davetheclaw

Hello mate. I rehab quite a few of these as an NHS specialist MSK Physio. Infact, i've just discharged a 64 year old chap who had surgery for essentially the same injury about 9 months ago and we've got him back playing competetive tennis. Highly motivated chap. In my experience, here is what you should expect... 6 weeks no lifting, 4 months of considerable post op pain, about 6-9 months before you get back to riding. So long as you do your Physio there is no reason you cannot get back to trials. As far as rotator cuff tears go, there are hundreds of older people walking around with degenerative cuff tears anyway... who dont even realise... and they function just fine. The shoulder is very clever at learning to compensate so if there is any long term cuff weakness other muscles can learn to help. Shoulder braces are ususally designed to stabilise subluxing/ dislocating shoulders where there is too much capsular/ligament laxity. If you can strengthen up your cuff again and there is no ligament laxity then I doubt you will need a brace. Good luck!

As you are probably aware, ACL repairs are a well debated topic in the orthopaedic world. Truth is, the approach varies all over the world. Some people very much believe in conservative rehab and that even in the absence of the ACL a lot of knees can function very well. In other parts of the world you'd have been in and out of theatre already... this seems to happen a lot in main land Europe on the ski slopes and in my experience are always a bit of a nightmare to rehab. Waiting 6-8/52 and then reconstructing with a graft certainly seems the way to go! The role of the ACL also appears to vary between different people. Sometimes it's more proprioceptive (gives your brain feedback about your knees whereabouts) and sometimes it's crucial in stabilising the knee. If your knee is giving out without the brace you may be a bit more of the latter. Good news... means you should do well with the surgery. You are in a brace to stop the knee giving way and to give it a chance to rest to get that swelling down. Personally i'd advise my pre op ACL's to take the brace off a few times a day non weight bearing and just bend and straighten the knee say 10-15 x and to do some gentle quads and hamstring isometric strengthening exercises (same sorts of exercises people would do day one after a knee replacement). Basically just trying to maintain some power and agility in the joint without compromising it. It's always worth checking with your individual surgeon though coz they all tend to have their own ideas and protocols about how things should be done...

Sorry to hear about your injury. I'm a specialist Physio that happens to ride trials. Usually takes about 6 weeks before they can operate (otherwise big risk of too much scar tissue forming). There is no evidence that wearing a brace makes the knee any more stable afterwards. Some people like to wear one anyway because it increases their confidence in the knee. If they take a patella or hamstring graft you are looking at about a 9 month recovery before you'd want to get back into trials. It needs time to heal in a good position and be able to take repetetive strain. You should make a complete return eventually though. Good luck!