Skydiving with injuries

[burim88 0]

Hey guys/girls.

I wanted to speak with like minded people who have suffered a rupture to their ACL. I had a pretty bad football (soccer) injury in late December and recently found out that it had actually ruptured (they only decided to do an MRI scan after I kept complaining) my ACL. I also tore my LCL but that will heal itself.

The doctor couldn't recommend the surgery highly enough and said that they would take tendons from the hamstring and replace the ACL with that then the body will eventually turn it into a ligament. He said I'd be out of sports for between 9-12 months after the operation. I am itching to jump already. I'm not a big swooper and load my canopy at 1.6.

My questions are:

Has anyone jumped with a ruptured ACL?
Did you decide to have the operation?
How long after the injury did you jump?

I understand peoples answers may vary and healing times ect. I was just curious to see how people dealt with it in regards to skydiving/base and what experience they can share with some hints/tips mixed in there.

[barefut 0]

As a trauma nurse and a skydiver... Get the knee fixed and come back in a year. If you fuck yourself up worse you may not get to come back at all. Just sleep with your rig so she knows you haven't forgot about her

Whale oil beef hooked

[riggerrob 643]

Backing the nurse on this one.
Take a year off and get your ACL repaired. Then do extensive physio-therapy to strengthen all the muscles around your knees.
Torn ACLs are common and surgeons have plenty of experience repairing them.
Delaying will only make it worse.
For example, I tore my PCL and a pair of lateral collateral ligaments when I was in my 50s. I suffered so many other injuries during that accident that I was not immediately aware of how badly my knee was torn. Five years later, my knee dislocated and doctors diagnosed me with 3 torn ligaments. Because PCL surgery is far more complicated and risky than ACL surgery (cutting near a bundle of nerves and blood vessels) and my age (late 50s) surgeons declined to repair my PCL. The best that the best surgeon in the province could do was realign my tibia. Because I don't heal as fast as I used to, surgical complications included infection, swelling, deep vein thrombosis, a second surgery and a year on the ground. Since I was unable to work during that year, I also lost a lot of money. Despite continued exercises, both my knees are weaker than before.

Bottom line: knee surgery will ground you for a year now or a year later in life, but you heal much faster when you are young.

[grimmie 186]

The sky isn't going anywhere. Heal.

[Rover 11]

Tore my ACL completely in my right knee in 1994 and have never had it repaired. Done about 7000 jumps since - 5500 tandems - mostly out of a C172.

When I tore it I was living in Tokyo and couldn't afford to have it operated on. Not covered here in NZ because I wasn't resident here at the time of the injury.

2 wrongs don't make a right - but 3 lefts do.

[skyjumpenfool 2]

Many years ago (probably before you were born) I rode a streamer into the dirt. I broke my pelvis and my back in three places. I took time to heal and Rehab. This last summer was my 40th year in the sport. The body is an amazing thing if you give it time to heal.

Remember, Skydiving is a marathon, not a sprint.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[burim88 0]

Great to see that people have recovered well from this sort of injury. I feared the worst when the doc said "there could be a possibility that your body won't accept the new tendon we put to replace the ligament so you'll have to live with an unstable knee". As much as I wanted to stay positive, that kinda knocked all my confidence.

Physiotherapy has already begun and I'll be waiting a while for the operation due to our NHS crumbling under pressure at the moment.

I suppose I wanted reassurance more than anything else that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Thx for the replies, much appreciated

[AlanS 1]

burim88

Hey guys/girls.

I wanted to speak with like minded people who have suffered a rupture to their ACL.

I'm one of those rare Americans that love soccer and play it avidly.

I haven't torn an ALC yet, but have a meniscus tear in my left knee, bone spurs on my right heal, and recently found that a fractured ankle from several years ago was still visible on x-rays when I went in for a skydiving related sprain.

None of these injuries stops me from doing anything I want to do, but they are always there. For skydiving the only time they are an issue is when the ground is dry and compact. To mitigate them I just wear running shoes with full support around the heal and when at a new drop-zone check out the landing area to see if the soil is hard or soft.

Ever soccer season I start, I'm alway asking "Is this the year I tear an ACL". Hasn't happened yet.

[Amesmn 0]

I tore my ACL on 7/1/15, did a handful more jumps but could not land on my feet because my knee could not handle it. Had surgery on 11/23/15, I opted for the patellar tendon graft due to my age. I did PT for a couple of months after surgery and then opted to have a personal trainer instead. I meet with my trainer 2x a week and work on strength training. I was back to jumping in April of 2016 but I was doing slide-in landings as I did not want to re-injure myself. I was landing on my feet towards the end of the season in October 2016.

[burim88 0]

How does it feel now in regards to your landings? Is it painful when you land? Does it still feel unstable? Mine feels so unstable I can barely walk without thinking it's going to crumble in on itself

[riggerrob 643]

If your knee feels unstable when you walk, immediately get a knee brace, closely followed by knee-strengthening exercises, closely followed by surgery.

[burim88 0]

I've been booked into surgery but knowing the NHS in England, it'll take some time before it gets done. Doctors have advised against any knee support, they want me to walk normally without support so it strengthen s my leg before the surgery. Although I must admit, its starting to feel better and more stable each day that goes by. I've already started physiotherapy to get it as strong as possible for the operation. Fingers crossed it soon and I only miss 1 season :)

[Pobrause 6]

Ski world cup athletes with ruptured ACLs were reportedly back on skies as short as 6 weeks after surgery. Although quite risky, their muscle structure was strong enough to support the basically unneeded ligament. Modern and less invasive operation techniques do also come into play.
Although young and fairly strong I didn't have that kind of muscles when I got back with ACL/ PCL/meniscus/femur/hip and spinous process damage and other bits and bots after 6 month, which was about 6-9 month too early.
Do not recommend

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To absent friends

[burim88 0]

Thank you all for your inputs and experiences. I'm glad its not all doom and gloom like the doctors are saying. Fingers crossed I'll heal up faster than they say. Will carry on with physiotherapy in the mean time. Thx again.

[riggerrob 643]

Pobrause

........ ruptured ACLs were ..... the basically unneeded ligament. .......

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"Uneeded" if all the other ligaments, tendons and muscles surrounding your knee are strong ......
........ But in my case, I tore 3 ligaments in the same knee. Healing was slow and painful.
Five years after the accident, that knee started dis-locating, so I needed surgery. At my age: 55, the surgeon was reluctant to waste time rebuilding ligaments. He kept mumbling to himself "but you don't smoke." Since smoking reduces blood flow to muscles and slows the healing process. Eventually, the surgeon re-aligned my tibia to reduce the risk of dis-locating again.

Moral of the story, hire a surgeon to repair your knee while you are still young. Because young people heal quicker.

[NickyCal 17]

Tore my ACL quite badly awhile back, and was on an 8 month wait for surgery via NHS. By the time that I got the call, I was mobile again, so decided to forego the surgery altogether. I used a knee brace for a few years when it felt unstable, but these days, I don't even notice it unless I do some pretty serious cycling. Jumping does not affect it at all. Rest up for now, let it heal, and you'll be good to go again. Good luck!