Help torn ligaments, in leg brace...can i drive, How long recovery..

[Starwindmidastouch]

Hi all,

About 3 weeks ago i was jumping my horse and he knocked the pole, tripped up, did a sumersault, I went over the top, and he landed on top of me...

Thankfully we are both OK, however i have 2 torn ligaments in my left knee, I'm in a leg Brace and need to get swelling down before surgery...eventually..

I am going out of my mind with boredom, I can't drive or get to my Horse without a lift from someone else at the yard..which i am so greatfull for.

I'm wondering if anyone else has been in this situation, what they did to still
get to yard, how long the recovery was etc etc.

Did you Drive? Did you have an automatic and did it affect your insurance??

Apparently i've torn ACL and MCL...

 

[Jesstickle]

Yes I drove. I couldn't walk, was on crutches, but I still drove my car. I asked my consultant and he said if I could do an emergency stop then I was probably ok to drive and as it was my left knee I did That was after my first surgery. The first three weeks I probably didn't drive, but between first and second surgery I definitely did.

Was bloody uncomfortable but I didn't kill anyone. I was on crutches for three months so I'd have been screwed if I couldn't drive

ETS: I did exactly what you did and smashed everything up in there. First op was to take out massive lump of cartilage off my thigh bone which was floating in there and pull my leg straight as it had 'locked' itself at a funny angle. Second op was to actually replace the ligaments

Hope you mend well

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

Hi Jesstickle, Thanks..Did you have an automatic? feel like i could drive but not sure in terms of insurance cover.... soooo bored

 

[cambrica]

My mum had bakers cysts removed from her knee recently and cartilage work done. Physio and doctor both said fine to drive when she can do an emergency stop.

 

[Jesstickle]

Nope, I had an ancient Fiat with the evilist clutch in the world and I managed. I would ring your insurers. Mine weren't particularly interested tbh. They just said if my surgeon was OK about it then they were Don't know if that is normal though!! All they cared about was the emergency stop

It's rubbish isn't it? I did mine working with horses so I couldn't even work the whole time. I just had to sit on the sofa and watch films. Sounds great but it wears thin pretty quickly. As I'm sure you've discovered!

 

[Dusty85]

Im a doctor, and personally Im not sure why your doctors have said you are fine to drive! I dont think an insurance company would touch you if you tried to claim after having an accident! I mean come on- its hardly like they need to excuse not to pay out.

Personally I would ring your insurance company to ask them- but dont expect the answer to be a positive one.

 

[Jesstickle]

Im a doctor, and personally Im not sure why your doctors have said you are fine to drive! I dont think an insurance company would touch you if you tried to claim after having an accident! I mean come on- its hardly like they need to excuse not to pay out.

Personally I would ring your insurance company to ask them- but dont expect the answer to be a positive one.

I expect because they have been asked a million times before (being consultants specialising in knee reconstruction) and know that the insurance company are going to say 'emergency stop'. My consultant said pretty much everyone asks the same question so I can only assume he has had plenty of feedback on what the insurers say...

 

[billylula]

You will find driving difficult and you may not be covered. I did the same thing (tore ACL) a few years ago and I could drive but long distances were painful. The left knee is the worst as you need it to do an emergency stop.

If you have an automatic it may be different.

I had mine mended surgically and it took 10 weeks before I could drive.

Glad I had it done though as I tried to live with it unmended and it was horrible, used to collapse on me the whole time.

It's a long and slow road to recovery. I feel for you.

 

[billylula]

You certainly CANNOT drive after the recon, 6 weeks is recommended and I had one of the best knee bods in the business!

 

[Jesstickle]

You certainly CANNOT drive after the recon, 6 weeks is recommended and I had one of the best knee bods in the business!

You certainly CAN Whether or not you should is another matter I suppose.

And you don't need your left foot to emergency stop I definitely don't use my left foot to brake. If you do you are doing it wrong!!

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

One of the consultants I saw badically said if I had automatic I could (I don't) but wanted to check what you guys thought. And yes it is my left leg so emergency stop would be fine..

 

[billylula]

no sorry you dont need your left leg to emergency stop, but you do use it a lot when driving a manual (constantly changing gear). You can drive with a torn ACL - lots of people never bother to get theirs fixed! - but not after surgery for a good while depending on your recovery and they recommed 6 weeks.

 

[Jesstickle]

Could you hire an auto or swap with someone you know for a bit? Then you really could drive perfectly legally as people with one leg can legally drive automatics

 

[billylula]

I had to stay in bed with it raised for a week after surgery for a start and just hobble around to the loo. It was quite relaxing actually

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

Trouble is I have a company car... Have asked them if I can get automatic... Fingers crossed. Thanks for feedback x

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

I'm at stage where waiting for swelling to go down and getting more and more movement. I don't kneed crutches at moment but keep leg brace on to stop me twisting it and going wobbly.. They say surgery will be in about 5 or 6 weeks, I have private medical care so maybe quicker. Or course I wouldn't dream of trying to drive if it was so bad I couldn't even walk.

 

[Jesstickle]

If you have a company car OP you'll be grand. I bet if they want you back to work they will be pretty darn quick about getting you something you can drive.

It isn't that bad and you get really cool scars from the op. Mine hurt for about two days and apart from that it was all gravy. And people kept buying me biscuits. And making me cups of tea. Perfect

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

Lol... I just want to see me pony... Sod the work....

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Trouble is I have a company car... Have asked them if I can get automatic... Fingers crossed. Thanks for feedback x

That could be considered a 'reasonable adjustment' to help you get back to work. But I can't see them giving you a different car just so that you can get to the yard while off sick.

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

No but I can get to yard before and after work again...

 

[billylula]

companies aren't made of money despite what everyone seems to think so I can't imagine they will buy you a new car, more like pay a taxi or organise a lift for you!

 

[Jesstickle]

companies aren't made of money despite what everyone seems to think so I can't imagine they will buy you a new car, more like pay a taxi or organise a lift for you!

My word you are a negative nancy aren't you?! Poor OP is probably looking to be cheered up and all you can do is tell her how horrible it is, how she can't drive, how her company won't sort her a different car. Blimey. Maybe she will be lucky and they will, maybe it won't be a particularly unpleasant recovery.

Most company cars aren't owned by the company, they are leased. So there is always potential to amend the lease if something comes up. Possibly it will cost the company some money but it isn't usually a case of buying a whole new car!

 

[billylula]

Whoops! Sorry. On the positive side I did say that I was grateful that I had mine repaired AND that you can drive while you are waiting for the op. But its just realistic to realise that you cannot drive while you are recovering from the surgery. And our company wouldn't change a company car to an automatic for a 6 week period - if you work for a smallish or medium sized business it isn't necessarily negative - just realistic - to consider the possibility that this might not happen. Of course if they are doing very well and they really need you they might organize a taxi or lifts as I said - that's positive isnt it?

I think I also mentioned being able to relax for a week with your leg up

 

[LovesCobs]

I run a small business, we dont do company cars, but I would want one of my staff (I need them all!) back in ASAP I'd look at hiring a small auto and coming to some agreement with whoever it was (signed etc) it would be worth it for me

 

[billylula]

I think you'd find insurance would be an issue though...sorry I know, negative again

 

[Jesstickle]

Come here billy I'm going to smack your behind

Lovescobs that is really good to know. I can imagine my company doing something similar actually if it was a choice between losing one of us for six weeks or hiring us an auto. Assuming they could do it without it being a huge headache.

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

Hi all. I can work from home but as an account manager I need to visit my accounts on a weekly basis. To be honest if work do not want me to be mobile I will take that, work from home and get my own little run around for yard etc. they don't have an automatic in pool car at moment but another sales person had an automatic which she got by default as it was spare so we could do a swap for a few months...thanks jesstickle I am soooo fed up x

 

[Chottsy]

I tore my ACL completely in November and had a grade 2 sprain of MCL but was lucky enough not to tear that one. I also had a bit of cartilidge damage which wasnt seen in the scan and only found and fixed during surgery

I didnt drive for about 2 weeks after surgery and mine was my right knee, so brake foot. I felt confident enough after 2 weeks and tried hitting the brake hard to see how I reacted, and my knee felt fine.

However you may not be the same as I could walk almost normally without crutches within 10 days. and could bend my knee to past 90 degrees and straighten it too. My surgeon was shocked how good it was after only 10 days. So my knee healed very quickly afterwards. The progress has slowed now I am 2 months down the line but it is still a few weeks ahead of where it could be. I was lucky to have a surgeon who is considered quite possibly the best in london, he does footballers etc, (lucky to have private healthcare) so I think this helped.

I was never put in a brace at any point. I damaged mine at a ski competition in Edinburgh, and had to get back to the hostel and up the stairs that evening, and back down and to the coach for the journey home the next day. So initial swelling was helped because I moved so much. When I had my op 2 months later swelling had pretty much gone. My friend in a brace had to wait 3 months because the swelling hadn't gone down enough.

After the op I suggest trying to do as much as you can for yourself, within reason. I hate people having to look after me, about 2 hours from when I came round from anaesthetic I got up from the chair to xray machine. and when I got to my room I got myself to the toilet. I didnt have crutches at this point, but I figured that it couldn't be more painful than when I First did it.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me! I now feel like a knee guru

HOpe you aren't in too much pain!

 

[Starwindmidastouch]

Thanks chottsy you sound as determined as me. Bad luck that you had to put up with it for a few days before you saw the doc though. I have private healthcare and luckily will be seeing one of the best orthopaedic surgeons in my area.. So that's a relief.. I want to get going ASAP and all this sitting around is doing my head in....lol

 

[Chottsy]

Yeah my surgeon said positive outlook and wanting to do stuff for yourself with help, again within reason. I went home (from uni) for the week after my op so could be looked after if needs be. From the day after op, when i got home, I was getting myself drinks from the kitchen, going up the stairs to the loo and showered as I felt icky! The first time I showered I wore a bikini in case I couldn't get out of the bathtub and could be rescued by my mum, but managed fine!

I was bending my knee to see how far I could bend it all the time, and in between was resting it straight, so it "hung" straight. Thats important if you are having a hamstring graft so that it doesn't heal tighter!

A good surgeon makes a difference and mine was lovely as well! Came to see me once before Op and twice after to make sure I was okay.

The most painful thing tbh was the nurse putting a tubigrip on and she was yanking my leg about!

Laugh at the things you can't do and be happy to do stuff for yourself. I found it hilarious that I couldn't put my sock or shoe on my right foot! My dad had to do it for me, and it has been about 15 years since he would have had to do anything like that.

You seem positive and determined! Sure you will do well, be prepared for it to ache though, and be sore if you tweak it. You will never appreciate how much you twist and jolt your knee until you hurt it! It's a very clever joint!