Knee surgery/injury ?

[scooterbug44]

Dunno is this is the correct forum, but here goes!

Mama Scooterbug had knee surgery (arthroscopic) months ago to clean out her knee - torn miniscus, shaved off some bone, got rid of chunks of bone/cartilidge in her knee etc. She had a rougher than expected recovery, but faithfully did all of her exercises and PT, and got the blessing of both her Surgeon and PT person to come skiing.

She has now skiied only a couple of light days, taken days off, spent days resting, icing, heating, elevating, and taking Aleve .................. and it is very swollen, she can barely walk, and is in a ton of pain!

Has anyone else had a reaction like this to a simple knee surgery? The entire family has gimpy knees (Papa will have a replacement soon, Bro had the same surgery years ago, and my knees are still recovering from the beating I gave them doing sports) but we have never had this level of a problem - rest, ice, meds, and PT would show results.

She is very healthy/active and good about doing her exercises, has never had a problem like this in her life, and was specifically told that skiing would not hurt her knee!

 

[goofer]

Dunno is this is the correct forum, but here goes!

Mama Scooterbug had knee surgery (arthroscopic) months ago to clean out her knee - torn miniscus, shaved off some bone, got rid of chunks of bone/cartilidge in her knee etc. She had a rougher than expected recovery, but faithfully did all of her exercises and PT, and got the blessing of both her Surgeon and PT person to come skiing.

She has now skiied only a couple of light days, taken days off, spent days resting, icing, heating, elevating, and taking Aleve .................. and it is very swollen, she can barely walk, and is in a ton of pain!

Has anyone else had a reaction like this to a simple knee surgery? The entire family has gimpy knees (Papa will have a replacement soon, Bro had the same surgery years ago, and my knees are still recovering from the beating I gave them doing sports) but we have never had this level of a problem - rest, ice, meds, and PT would show results.

She is very healthy/active and good about doing her exercises, has never had a problem like this in her life, and was specifically told that skiing would not hurt her knee!

As a veteran of multiple knee scopes and one total knee replacement, her knee will never be the same even after surgery. The only thing I can recommend is more strengthening of the large muscles around the knee through weight training.

 

[scooterbug44]

She isn't trying to do anything but a mild version of what she's been doing for a quarter century. No moguls, short days of cruising runs, only one powder day.

She's gone from a healthy daily regimen of PT exercises, calisthenics, biking, and walking to major pain & swelling and a limp that would make a peg-legged pirate proud.

 

[DuneLaker]

Sorry to hear about Mother Scooter. She just may need to rest now and then have a long strength training session before she tries to resume her more strenous activities. I have no experience with this, just wanted to comment and let you know we are concerned.

 

[Beach Runner]

Did she recently take a long plane trip, such as to get to the skiing destination? Even if it has been, say, 3 months since her surgery, she could have developed a blood clot due to being inactive on the plane. Hope that's not her problem. Here's a link: http://ortho.muhealth.org/hipandknee/clots.htm

The husband of one of my colleagues died of a blood clot a few weeks after simple arthroscopic knee surgery. He was in his mid-thirties.

 

[scooterbug44]

No, she hasn't been on a plane since spring and they had her on aspirin for 6 weeks post-surgery to prevent any clots.

It is definitely aggravated by skiing, but they said that skiing wasn't going to be a problem and she got her knee "back in shape" prior to the trip w/ PT and resume dher normal regime.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[scooterbug44]

Per the doctor today, they think she seriously hurt it somehow, that it isn't related to the surgery - so now she's on crutches (with cool spiked ends for the snow/ice) w/ a big ol' knee brace and is going back tomorrow for an MRI since X-rays didn't show anything.

 

[hnooe]

I have a totally screwed up miniscus on my left knee--my ATL orthepidic doctor said I would have to just live with it. I do know that I have no problems with long biking rides, spin class, etc. AS LONG AS THE MOVEMENT and exercise is in a straight forward, linear fashion.

Not a skiier here, but am envious of MommaSB, but with the pivoting of the knees and legs in that particular sport be part of the problem? And forget golf-- I did the WII version and almost had to go the the Emergency room!

 

[Miss Kitty]

I am glad to hear you got momma to a doctor. Always the best choice.

 

[bluemtnrunner]

I would never go to anyone other than Dr. Lemak in Birmingham. I went through a year of bad diagnoses and bad advice before I found him. I had the same procedure done as you describe. He went in, fixed me up, got me into PT. I got to workout next to John Smoltz who had just been treated by Lemak's partner, Dr. Andrews. It is great to know that your doctor is going to treat a weekend warrior with the same level of care as a rock star pitcher. http://www.lemaksports.com/lawrence-j-lemak-md/