Saturday, March 28, 2009

Oh well. It was good while it lasted.

So my quest to storm the karate circuit has taken a drastic change of course. I had the unfortunate news that I will need to have surgery to replace a torn acl in my right knee.
I have known for four years that there was a small tear in the acl, but it recently tore again. The resulting damage has put my knee out of commission. 

I'm looking at doing the operation in June. Great orthopedist named Dr. William Schell will perform the surgery. 

The good thing is that I won't have to live in constant pain anymore.

More to come soon.

Oh, sorry about the lack of posts. Life has been busy. 


8 comments:

Michele said...

Oh no! Sorry to hear about your ACL. You will be glad that you decided to have the surgery. It is almost two years since my ACL surgery and I am glad that I had it done.

Good luck with your upcoming surgery.

John Lyons-Sensei Universal Goju Karate School said...

All I'm hearing was lots of pain, slow rehab, never being the same again, etc. What was you experience?

Michele said...

I was lucky because I did not have much pain. I tore my ACL but I did not have meniscus damage. Recovery is slow and requires much patience (this was the hardest part for me). My knee is not the same but it serves me well. I recently started playing racquetball and learning tai chi in addition to Okinawa Kenpo.

I started my blog during ACL recovery. Most of my early entries are about ACL recovery. If you get a chance, you might want to check out my older posts. I also have links to other martial artist who had the surgery.

It is so important to keep your leg strong before surgery. I went injury to surgery in three weeks. I did not have the chance to pre-hab my quad. It took me a while to regain pre-injury strength.

John Lyons-Sensei Universal Goju Karate School said...

I still have a bit room to manuvere around my surgery scheduling. I'm looking into a pre-surgery training routine for the quad. Any suggestions of where I can look for workouts?

Patrick Parker said...

By all means, Pre-hab, as in a few weeks of workouts with a physical therapist before surgery can make a big difference.

And ACL surgery/recovery does not have to mean the end of an athletic career. You can recover to a very high level - even to competition level. (though it's not easy...)

check out this article by Olympian Rhadi Ferguson...

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-True-Measure-of-Toughness-Occurs-When-You-Are-Coming-Back-From-an-Injury&id=549189

Michele said...

I agree with Patrick...get in touch with a Physical Therapist. Your surgeon may be able to recommend one. A PT will be able to design a workout program based on your specific injury. My PT was familiar with karate (I taught her kids)and even had an ACL repair done herself.

Michele said...

How is your knee?

Mr. Martial Arts said...

Sorry to hear about your ACL. Good luck with your upcoming surgery.