethic and desire to play in the NHL, and they were happy to select him over several top prospects.
Michael Owen (Soccer)
Another freak injury, Michael Owen was simply trying to make a pass when his knee gave out from under him at the 2006 World Cup. Once a dynamite player for England and Liverpool, he’s never quite been the same player since the injury and seems a lot more interested in horse races than playing top level soccer in England.
Derrick Rose (Basketball)
The Chicago Bulls star point guard, Derrick Rose, tore his ACL on a seemingly benign play in the dying minutes of an NBA playoff game that was already sealed. You can clearly see the knee give as he stamps down before making the pass. He is only making his comeback this month after months of recovery.
Rajon Rondo (Basketball)
Another star point guard that comes to mind is Rajon Rondo of the Boston Celtics, who tore his ACL just recently in a regular season game against the Atlanta Hawks. There is no clear instant where this occurred in the game, however, SBnation has found two plays that might have led to the injury, which suggests that he may have been playing injured (a huge no-no) prior to the first knock.
And now for probably the most gruesome knee injury I’ve seen. Willis McGahee was projected to go in the top 5 (or even #1) in the NFL draft and with his team competing for the 2003 NCAA National Title, he suffered this horrific injury (WARNING: not for the faint of heart). The Buffalo Bills gave him a chance and drafted him 23rd overall, and has had a relatively successful career in the NFL but who knows, he may have been that much better had he not suffered the knee injury.
Tiger Woods (Golf)
You think he tore it playing golf? Nope. He was running around his mansion in Florida. Also, earlier I mentioned that Tom Brady was probably the highest paid athlete on this list. Well I stick by that because tearing your ACL while jogging around your house is probably the weakest example I can find. No offense Tiger but you’re barely an athlete.
The case for good genetics, or is it just growth hormones? Leo Messi as a case study
And then you have a little guy like Leo Messi, 4-time Ballon D’Or winner and star striker for Barcelona and Argentina, who is seemingly indestructible despite the incredibly dirty knocks he’s taken over his career. If anyone was to suffer a serious knee injury it’s this guy. Check out the tackle at 0:58 for a great example of his resilience. He got right back up after that one. He is obviously very strong but what gives him that extra bit of strength in his knees? Is it the growth hormones back when he was in his teens or just amazing genetics combined with amazing fitness?
As promised, this is my first posting on the mend following my ACL reconstruction today at Lasalle Hospital in Montreal, QC. The aim of this blog is primarily to provide an account of my experience and shed some more light into this type of injury, accidents that result in it, the reconstruction procedure, and the post-surgery rehab with some informative postings. Until this morning, I have never had any type of invasive surgery so I hope that my experience may be helpful to those that may need to get a similar type of procedure or just surgery in general for the first time. I should mention that out of respect for their privacy on the internet, I will not name any of the physicians, who have attended me. However, feel free to send me a private message if you are interested in having them treat you.
While I do not intend to go into very much detail with this first post, as I woke up at 5AM this morning, I’ll start off by saying that I’m very happy that everything went well today. My orthopaedic surgeon was happy with the result. As I write this, I am understandably in some substantial pain that has been considerably reduced by the effects of oxycodone tablets and an apparatus, which is blocking by femoral nerve rather effectively. I plan to nod off after (or during) the big Habs-Bruins game tonight and will have more for you tomorrow.
Tom's Post ACL Reconstruction Rant 