Back to riding after knee operation!

snakedoc

Tore my ACL in my left knee whilst on a skiing trip in March this year (had an MRI to confirm).

Always used to ride a little on my trek 7.5 fx hybrid but nothing serious (about 10-15 miles a month at the most).

Prior to my accident I used to run alot, and I found (once the swelling went down) that I was going out of mind being unable to get outside. My consultant said to me that the better condition my legs were in, the quicker my recovery would be and so I dug out my trek and commenced cycling 10 miles a day on the road, building to more and more as time progressed. I could not go offroad due to the risk of putting my bad leg down (as I had some instability in my left knee as a result of the torn ACL).

Found myself getting more and more into it, and then started reading stuff on this forum and flicking through various mags. To cut a long story short, I ended up getting a specialized tarmac comp and all the gear to with it.

Prior to my operation to reconstruct my ACL, I was doing 25-40 miles a day enjoying seeing my progress improve as hills begain to feel easier and also felt no aches/pains the same day/following day.

Had my op at the beginning on July and of course that was the end of my cycliing for a while as they take a graft from my left hamstring to reconstruct the ACL (all done by keyhole, amazing stuff!).

Today is the first day that I could go out on my bike and it felt great, albeit that I can't apply full force when I pedal with my left leg so am a good bit slower than I used to be! Prob means that I'll be scalped by all types of riders who'll prob laugh when they pass me on my bike!

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and introduce myself and to say that I've really enjoyed reading /learning all about road cycling on here since I've taken it up (which I wouldn't have done had it not been for the accident).

In fact it was this forum that pointed me to the discounted Oakley Custom website where I managed to get some jawbones for nothing!!

Finlab6

Had ACL reconstructed 15 years ago. Last few years it always ached a bit. In sept I started commuting by bike and bought a road bike for the weekend. Have cycled 1000miles in 1st 6 months of this year and now I never get any pain. Keep at it

cwm

was out riding 6 weeks after my 2nd right leg acl recon in may,stiil as slow as i was before, but no probs with knee at all,suffering a bit with left cartilage op i had at same time but have just started to run for the 1st time in 25 years so maybe its a bit of a shock to the knee,
aches and pains are all in the mind or so i'm told lol.

welcome to the fold

merak

Had an ACL tear playing badminton and some slight instability afterwards but not enough to warrant an op. Went back to cycling a month afterwards. It certainly helped stabilise the problem and it never really hurt on the bike. After two years I had zero pain or problems running and playing sports and I think the cycling helped. Providsed you're set up right and have a good cadence, I think cycling is good for knees. Hope all goes well.

briantrumpet

merak wrote:

Had an ACL tear playing badminton and some slight instability afterwards but not enough to warrant an op.

Very similar here (knee twanged playing a badminton match). Consultant suspected a bucket-handle tear of the meniscus, but since I could do everything I enjoy doing other than badminton without having an op, I decided not to have the op, give up badminton and up the cycling, given that badminton was never going to improve my knees. I've now had the cycling bug seriously for a year or so, having been a pootler up till then. And I don't think I've ever been fitter, even back in my teens and twenties.

snakedoc wrote:

Anyway, just wanted to say hi and introduce myself and to say that I've really enjoyed reading /learning all about road cycling on here since I've taken it up (which I wouldn't have done had it not been for the accident).

Welcome! BR is a great place to learn, as long as you can sort the wheat from the chaff! I hope your recovery is speedy. If you get just half as much pleasure as I have out of cycling, you'll have a great time.