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thank you! I am so happy I had the surgery(s) - could have done at 50 instead of waiting until 55, but just was not mentally 'there' until last spring. and then could not get it done fast enough! the riding is what kept my strength somewhat intact pre-surgery; I was very limited by my lack of (no!) range of motion.Quote:
Originally Posted by BackInTheSaddle74
Wow - you look GREAT on your Fjord! Congrats! And I am VERY IMPRESSED that you've just had BOTH KNEES done and are riding! I had one done (9/11/12) and am starting to ride comfortably at week 11 also. I have hopes by the new year that everything will be strong and riding will become my favorite "sport of choice" again! Again, YOU look FANTASTIC! Keep it up!Quote:
Originally Posted by saabski
:) J
thanks Jingo-aceQuote:
Originally Posted by Jingo-ace
now if we just are lucky enough to have a mild winter .....;)
I went shopping for a new driving horse (since my driving horse doesn't really want to and riding sucks even with hinged stirrups) and turned my ankle. again.:mad: Since Mr. MD wasn't really happy that 3 weeks later it's still ouchy, back in the boot I go. Uggghhh. At least it's only a couple weeks this time, not 6. I am so tired of giving it a rest & a little bit of time. Is a peroneal tendon repair really that bad, that these guys are so hesitant to do it? I've been some level of PWB for the last 100 weeks, what's 12 more if the outcome is being at least racing sound? It was like pulling teeth to get the last debridement done (apparently didn't go far enough though) and that was not a big deal to recover from.
On the plus side, I saw a couple mares I really kind of liked and the trainer liked them too. Just have to get the current one sold. Anyone looking for a chestnut mare?:lol:
On 11/26, a year to the day since my knee went to hell, I went without ANY brace. Could finally ditch the AFO - hurray! Still wearing the skateboard shoes, and still using a cane when outside the house, but man oh man what a relief.
Knee is still loose, and is an exceptionally good indicator of impending rain, but most of the time there is no pain.
It will take a long time before it resembles anything even semi-normal, but no complaints.
I'm a full fledged member now.
My right ankle was repaired in late February :Brostrum, peroneal repair & debridement, synovectomy and more debridement. After 6 sprains in 6 months enough was enough.
It's healing ok, but I am bored to tears right now. I've been out of work since then (working from home though) because I can't drive. Worst part now is I feel pretty good... and I can't do anything or go anywhere.
I did get down to the barn a couple weeks ago...they were at a show! The barn slave got me caught up on the gossip so all was not lost.
I just had surgery this morning to reconstruct my ACL, lateral collateral ligament, and two meniscus tears. I have a long incision down the outside of my leg, and I have to be total non-weight bearing for six weeks. One little fall skiing and basically it looks like a bomb went off in my leg. It's going to be tough.
Vali, I am very sorry to hear about your injury. What were some of the specs, may I ask? (what age range are you in, have you ever had any injuries like this before, etc.)
Redmares - I owe you an email, I know! I've been slacking. I hope you are doing better. =/
I haven't written here in a while but I am still a full-fledged member, unfortunately. It is weird, not many people have shown much interest in my condition, probably because I never was able to get a proper diagnosis. It's been 15 months now. I went back to being able to jog and do more things, after a year. But then I re-did it again riding. So I am not riding any more, not for probably a year or so. It kills me. I look at horse sale ads and I wish I could ride. I miss it but I know it is toxic to me. Right now I am in heavy PT, which I do religiously every day. I've been able to avoid a lot of pain with the methods I have established after dealing with this for so long and I expect to eventually make a recovery again, but will need to stay away from many intense sports for another year.
I'm 44 and this is the first major knee injury I've had, but it was a triple whammy! I did it skiing, landed off balance after catching some air. Because of the complexity of the injury, I ended up going to the Steadman Institute in Colorado for surgery, and stayed there for a week doing daily physical therapy afterwards. It's gone pretty well, but it will be four months before I can sit on a horse, and then with a brace. Prognosis for full recovery is good though, and my knee is surprisingly arthritis free for my age. Probably won't stay that way though, once you've torn your ACL you are at much greater risk for arthritis. The surprising thing about my injury was that I was able to get up and keep skiing, and walking around, and it didn't even swell significantly. It took a couple of weeks to diagnose because of that.
As far as diagnosis, have they looked at your knee arthoscopically? I had two MRI's, one a high definition Tesla one, and they both caught the ACL tear but missed the sizeable meniscus tear and the lateral collateral ligament tear. I was surprised at how much the MRI doesn't capture.
Wow, that sounds spectacular in the way you never want, Vali. I am glad to hear prognosis is good, because that is what matters in the end. It is weird how able you can feel when there is something majorly wrong, and even vice versa. I wish you the smoothest of recoveries and I am sure this has impacted your life and view on your athletic career.
Did you find medical professionals who had experience with equestrians, by chance?
I have had two negative MRI's - one was before surgery (surgery then found a meniscus tear and plica syndrome). One was after surgery, which is when I got re-injured (5 mos post-surgery, during an athletic event that I probably wasn't ready for).
I have been re-injured from that injury by a doctor. No one believes me and it's been very hard to get additional treatment. I saw my surgeon and 2 specialists after that doctor, which was after my re-injury. I had a bone scan, which showed re-uptake into the knee but they could not tell me why it was happening (um, because I got injured! Haha) and they also remarked that my knee had no arthritis but looked not like a knee for "someone my age". I have no idea what that means- it sounds cryptic and useless, like most of what I was told.
When I lost my ability to walk, which was about 5 months after my re-injury and 10 months after the surgery and 3 months after the doctor made it worse, I decided to take matters into my own hands and I started my own version of a PT program. (I had already been through 2 PT programs and 7-8 doctors.)
Only by immobilizing my leg and staying off it for 3.5 weeks, against medical advice, was I able to start standing again. I worked in the PT and within 8 weeks, I was walking again. Then it continued to get better through a very gradual and painful process which took about 5 months.
Then I got to where I could do something new one day, then not again for a few weeks, and then I could do it regularly- such as climb stairs or jog or swim. After enough time of thos yo-yo'ing, and continuing my own PT program, I started being able to resume athletics. Of course, by this time my muscles still had a long way to go from all the time off.
I thought I was finally back- and then I re-tweaked it 3 weeks ago. At that point, I started doing research again into what the he** could possible be going on. I know you all might think I am crazy, but 15 months of living with this and 3+ years of living with an injury to my knee (from the original incident) and all the amazing pain and hardship I have gone through, from being a huge athlete originally with no injuries...I have learned to do my research, and I am now confident I know exactly what happened. The good news is that it is totally fixable without surgery, and I was able to modify my PT/add on more exercises which is resulting in positive results faster. So I think I am doing really well. I have decided to give up riding, with no plans to return anytime soon, and I feel very relieved to understand what has been the bane of existence for so long. I will make a full recovery and I should be able to be in a good place even a few weeks from now if I am lucky and diligent, thanks to work I did previously on it and I think the re-tweaking was not as bad as it was initially painful.
On an emotional note, I miss riding and horses so much, and I had to turn down a great offer at a very nice show barn, which was sad. Horses have been part of my identity since childhood, and to give them up is something I have struggled with for the past 3 years. First I gave up riding racehorses, then I gave up riding my personal horse (a boisterous huge TB), and then I gave up jumping, and I even rode without stirrups for 6 months-- until finally I have given up on riding all together. It's been a weird theft of what I love. But it is worth it because I need my life back, and maybe one day, I will be able to ride again. I purchased different things in hopes they would help me- lighter stirrups, a different saddle, etc. - but in the end, the only thing that will help me is staying off and away from horses. I will get my fill from facebook friends and The Chronicle, and focus on my career and professional goals. I don't *feel* I will ride again, I have trouble imagining it after the length of time in which it has caused me pain. I don't know how the kind of problems I have had will ever be gone 100% if faced with the trauma of riding again. I do think my problems will be gone 100% for other sports that I do. Has anyone else on here given up riding?
Have you figured out what your injury is? Do you know specifically what it is about riding that aggravates it? I've found that it's much easier on my knees to ride a narrower slab side sided horse, and luckily my Connemara/TB mare is very comfortable for me to ride. Provided I carefully follow the rehab and pt protocol, my doctor doesn't see any reason I can't return to riding. I have met some surgeons who have experience with equestrians. Ultimately, the surgeon I chose did not, although he's been amenable to learning about the mechanics. There's lots of doctors out there, sometimes it takes a while to find the right one. I met five different knee surgeons before my operation, and got five different opinions on what exactly was wrong with my knee, which of course got modified after they got in there. Knees are are complicated.
I got the boot off today! I'm now wearing the same brace I started in 2 years ago when this mess started, how's that for irony? They were going to give me a new one, but heck, I still had the old one. Unfortunately, I forgot the important thing - getting my handicapped parking permit renewed. :eek: That will be the first call in the morning.
The ankle seems to be doing well; Doc is really happy with it. Yesterday was crappy, but overall it's pretty good. I start PT tomorrow seeing my friendly neighborhood sadist again; totally a fear of the known:lol:
Equine Adhesive - have you thought about driving? There are bunch of ASB type barns out west that were giving a free lesson to newbees. Maybe come over to the really dark side and trade you jumper for a Hackney pony:winkgrin:
I RODE MY HORSE TODAY!!!
17 months + 1 day after the arrival of Frankenknee, and it was absolutely divine :sadsmile:
I'm now a full-fledged member :( My left ankle was absolutely trashed and then surgically repaired several years ago. This past November I made the drastic error of wearing stiletto heels to my birthday party -- ankle gave out, the leg broke, and I did some soft tissue damage. I'd been healing quite well, but was riding a rambunctious youngster last week who decided to spook and do an interesting horizontal leap: I jammed my heels down and felt searing pain. Long story, short: the doctor says I re-tore the ligaments. I cannot take time off work (riding), and am wondering what sorts of things might help me do my job. I used to tape my joints in college when I played soccer. Can that work under tall boots, or will the sweat (I live in Florida) make traditional sports tape unravel? I tried the Sprenger 4-way irons after my first ankle surgery but felt like they didn't offer enough support -- the ankle kept giving out. Is there another stirrup option? Ugh.
YAY!!!!!!!Quote:
Originally Posted by Coreene
My ankle wasn't damaged nearly as badly as yours is but here's what worked for meQuote:
Originally Posted by DancingFoalFarms
MDC Ultimate stirrups set at 90 degrees with Thinline wraps
Paddock boots with lace up front, elastic gussets and zip back.
Stirrup height mounting block with ice packs in cooler. There were many rides when I would dismount next to the block, loosen my mare's girth, remove my boot and ice the ankle so i could walk far enough to put her away.
Thanks for the suggestions! I'm taking a look at the MDC irons right now, and have started keeping ice packs at the barn for immediate post-ride care. I cannot walk back to the barn on the ankle many days (it's a hike), so I've been riding most of the way then hopping off when I'm close enough. Plus, the addition of Mobic and Tramadol has helped considerably.
i posted a month ago when i injured my knee, but i think the COTH forums were swallowing posts....anyway, I am also in the mix with a right knee injury thanks to jumping on a shovel. =) i hyperextended my knee, damaged cartilage and gave myself a lovely bone bruise, plus i've got some patellar tendonitis now.
been on crutches for a month, seeing PT weekly, getting cold laser from chiro, plus icing the crap out of it. i went to the barn today and decided to ride w/o stirrups. fyi: i was ok'd by PT to try it. walked around and did some sitting trot for a few minutes. after about 10-15 mins, my knee was burning, so i got off. otherwise, it was good to be in the tack but i definitely did not feel as secure, probably because i was riding w/o stirrups on a horse i've never ridden (tho a sane, calm upper level eventer).
walking around the barn on crutches, grooming, and trying to tack up sucks. luckily, the barn has a big ramp where i can get on/off w/o prob. but i don't have an official you-will-be-better-by-X-date. it's more like, "if it hurts, you cannot do it."
for those of you who have been nonoperative, what have your recovery times been like? have any of you tried riding w/ or w/o stirrups to see if it made a diff?
My recovery time for my more recent non-op ankle / leg injury has been slowish (since Nov 17 2012), but the ortho said to expect a 1 year recovery time . . . which has been extended because I re-injured. Frankly, my post-op recovery (right knee lateral release) was much, much faster. I'd love to go sans stirrups but can't right now because my horses are all seriously green. When I FIRST first injured the ankle 15 years ago, I was able to ride stirrup-less in a cast without issue. I also spent a lot of time training bareback which seemed to place less stress on the knee and ankle.
I'm in medicine myself, so am acutely aware of time frames being vague nonoperative musculoskeletal conditions. I still hate it though! Can't believe you rode in a cast though, DancingFoal. Eeek.
I told my trainer to give me a fat pony who wouldn't dump me vs a few of the other hot-heads I've been riding, so I get not wanting to ride a green bean. Too much could go wrong!