Bad Knee Damage

[stewie74]

I was playing flag football this week and completely thrashed my knee. Went to the ER and no broken bones but they suspect severe ligament damage. I will hopefully get MRI next week when the swelling goes down. First thing I thought of when it happened was oh **** I won't be able to golf on Saturday. I am pretty worried because a lot of the ACL injuries are a pop and then you can limp off the field (Brian Griese last weekend for instance). This was a gruesome tearing sound and I needed to be carried off the field. It was five days ago and still when I put any kind of pressure on it even with stabilizer cast my leg wobbles.

Anyway, I am golf junkie and don't know what I would do without it. Of course, I also have played my best golf ever over the last month. I am 30 and live in Chicago so hopefully I will get okay news from Doc that they can fix it and with rehab get out there by next April when the weather starts to break and not miss a beat.

Has anyone out there ever had bad knee injuries and been able to come back close to form? I know Ernie is going to come back shortly but I am not sure what type of ligament damage he did and of course he had state of the art physical therapy.

[Brent Nadeau]

I was playing flag football this week and completely thrashed my knee. Went to the ER and no broken bones but they suspect severe ligament damage. I will hopefully get MRI next week when the swelling goes down. First thing I thought of when it happened was oh **** I won't be able to golf on Saturday. I am pretty worried because a lot of the ACL injuries are a pop and then you can limp off the field (Brian Griese last weekend for instance). This was a gruesome tearing sound and I needed to be carried off the field. It was five days ago and still when I put any kind of pressure on it even with stabilizer cast my leg wobbles.

Anyway, I am golf junkie and don't know what I would do without it. Of course, I also have played my best golf ever over the last month. I am 30 and live in Chicago so hopefully I will get okay news from Doc that they can fix it and with rehab get out there by next April when the weather starts to break and not miss a beat.
Has anyone out there ever had bad knee injuries and been able to come back close to form? I know Ernie is going to come back shortly but I am not sure what type of ligament damage he did and of course he had state of the art physical therapy.

...there is also the fact the he is Ernie Else, and you are not...no offense intended. While you enjoy golf, it is his job, and you can bet that every ounce of energy and his considerable financial backing is bent on rehabilitating that knee. Don't stress yourself out too much over your own return to golf-form, at least not to the point of risking permanent damage as a result. I feel your pain - I was making great head-way last summer, then dislocated my ankle and had to stop playing for a couple months (it still hurts, by the way, as I jumped back on the hockey rink prematurely). When I got back out in October my average score jumped up by about 8 - 10 strokes. It sucked, and I was upset, but I made even better improvements over the past summer...give it time and be patient.

[ce_me_golf]

I was playing flag football this week and completely thrashed my knee. Went to the ER and no broken bones but they suspect severe ligament damage. I will hopefully get MRI next week when the swelling goes down. First thing I thought of when it happened was oh **** I won't be able to golf on Saturday. I am pretty worried because a lot of the ACL injuries are a pop and then you can limp off the field (Brian Griese last weekend for instance). This was a gruesome tearing sound and I needed to be carried off the field. It was five days ago and still when I put any kind of pressure on it even with stabilizer cast my leg wobbles.

Anyway, I am golf junkie and don't know what I would do without it. Of course, I also have played my best golf ever over the last month. I am 30 and live in Chicago so hopefully I will get okay news from Doc that they can fix it and with rehab get out there by next April when the weather starts to break and not miss a beat.

Has anyone out there ever had bad knee injuries and been able to come back close to form? I know Ernie is going to come back shortly but I am not sure what type of ligament damage he did and of course he had state of the art physical therapy.

Whatever you do take your time and make sure you knee has recovered before you start swinging a golf club. If you don't you may try to compensate for not being able to move your knee properly and either injure something else or screw up your swing. I know I screw up my swing pretty bad last year after hurting my back and still trying to play golf.

[lloyd_christmas2]

I was playing flag football this week and completely thrashed my knee. Went to the ER and no broken bones but they suspect severe ligament damage. I will hopefully get MRI next week when the swelling goes down. First thing I thought of when it happened was oh **** I won't be able to golf on Saturday. I am pretty worried because a lot of the ACL injuries are a pop and then you can limp off the field (Brian Griese last weekend for instance). This was a gruesome tearing sound and I needed to be carried off the field. It was five days ago and still when I put any kind of pressure on it even with stabilizer cast my leg wobbles.

Anyway, I am golf junkie and don't know what I would do without it. Of course, I also have played my best golf ever over the last month. I am 30 and live in Chicago so hopefully I will get okay news from Doc that they can fix it and with rehab get out there by next April when the weather starts to break and not miss a beat.

Has anyone out there ever had bad knee injuries and been able to come back close to form? I know Ernie is going to come back shortly but I am not sure what type of ligament damage he did and of course he had state of the art physical therapy.

RIght leg or left? (and are you right handed?)

[stewie74]

RIght leg or left? (and are you right handed?)

Left leg and I am left handed so would be my back leg in set up. I know back leg does take a bit of torque when you are at top in loaded position which could pose problems.

[neverman]

I had by back leg (golf stance) ACL replaced 2 years ago. I was golfing 2.5 months afterward, a bit akwardly and not happy walking (walking hurt more than swinging).

I sit with a chiller bag on my other knee as I type this hopped up on meds from getting my meniscus repaired orthoscopically 12 hours ago. I expect a quick recovery as I'm already limping around (extremely casually). The bad news is they found extensive cartilage damage that couldn't be repaired during that visit (didn't show on the MRI). Something about a specialist must either graft or use cadaver bone to build up the area. In 3-6 months I'll know if my pain was from my menicus tear or the damage. My MCL also had a small flap trimmed off. =(

Damn I'm getting old before my time!

Whatever you do.... get an MRI. Doctors are sometimes reluctant to just get it done and seem to like to guess by bending and twisting your knee. If you have a high pain tolerance you can mislead them pretty easily. You'll know when your knee is messed up and won't heal normally. At least I was damn sure!

[stewie74]

I had by back leg (golf stance) ACL replaced 2 years ago. I was golfing 2.5 months afterward, a bit akwardly and not happy walking (walking hurt more than swinging).

I sit with a chiller bag on my other knee as I type this hopped up on meds from getting my meniscus repaired orthoscopically 12 hours ago. I expect a quick recovery as I'm already limping around (extremely casually). The bad news is they found extensive cartilage damage that couldn't be repaired during that visit (didn't show on the MRI). Something about a specialist must either graft or use cadaver bone to build up the area. In 3-6 months I'll know if my pain was from my menicus tear or the damage. My MCL also had a small flap trimmed off. =(

Damn I'm getting old before my time!

Whatever you do.... get an MRI. Doctors are sometimes reluctant to just get it done and seem to like to guess by bending and twisting your knee. If you have a high pain tolerance you can mislead them pretty easily. You'll know when your knee is messed up and won't heal normally. At least I was damn sure!

Neverman, good luck to you. I am really bummed because I am 30 and now will have to live with this the rest of my life. It sounds like a lot of people that have any type of knee surgery had flair ups from time to time so it is a real downer. My father in law had meniscus clipped in July and he was playing probably 5 weeks later. I can't wait to go to the doctor on Tuesday to find out what is wrong. It is not healing at all and I am quite certain I will need surgery. What is worse cartilage damage or ligament damage?

[neverman]

It really depends on the Ligament. They can't be repaired, they can be replaced. Cartilage can be grown back somewhat if you keep weight off it either from grafts or plugs from dead guys I believe.

So when I had my acl "repaired"... what they really did was cut a chunk of my patellar tendon, the middle with bone on both sides, they then removed the old acl completely and drilled a couple of mounting holes for the bones to be screwed into so the bone could "fuse" the patellar tendon into the place where an acl should be. Works great.... they also can use a section of hamstring to do this or dead guy tissue~

I don't think there are any good knee injuries!

[KiltedArab]

So when I had my acl "repaired"... what they really did was cut a chunk of my patellar tendon, the middle with bone on both sides, they then removed the old acl completely and drilled a couple of mounting holes for the bones to be screwed into so the bone could "fuse" the patellar tendon into the place where an acl should be. Works great.... they also can use a section of hamstring to do this or dead guy tissue~

I have no idea what this all means, but it sounds damned unpleasant and I hope all you bad-knee guys get better soon.

Good luck!