Knee Injuries, surgery and riding......some questions

[Angua2]

Question.......

You are a 27 year old woman. You have always had a delicate knee. You had an accident on said knee and have had surgery on it which has helped it to a certain extent…..it still locks and cause pain on nearly a daily basis. Riding is painful if done properly. You have the option of going in for surgery to have the cartilidge sewn back and to be in full leg cast for 6 weeks non weight bearing. It is not a guaranteed success. Do you take the operation and hope or not and deal with the locking considering you want to compete again.



You have a month to make up your mind…..


Now..... my questions

a) what would you do?

b) has anyone had this and what was the prognosis and result?

 

[eggs]

I had torn cartilage in my knee removed and ruptured annular ligament reconstructed some years ago. Extremely limited as to what I could do for 3 months but then able to start riding again.

Still have intermittent pain in my knee but I have got used to it and I certainly have a better quality of life than before the op. I tend not to jump much as riding with shorter stirrups is uncomfortable but hacking and dressage cause me no problem.

I would speak to your surgeon to get more info.

 

[poorchickens]

I really, really feel for you.

I had a knee op last Thursday and now need three more, starting in four weeks time, all need at least three months off riding and then nine months between each op. My ops do have a greater success rate than yours seems to however.

Do as much research on google as you can about your condition. Ask your surgeon loads of questions. Get to a physio and ask them about recovery rates and when you might be back riding. If you don't get answers, keep going until you do.

I'm 32 and I vitally 'need' one of my ops, but could live without the other two (as long as I don't fancy doing any running or sports - I could cope I s'pose!) But if I don't do it now, I never will and while I don't have any kiddies and have a job with good benefits (ie. will pay for my time off) I've decided to seize the moment.

Good luck.

 

[kerilli]

ah, my unchosen specialised subject...
i've had the same knee operated on twice now. first time came off horse, landed on feet, did an 'unhappy triad' - classic footballing injury - according to my physio: ruptured ACL, torn meniscus, and something else i can't remember, and fracture to bottom of femur. had an op by a top 'footballer's knee specialist' to trim and staple meniscus, and my agonising knee that would NOT bend or straighten came back to 100% with lots of physio. got back to eventing etc etc.
about a 9 year gap or so with no problems at all...
then, about 14 months ago, same thing happened, landed on feet, knee dislocated. totally unstable, wrecked medial ligament, ACL again. another top knee surgeon, replacement of ACL with hamstring, microfractures to something or other, yadda yadda. i trusted my surgeon to do whatever he felt was best when he had a look, basically.
about a year of patience and gradual rebuilding strength and it's up to 99%, no pain, no locking, stable, strong.
get someone brilliant to do it (v v important), and go for it, is my advice.
if you want more, pm me, happy to chat about it.

 

[Marchtime]

Not my knee but in a similar position with my shoulder. I finally bit the bullet and had the operation a week ago. I've had non stop problems since I fell off my pony when I was 12yrs old (12yr ago ) I tried to avoid surgery but it was becoming more and more painful. I'm lucky in some ways as due to circumstances I don't have a riding horse at present but my youngster will be ready to back next spring so it was now or never.
I can't ride for six to nine months and am stuck in a sling completely immobile for six weeks (I'm already insane with boredom) but I hope this will be the answer. Like yours there is no guarantee but I felt I was too young to spend the rest of my life missing out on things because they were too painful. I've had an arthroscopy and joint stabilisation surgery which involved sewing the cartilage and ligaments back in place and anchoring the joint with "pegs" (sorry I'm clearly not medically minded!)
If you do go for it make sure you have the right support network in place beforehand - my parents have been a god send!!