Pretty sure I have a torn ACL

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Tron

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This didn't happen recently either btw. It either happened a few years ago when I was in Germany and filling in for a guy at my friends rugby team practice or at some random point in the 10 years before that.

The reason I say it could of happened before that is because I believe I remember being able to move my leg back then, as I can now.

Ok maybe I should back up a bit because I'm kind of going in odd directions. I'll go about this is numbered steps. But before I do I will say that I have not had it checked out by any doctor and really don't plan to anytime soon to see if it is really tore or not. Now onto the steps.

1. I was born with a leg deformity that resulted in one leg being shorter than the other.

2. When I was 15 the length discrepancy between my left(good leg) and my right was around 2 1/2 inches. My orthopedist asked me if I wanted to have surgery to fix this problem or take a pill which would be another solution. The surgery would allow me to grow to my full height(5'10 now) and the pills would make my bones stop growing in my left leg and allow my right leg to catch up or some shit like that and my max height would go to around 5' 7 1/2. So of course I opted for the surgery since it was supposed to be a two part process. Cut my tibia and fibula, insert external fixator which is basically inserting some rods into my tibia that come out of my skin onto a mechanism block that I crank daily that separates the bones and when it has been elongated enough they have the 2nd procedure in which they remove it. Then the bones grow back together and bam, it's all done.

3. I had the first operation for this in the summer in June 2001 between my junior and senior year in high school. Won't go super detailed into it all but the 2 surgeries turned into 7 basically with multiple complications that included(but not limited to) bones veering of course, rods inserted, hamstring issues, Achilles tendon surgery that went badly, major staph infection that almost killed me/needed leg amputation, and pic lines and major awesome drugs I miss lol. It was a rough 6 months especially since I had to deal with these 7 surgeries in a 6 month time frame all in the first half of my senior year at school.

4. In the end my leg was shit but I got to keep it and could still walk and it got to the desired length.

5. No over the years since then my knee has hurt from time to time but could be worse.

6. Now as I said earlier, I belive I tore it on that certain trip to Germany, but I can't be sure if I had torn it before that or not. I think that is the most likely time though.

7. At the practice my knee started getting sore right away, which is normal cause it's a piece of shit, but I have learned to deal with it and continue on.

Near the end of the practice I planted and went to cut and it didn't work out. My knee went into an explosion of pain and could barely walk on it so I lomped off the field and was done. In the days following my knee still hurt like a bitch and gave out multiple times daily. Especially on stairs. I became the most cautious walker when going up or down stairs, but even still, for weeks and weeks it would give out at random times. It eventually stopped hurting and stopped giving out, partially due to me still being massively careful with it. I never even thought about what might have happened, just figured I used it to hard during the practice and it got a bad tweak.

7. It wasn't until Bradford tore his acl a 2nd time and I watched a video someone posted a link to about how to tell if you have a torn acl or not that the thought entered my mind that I had possibly torn it at some point. This isn't the exact video but it does show the symptoms if a person has a torn acl.


8. I can move it a lil when doing it on myself. It's not easy to tell though because my knee and bones aren't in the normal positions like my left leg. But there is one thing I can do that moves it a ton.

Here is a short video of my right knee that I took a few minutes ago and why I believe I tore it. When I try this with my left leg it doesnt move at all.



So this was longer than I had planned and could probably of cut out 90% of it but oh well. Wrote it all so no point deleting and wasting it.

Anyone tore their acl before and has any information or thoughts on this matter?

Thoughts? Opinions? Torn? Not torn?
 

Mike

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I've torn mine. It was very painful and I heard it pop. It sounded like a dry stick snapping Go get it checked the video you posted does seem to indicate your ACL is torn. I'm not a doctor though. I watched the video of an ACL diagnosis and it seems to look similar to your video I had an MRI and it showed it was ruptured along with my MCL. No meniscus damage though the rehab was long and my knee was painful throughout. Swelling and such. A bag of frozen peas was my friend. And the electro stim machine. I was given a huge bottle of Vicodin. I flushed it.


Best of luck to you.
 

Prime Time

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I'd say go to the doctor before anything else.

@Tron - My wife who has been a physical therapy asst. for about 35 years affirms what blue advised. If you have metal in your leg you won't be able to get an MRI though but they should be able to figure out your condition some other way. Best of luck.
 

Tron

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I will set up an appointment soon I suppose. Hate doctors and hospitals and anything dealing with any of that.

Thanks for all the luck guys :)
 

Angry Ram

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Welcome to the club.

My got partially torn, and everyone told me that's worse. I also was terrified of stairs and it felt like my knee could give out any moment.

I can still feel a different sensation there, and if I'm not careful I can be in pain in an instant.
 

Tron

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Welcome to the club.

My got partially torn, and everyone told me that's worse. I also was terrified of stairs and it felt like my knee could give out any moment.

I can still feel a different sensation there, and if I'm not careful I can be in pain in an instant.
Yeah, it's an odd sensation that just kind of feels wrong in a way. Always careful with it now, don't want that insanely sharp quick pain again, such a horrible feeling.

Did you get yours repaired?
 

fearsomefour

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Wow. That is crazy with your leg/surgeries growing up. Had a friend who opted against the surgery. Did the other way, the shorter leg never "caught up".
 

Tron

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Wow. That is crazy with your leg/surgeries growing up. Had a friend who opted against the surgery. Did the other way, the shorter leg never "caught up".
Damn, that had to be a huge disapointment for him. Did he just live with how it ended up?
 

fearsomefour

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Damn, that had to be a huge disapointment for him. Did he just live with how it ended up?
Yeah.
Had one smaller foot too. Drag because he always had to buy two pairs of shoes. He was very fast runner however and actually ran some track but started having hip issues.
Nice guy, became a drunk. Don't know if that related to anything.
 

Tron

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Yeah.
Had one smaller foot too. Drag because he always had to buy two pairs of shoes. He was very fast runner however and actually ran some track but started having hip issues.
Nice guy, became a drunk. Don't know if that related to anything.
I have a smaller foot as well, it sucks. Size 10 normally on left foot, 8 1/2 on right. Understand the hip issue, I have a crooked spine now for many years since early teens because of this. I like to drink but not a drunk, maybe there is a correlation somehow.
 

Angry Ram

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Yeah, it's an odd sensation that just kind of feels wrong in a way. Always careful with it now, don't want that insanely sharp quick pain again, such a horrible feeling.

Did you get yours repaired?

Nah. According to my doctor there was no need, as I was walking the day I tore it.

You see it can repair naturally, again according to my doctor, the ACL is like a hair braid and as it braids back it should get fixed in time.

And honestly 1 year after I initially tore it, felt great. I was running without any issues. It's just if I make a sudden pivot or jump there's an issue.