Tore my MCL, anyone done this?

quig707

quig707

69
10
Joined
Oct 2, 2004
Like the title says, I partially tore my MCL and dislocated my kneecap about a week ago playing basketball. I'm not sure yet if surgery will be required.I got MRIs last week but am waiting to hear back from the orthopedist. Anyone else had this injury? What was recovery like? How long did you have to wear abrace or immobilizer? A lot of PT? Lets hear your experiences NT.
 
Nope. I did fall on my knee when I was younger that required 2 weeks of crutches and a full leg joint.
 
Just your MCL? No problems with the medial meniscus or ACL? they are part of the unhappy triad with the MCL.
 
I tore my ACL and partially my meniscus my junior year in h.s....the most excruciating pain I've ever been in.
My knee cap still clicks if I bend it back too far 2 years later after ACL replacement surgery from a cadaver.
 
Tore my ACL/MCL when I was 13, but didn't know it wouldn't hurt after a couple days if you don't damage the surrounding tissue. I therefore playedin the game that was 2 weeks later. In fact, I played all the way until I was 17, and re-injured the same knee... this time cmopletely tearing my ACL (what wasleft of it), partially tearing the MCL and LCL (I got hit on some Alvin Mack type vibe...).

Elected not to have surgery. Doc said I could never play football again... but that really wasn't an option anyway, even if I did have the surgery cuzI'd lose LOTS of time off my 40, and a nice load of quickness, too given the length of time my knee had been already injured. he was amaxed I could stillrun a 4.5 before the second injury
laugh.gif
.

Anyway, he told me my minimum recovery time was 18 months, with PT 3 times a week. Hope yours isn't that long...
 
18 months? Damn. I think if you would have elected to take the surgery rehab time would've been 6-8 months.
 
Do not, and I repeat do not, rush back too quickly. Some athletes do this andthey end up dooming themselves, making them susceptible to injuring it worse.
 
laugh.gif
Naw bruh... That was if I'd HAD the surgery... Keep in mind now that my first injury was 15 years ago, and I didn't get surgery because there wasonly a little tenderness after a couple days. The first night of pain was the worst pain ever, but after that it because sore, then tender, then bearable. Thesecond injury was actually LESS pain than the first, but more damage. Explain that, I cannot. I thought it was just a sprain, to be honest. I heard a pop, buthell, I hear them all the time. I have that noisy type cartilage. Like when I do push ups... but anyway Do said I had more scar tissue than ligaments, andI'd already been walking bone to bone damn near, so he said if I was without pain after a week (and I probably would be), he'd recommend against thesurgery, since I wouldn't be playing ball anymore anyway.
 
I'm a Physical Therapy student, so depending on the Grade of tear it is you might need surgery to repair it, if it is a Grade 3 tear which means it is acomplete tear you will need surgery. As for the fractured patella, if you can perform a straight leg raise then you wont need surgery. If you can perform thestraight leg raise the orthopedist will put you in a knee immobilizer and if it is swollen they will drain the hematoma. Try not to weight bear for about 4weeks, get some crutches.
 
Hey whats up man? Sorry to hear what happened to you

I didn't tear my MCL, but hopefully I could just share some advice with you.

It was about a year and a half ago when I tore my ACL (horrendous pain) and weeks later, I could jog, so I playedagain.
Not knowing I tore my ACL, I was tripped up and later I shattered my meniscus (HUGE mistake).

I'm about 1 year out of surgery and things aren't the way I wish they were.
I can't bend properly (standing up straight, sitting on my heels, squatting and etc)

So my advice would be don't rush your comeback as stated, definitely go into physical therapy after surgery, and take yourtime.

The money you spend on physical therapy is to help you in the long-run,
So no matter how much you pay, how long it takes, LISTEN TO THEM!

Right now, I'm back into physical therapy, trying to work things out so I can bendproperly (which is HIGHLY unlikely for the rest of my life),
but hopefully, you could benefit from my mistake and not rush into anything, just take your time and work on it.

Tearing my ACL/Shattering my meniscus was a bittersweet moment;
it allowed me to realize that I'd like to major in Kinesiology and become a physical therapist in the future.

If any other questions, just PM me. I wish you asafe and easy recovery, take care.



EDIT: PEDE, I know exactly what you mean.

I believe the reason why bending is so hard for me is because when tearing your ACL you often lose your range of extension.
The shattered meniscus (Although put back together, is still not 100%) of mine also creates problems and there's still some scarred
tissue. When I do try to sit on my heels, it feels like there is some blockage and clotting (possibly from the swelling) I appreciate the advice and I willdefinitely look into that, if I may ask, where are you studying? Thanks again for the advice.
 
i tore my acl, pcl, and mcl all because i rushed back too soon from an mcl sprain...so as people have advised, do not rush back. i did it and it changed mylife completely...went from trying to get a hockey scholarship to focusing on my grades since my sports career was done
 
my friend tore his ACL and MCL in a motorcycle crash last summer. He re-tore his MCL a few weeks ago planting his foot the wrong way.
 
Originally Posted by Luong1209

Hey whats up man? Sorry to hear what happened to you

I didn't tear my MCL, but hopefully I could just share some advice with you.

It was about a year and a half ago when I tore my ACL (horrendous pain) and weeks later, I could jog, so I played again.
Not knowing I tore my ACL, I was tripped up and later I shattered my meniscus (HUGE mistake).

I'm about 1 year out of surgery and things aren't the way I wish they were.
I can't bend properly (standing up straight, sitting on my heels, squatting and etc)

So my advice would be don't rush your comeback as stated, definitely go into physical therapy after surgery, and take your time.

The money you spend on physical therapy is to help you in the long-run,
So no matter how much you pay, how long it takes, LISTEN TO THEM!

Right now, I'm back into physical therapy, trying to work things out so I can bend properly (which is HIGHLY unlikely for the rest of my life),
but hopefully, you could benefit from my mistake and not rush into anything, just take your time and work on it.

Tearing my ACL/Shattering my meniscus was a bittersweet moment;
it allowed me to realize that I'd like to major in Kinesiology and become a physical therapist in the future.

If any other questions, just PM me. I wish you a safe and easy recovery, take care.
Click to expand...

A year after surgery and you still cant bend the knee normally? You need to more Range of Motion exercises. There's no reason why you cant squat andbend it properly or atleast sitting on heels. You need to practice the sitting on you heels with the toes tucked under more often and hold it for atleast aminute a few times a day.
 
^thats the truth...tore my acl the summer after my junior year beore my final football season and all, rehabbed profusely though and made it back for a fewgames at the end of the basketball season until spraining my ankle badly after the third game... i was probably overcompensating a ton as it was not easy toplay like that... im now about 3 years out since surgery and it wasnt until half a year ago that i got to the point where it doesnt really phase me anymorewhen i play... i rehabbed for my whole senior year (half the time twice a day) and still feel like i could have done more...
 
whuts up buddy... so check it out... i was training for a fight and tore my acl and medial meniscus (on the inside of your knee)...

im currently doen rehab and goen through a tough time because i am a athlete you know... i play semi pro football (or was going to and am next year)... i fightmma, wrestle, kick box, jiu jitsu, and wrestle as well as bein a personal trainer.... so as you can see im always in some kind of gym and am always doingsomething... my people call me everyday to tell me DONT PUSH IT IT WILL COME.... i hear it 3 or 4 times a day no lie bruh... like everyone is stressen dontrush it...

what you wanna do is flexibility and range of motion... get all of that back... resistance training with bands, get your muscles around goen to work....hamstring, quad, calves, adductors, abductors (inside and outside of your thighs)... high repetitions dont worry about a lot of weight, 30 or 40 reps... onceyou get past that if everythings goen right, no pain and you truly feel fine, give it 2 to 3 weeks and go to transverse motions ( transverse exercise would betaking a step sideways to do a lung and moving your torso)... thats a loose example... increase weight little by little where its comfortable

mcl should require surgery, you can have it and youll be back faster but it heals on its own... w/o id say about 9 to 13 weeks depending on your body, how muchdamage, how well you work out... etc etc..

hope that was helpful
 
Some good info here, thanks everyone. My MCL wasnt completlely torn, the doctor said it was a partial tear, with visible damage on the end of my femur fromrepeated trama most likely due to the dislocating of my patella. I had nearly the same injury in highschool, making the same motion, with the same inwardbuckling of the knee, but was told nothing was torn and never got and MRI...probably a mistake looking back. Like I said, I'm still waiting to hear fromthe orthopedist to find out more, I only talked to a regular doctor that first saw me when I admitted myself to the ER. I know NT isnt the perfect place formedical advice, but it seems like some of you have had real similar experiences, so when you say dont bear weight on the injured knee, do you mean whatsoever,at all? I use crutches any time I'm out of the house, but I've been getting around my house with and without the immobilizer with no crutches.
To answer someones question, the first doctor I spoke with said there was no tearing of the miniscus that she could see in the MRI. I had pretty severeswelling for a good four or five days after the injury, and now, about ten days after, theres still a small amount along the inside of the knee. My biggestproblem is being impatient, because I absolutely cannot stand feeling immobile. The feeling of being "broken" just depresses the hell out of me, andmy tendency is more to act like its not as bad as it is. Luckily I got a few close friends who've had similar injuries and have been really good aboutshouting down those kinds of thoughts. Anyways, I appreciate the support NT. Pretty much every random person I run into thats had some form of knee injurytells me exactly what I'm hearing here: "dont be impatient, do the PT, dont rush it!" so I gotta believe thats good advice.
 
Originally Posted by Quig707

Like the title says, I partially tore my MCL and dislocated my kneecap about a week ago playing basketball. I'm not sure yet if surgery will be required. I got MRIs last week but am waiting to hear back from the orthopedist. Anyone else had this injury? What was recovery like? How long did you have to wear a brace or immobilizer? A lot of PT? Lets hear your experiences NT.
Click to expand...

I tore my MCL, but luckily only partially tore my ACL so only need arthroscopic surgery. The surgery wasn't bad at all, didn't even need to takepain meds, but the recovery was pretty frustrating. All I have to say is TAKE IT SLOWLY. Don't try to rush back on the court ESPECIALLY for basketball,since it is hard on your knees. I rushed back too quickly and nearly paid the price again. Just recently, I pulled an Andrew Bynum and might have to go backto surgery, so I feel your pain. Just take it slow and do all the exercises your PT tells you to do.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

The ultimate sneaker enthusiast community.

NikeTalk was created as a way of giving back to both the sneaker enthusiast community and to the greater global community of which we are all a part.

NikeTalk is NOT affiliated with Nike Inc. in any way, shape, or form. All opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of Nike, Inc.

© 1999-2024 NikeTalk.com

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom