I got an very interesting question yesterday:
“Is it true that your knee is never the same after tearing your ACL?”
You’ve just torn your ACL, a very common injury in snowboarding, so how will this affect you in the future? As someone who’s torn my ACL and had multiple meniscus cartilage surgeries, I can definitely answer this one.
My knee after one of many surgeries
Your knee is never the same… but…
It’s true. Your knee is never quite the same, however that doesn’t mean you can’t snowboard/ski anymore.
The differences in your knee post surgery:
- Minor swelling after a long day hitting jumps
- Permanent loss of feeling on the side of your leg
- Higher risk of re-injury and possible arthritis when you’re older
Those are the main downsides. The minor swelling tends to happen whenever your knee takes lots of impact. The amount of swelling depends on the person and how much meniscus damage you took when you tore your ACL. Some people get very little to no swelling. The simple fix is an icepack at the end of a long day on the slopes.
Here’s the good news
You can still snowboard/ski and hit 120 foot jumps if you’re willing to put in the time to make sure your knee stays strong. This means going to the gym 3 times a week and doing your lower body workouts. Your knee is weaker, you have to ensure you build up strong leg muscles to help support your knee and reduce the impact on your new ACL.
If you’re willing to put in the time to keep your leg strong, you’ll find that you can still snowboard and have access to all the fun park jumps, rails, cliff drops and any other things you want to do. I’m proof of this, I snowboarded 9-10 months a year doing large jumps and rails 99% of the time.
Remember, it’s not all bad. There are many benefits to needing to workout 3 times a week. You may find yourself fitter, stronger and better off overall.
More good news
Stem cell research (not the bad kind that comes from baby embryos) has come a long way. In the next 10 years you’ll probably be able to regrow all the knee cartilage in your knee to fix problems like arthritis. As well as this, ACL replacements are getting more and more advanced.
New artificial ACL grafts have reduced recovery time to as little as 6 weeks. It’s unknown how well the new grafts will last, since there hasn’t been any long term patients with the new graft. However, with time, ACL tears may become nothing worse than a broken bone.
Good luck and if you’ve been unfortunate enough to tear your ACL, remember, it’s not the end of the world and it won’t stop you from doing the things you love to do.