torn acl issues

OK, so maybe it's NOT a good idea to climb Baker after using my AT setup maybe 6 times, but hey, I figure, how hard can this skiing stuff be??? French fries, pizza, right? Simple!

Thankfully we had the common sense to take the skis off at the buttes. Also thankfully I blew out the left knee so I could traverse much of the return trip on my right leg.

So, this winter I'm watching my quads shrink until the new acl graft can get fully glued into place. I'll be psyched to get a day or two in, oh, say, June.

WHEN I get back out there I'll be interested in maybe not using dynafits anymore. It seems like they are a great binding for someone who knows how to ski. I, however, do not. I would like a binding that releases more predictably, Like the freeride. Something that will protect my multi-thousand-dollar replacement acl. And of course, next winter I will be paying my dues in-bounds. Hell, I might even swallow my pride and take a lesson.

Hence, questions for those who look at this post:

Binding recommendations.

Ski recommendations. I currently have BD havocs and Scarpa laser 3-buckle boots. Suitable for a noob like me?

Sharing experience with blown acl's and returning to skiing.

Very sorry to hear about your knee. When you say that you don't know how to ski ... do you mean you don't know how to ski on AT gear ... or do you mean you don't know how to ski at all? If you don't know how to ski at all, or have only been skiing six times, then the bindings aren't the problem.

In any case, Dynafits and Freerides are great bindings. It's really a preference issue. I don't think that you're more or less likely to injure yourself with either setup. I've heard so many differing opinions on both bindings in terms of releasability and applications that I gave up trying to choose and purchased both.

...Sharing experience with blown acl's and returning to skiing.

I have a transplanted acl in my left knee (a patellar transplant) (surgery in May of 2001), repair of a meniscal tear, and bone on bone on the medial side because of a compressed/messed up meniscus and significant osteoarthritis.. I ski 50+ days a year. So far so good. My advice:

Do not rush your recovery. Let your knee heal fully. You do not want to re injure it before it has a chance to heal FULLY.

Talk to your ortho surgeon about a DonJoy brace for skiing which can prevent an over extension tear. I wear The Defiance. The brace can also shift weight onto your lateral meniscus if needed.

On ski days I take three 200 mg Ibuprofen before skiing

I bike extensively (3,000 miles since January 1), a low impact exercise for keeping strong muscles to compensate for knee instability

Avoid excess body weight. Every pound is on your knee every step.

I take a jacuzzi every night after skiing.

If skiing off piste, make sure you are using all mountain skis that are heavy enough to bust through crud instead of bouncing you around on your skis.

Avoid skiing on days when the snow is really hard or icy

I used to ice my knee immediately after skiing but it tended to make it stiff. However, some people religiously ice the knee.

Definitely learn how to ski properly so that gravity and the skis do as much of the work as possible to minimize stress on knees

Hope some of this might be helpful. I wish you the best of luck.

Dynafits vs Freerides?  Well neither release from the toe, so with a healing knee I'd say both are out since you can twist your leg around reeeaallly far before either will release from the front (trust me I know).  Look at Naxo bindings or Marker's Duke or Barron.  Before all you player haters chime in - I know the Markers are really slack country bindings - too heavy - bla bla bla, but when your knee's at  stake what's a pound (Barron) more when you know the ski will remove itself from your leg at just the right moment.  Plus the Dukes are a great binding compared to the lateral movement of all but the Dynafits - Lou Dawson's tests - and I just replaced a pair of Freerides with the Barrons and the difference is noticeable.

Lasers are great BC boots, but they are a bit hard to learn on since they are so soft.  My first pair of BC boots were the Matrix (Scarpa's Laser replacemet) and while I loved them going up and kicking steps up peaks, they would all but fold on anything really demanding going down.   The idea of replacing the tongues with the black ones built for the Tornado is an idea, but it never suited me since they placed me too far upright and the angle felt all wrong.  Look at the Spirit 3 or 4 as a beefier alternative (I went with the 4's and love them)  

Now your Havoc's are really great skis (keep'em), pair them with a binding more suited to your speedy recovery, and get some stiffer boots to drive them with.  All this while staying in bounds for a while and (suck it up) take some lessons - there are some excellent instructors around here.

And before all you Dynafities get too red in the face - I have a pair, love them and use them with caution. Pound for (lack of) pound you can beat'em, but if we can put a man on the moon shouldn't we be able to make a light weight BC binding that is durable, and releases from the toe too? - The Naxo has too many parts/bumpers for my taste and the ride height is too high, but my roommate loves his so....  

cd

P.s. is this Dave H from WV?

dave
pm or email and I'll send you a copy of the article from a previous Ski Magazine  entitled "All About Your ACL." Very informative and skier specific info. I couldn't find a current link.

So, this winter I'm watching my quads shrink

Sorry to hear about your knee. Here's my experience, for what it's worth:

I blew out my ACL and partially tore the medial meniscus and medial collateral ligament 35 years ago, right after I started skiing (no connection to the injury, though--mine was from a logging accident). I gave up skiing and went through several years of instability and frustration due to the primitive nature of orthopedic surgery back in those antediluvian days. After the first surgery they put a straight-leg cast on my leg, which left my leg with no muscles at all when it came out after 2 months. It was 5 years before they did my ACL repair (probably a good thing; it gave them time to develop arthroscopic surgery techniques) and got me into serious physical therapy. I used to need a knee brace almost all the time, even for just walking around. I've had 3 custom-molded ones over the years. By far the best one was the Townsend--the lightest and most supportive (and coolest-looking). I still have it, but I haven't used it for the past 5 years, even though I'm skiing more than ever (50+ days last year).

The most important thing that allows me to keep skiing (and not needing the knee brace) is weightlifting. After over 30 years of bone to bone contact, I have significant arthritis on the medial side of my right knee. Whenever it starts hurting, I do my heavy leg workout and the pain goes away. In recent years I've found that, in addition to the more obvious quad & hamstring exercises, strengthening the muscles around my hips (adbuction, adduction, Roman chair) helps a lot in stabilizing my knee. When doing athletic activities nowadays I frequently feel stresses on my knee that probably would have torn it apart 25 years ago, but the muscles hold it together now. I think in addition to the strengthening, all the resistance exercises have "educated" the muscles--they react more quickly and seem to instinctively do the right things to protect my knee. It's gotten to where I don't have to think about it anymore.

Keith has some great advice---I do most of those things (except for the jacuzzi---but only because I don't have one!). A few others that seem to help:

stretching after weightlifting and skiing
flexibility work
other anti-inflammatories: glucosamine/chondroitin/MSM, curry (for the turmeric and ginger), raw pineapple

Good luck with your recovery!