Is not too  late to minimize further swelling.  Certainly keep off yr get as much as possible and elevate with ice around your knee.  Frozen peas are really good as the smaller size helps get the cold to all areas around the wound site of the joint.  Maybe time for some more fishing and a coaching role? 

You might be ok if you could walk on it. When I did my ACL I went down in a screaming heap and I couldnt walk without assistance and it swelled up pretty much straight away.

+ 1 to keeping the ice on it and staying off it. Fingers crossed you did anything but an ACL.....

what has that got to do with fishing, is this not a fishing site.

 its in General Discussion not Fishing section, maybe you didnt notice...

 Done my ACL way before it was fashionable back in 1981. Still paying the price for it these days.

 Firse real motorbike accident. Very few got reconstructions then, just plastered for a whle and physio. And an $1800 payout for a permanent 20% loss of ability in that leg. Still going on the same joint, somehow, after a cleanup in the late 90's. 

 That's no good m8

who do you play for and what league cob I play footy for Rockingham in the masters over 45s dreading if I get a major injury but been lucky not too,  except I tore my tendons and ligaments from elbow back in 2011 wish you a speedy recovery 

So like a few others here, I've done an ACL too. (Exact same way as you) If you didn't hear a 'pop' it might just be meniscus damage? fingers crossed for that anyway!
if you have to have a recon, I wouldn't expect any fishing posts for a while.
it took me ages to have the stability in my knee to handle going out on a boat.

again, fingers crossed for the best mate.

High grade tear of the ACl lads. Shattered doesn't even begin to describe it

 Jackfrost 80 shit luck mate. Like a few of the other boys on here had my share of footy injuries. Only thing i can highly recommend for quality of life long term. DONT TAKE SHORTCUTS ON THE REHAB !!!

Good luck mate maybe more time on the water longterm.(always looking for a positive)

Regards Humpback 

ACL reconstructions are a bastard I felt like I had a prosthetic limb for quite a while afterwards your leg dosent even feel apart of your body. Good advice to get it done asap after the swelling has dropped a bit. I left mine a few years and kept building the muscle in an attempt to avoid the surgery but it got me in the end it just became too unstable.

Dont be lazy with the rehab after either it is a living hell but the work you put in will influence the end result.

Keep punching bud I feel your pain!

Surgery booked for 17 Oct right on the eve of the demeral ban haha. Got one of the leading surgeons in Tao Lim who did a brillinat job on the cartilage tear on my other knee last year as I was back playing footy after 7 weeks. He has developed a technique using the hamstring that fully takes in 6 months rather than the usual 9-12 months and has been lecturing it throughout Germany recently so I'm a lot happier with that prognosis.

He had a spot available this Friday due to a cancellation but I leave for Green Head Thursday for 5 days of fishing and just wasn't mentally ready to go through it this soon. Really torn on that as I'd love to get it done right away but I also need the break and have already forked out the $$.

Guess the exercise bike, pool and weights are gonna be my best friends for the next 5 months.

 Good to hear you are set for surgery.  Go away and enjoy green head and when you come back you can relax and watch the eagles lose every second week.  (which is much better than watching your team lose every week)

Well after sleeping on it I contacted the surgeon to see if the appointment was still available and they were about to ring around to fill it. A quick chat to the Mrs and my brother and mates who were going to Green Head and I am booked in to go under the knife Friday morning. I am nervous as all hell at what is in store but the fact remains I have to get it done either way and may as well be back into my Muay Thai and be able to run around with the kids sooner rather than 18 months down the track. Time to get a cover for the boat and put the girl into retirement for the time being...

Plenty of time now to watch Eagles gain a game over Freo every fortnight Randall 

I think you have made the right choice. Get it done sooner rather than later. Rehab indoors during Winter will at least get you up and about when you otherwise would be sitting around watching footy. You will then be right to go come Christmas.

Good luck with the op.

 See how ya all go with two shot knees like I do, walk around in constant pain due to arthritis in the joints. Thumb joint shot too and all at 48 woo lucky me. 

Smart move getting it done sooner - less muscle wasting before surgery = less rehab after and better outcome plus 5 months is a long time to think about the surgery, esp. when you are so worried about it.

Relatively easy and predictable surgery - it's all about the rehab. Find a physio. who specialises in post-surgical rehab, not just any local rub a dub dub physio. that needs another patient.

Good luck mate. (I had 2 broken hands and a crushed heel last year for awhile - wasn't fun, but recovered fine - as you will)

Good call on getting it done sooner rather than later.

As its been said make sure you get a good rehab physio and stick to it regardless of how boring it is.

I didnt follow my rehab schedule properly (had other things on my mind as a 14 year old) and to this day 12 years later i still have 2 different sized thighs and knee pain!

Omega 3 fatty acids are a good and natural anti-inflammatory so get some guys off this site to go and catch you some fish (pref. dhufish for taste, but herring, salmon, tailor, etc for the oil content) and drop them off to you to aid in the healing process.

 Practice hard at your Muay Thai and you might get picked as a centre half forward for maddington

We left Maddo JFC around 4 weeks ago after being there for around 10 years. It was always much more fun watching the Maddo supporters than their football team. Moved to Gosnells FC - surprisingly it is about 3 levels up in class.

 good luck Friday good choice Jackfrost. Ill jump on the band wagon REHAB REHAB REHAB only reason i can still walk

Out but absolutely fucked! New ACL fashioned from my hammy and 2x torn meniscus repairs.
Buggers used a nerve block so I can't even morph up haha

 Day 3 in recovery and I am so glad I got it done on Friday rather than 5 minths time.

After convincing the nurses I did indeed feel a lot of pain above  the nerve block Friday night they gave me a double dose of oxycontin and tremadol and I was in a good place watching the footy.

Slept for 30 min intervals all night freaking out about my paralysed leg that couldn't feel anything but by 7am the block began to wear off along with the pain relief. By 8:30 I was begging for more painkillers but had to wait until 9:30.

Who should appear at 9:00... the physio to test my mobility and ability to do the exercise. She said she'd come back once I had pain relief but I was keen to forge a strong mental approach going forward and pushed through almost in tears with a couple of exercises.

Since then I've been nailing the rehab 3x per day and resting, icing and doing my full extension periods and keeping to my painkiller schedule.

I can already walk without crutches but am going to keep taking some weight with them until I get further advice from the physio tomorrow.

Gotta wear this huge brace for 6 weeks due to the meniscus repairs which is already pissing me off but I am feeling pretty positive about the whole process and getting back to full functionality on or ahead of schedule.

Saw the physio today and he's given me an A grade and says I am  already physically 2 weeks ahead of schedule. I am only 1-2 degrees off full extention and already at 90 degrees flexion which is all I am allowed to go to due to the meniscus repair which will push out my ROM rehab. Swelling is excellent and muscle waste is minimal due to my running, footy and muay thai conditioning.

Thanks to all those that took the time out to share their experiences and offer support and hopefully I see yas in the water this summer!

Well 3.5 weeks month down the track and I've had one small setback which was a very sharp pain on top of the tibia after getting off crutches and 2 days later walking around a lot with the kids to the movies and then taking them to Timezone where I got a bit more involved than I should have. Also had a cricket ball sized lump on my shin in between the gaps in the brace but since I've stopped taking blood thinnners it's begun to reduce. I am getting around without a limp but still in this godaweful brace although I did manage to take it off Sunday night for another activity I've been missing as much as fishing...

Had my hospital checkup today and progressing ahead of schedule and have progressed onto the strength based training a few days ahead of schedule rather than clenching my muscles which was beginning to drive me nuts as it's 45 mins 3x per day and can now get on the exercise bike and air walker.

Looking good to being able to get back boating on the river in about 8 weeks which I am stoked about and did a shore based bream fish on the weekend to scratch my itch and got me and my boy onto a couple of nice breamskis.

 mate. Slow and steady. 

Glad to hear you are in a good frame of mind. That is half the battle won I reckon.

Keep up the good work. 

 Mate I feel your pain I just had a high tibial osteotomy done on my leg and I had to sit around for 4 months now and just watched all the fish photos come in. 

Good Work

7.5 weeks down now. I am keeping this as a bit of a diary for myself and anyone else interested to took back in in the future.

I got the brace off 2 weeks ago today and was allowed to start riding the exercise bike for 20 mins on low resistance and start the dreaded flexion of the knee past 90 degrees which I hopped into straight away for 2 days then got struck down with this dreaded flu and that combined with that pain in the front of my shin really put a brake on my rehab exercises and to top it off I also felt a pop under the knee cap trying to flex the knee on the 3rd day and suffered some swelling which made flexing the knee even harder. I also still have a quite swollen popliteal at the back of the knee which also gives my grief especially when trying to flex the knee.

Basically had the flu for 11 days straight and it only broke yesterday and I really had to force myself to do my rehab as it was the last thing I felt like doing but some days I only managed one session and did zero sessions on the bike or the airwalker. Basically just been cracking stubbies instead which I must admit certainly did not help but miserable is as miserable does.

Anyhow woke up yesterday morning and felt 1000x better but feeling my stomach pushing into my belt buckle so time to hop back into it and pushed out a good 20mins on the bike and 10 mins on the rower to see how I’d go with that along with 3 physio sessions for the day and 3 knee flexing sessions and a 30 min walk last night. Really got to remind myself that just because I can’t go down and smash out 2.5 hours at my Muay Thai gym, train at footy or go for a 10km run there are still things I need to do to get back into them other than sucking back stubbies.

Good news is that the knee itself feels strong and it is starting to look like a knee again. I am confident in getting around now and am able to climb in and out of the boat so have been busily upgrading my sounder which including glassing up a hole in the dash. I climbed out of the boat on Sat and without even thinking swung around on the gunwale a leapt to the ground like I normally do and mid-air all I could think was “WHAT THE FUCK HAVE I DONE”. Luckily I stuck the landing like a Russian gymnast and the knee felt very strong but I certainly won’t be doing that again in a hurry until it’s officially time to do the leap test. I reckon I am about 2-4 weeks away from jumping back in the boat to hit some smooth water with my physio/surgeon’s blessing of course.

 Had my 12 week 'anniversary' yesterday which is a significant milestone for an ACL reco as the graft is now implanted and has formed it's own blood supply and I can now progress to swimming with a kick, riding and actual bike and whilst my surgeon says I am now able to jog my physio is a bit more conservative. For someone that runs 85 min half marathons this is killing me! I still have to be extremely careful not to twist the knee for another 12 weeks. Time to start losing that 5kg I've stacked on.

Saw the surgeon 3 weeks ago and he did a few tests and says it's a very strong graft and my physio did an assessment yeaterday and says it's a textbook recovery albeit about 10 degrees off full flexion. Time to really start pushing through that last bit of stiffness! I was pretty vigilant with my rehab especially in those first 4 weeks my right thigh is as big as and almost as defined than my left.

My physio says I am now fine to go out in a boat but my surgeon has suggested it's best to wait until the 6 month mark in case I slip. On seeing the look on my face he said "and if you're going to ignore me at least wear you're brace"... I am currently in the process of installed a boat latch to reduce my chances of slipping in the ramp! Unfortunately the bastards glassed over the backing plate so it's going to be a lot harder than I hoped.

Had my 16 week anniversary and have now progressed to running again and it was like a duck to water and twice last week I did a walk/jog/walk for 6km and probably run about 4km of it doing it in about 40 mins and comfortably running at a 4:45/km pace. 

Saw my surgeon yesterday and he reckons it’s one of his better grafts is now happy for me to keep working with my physio and doesn’t feel the need to see me again. If anyone is looking for a brilliant surgeon then lookup Mr Tao Shan Lim at Joondalup Orthopaedic Group.

Also decided to take the boat out for Father's Day with my brother for the first time since May 1 and we launched at Bayswater and worked some ground from Belmont race course back to Bayswater for not a single fish and about 3 strikes in 3 hours using Cranka Crabs, Ecogear SX40s, blue sardines, prawns and blades. Found it very hard in the glass boat as the downstream current and upstream wind were fighting each other all day. I think I’ll invest in a rear anchor for river fishing but I can’t wait until I am confident enough to take the dinghy out and stand on the casting platform and get right into those snags with the electric motor. In any case I was in my boat, sipping a cold beer with my bro, listening to Pantera and was happy as a pig in shit.

Heading down to Dunsborough for 12 glorious days soon so looking to contribute something to this site other than footy banter etc like pics of dirty big snapper!

 Good stuff JF, keep it up.

Time is flying by. Well done on the rehab and progress.

Seeing as you are 15 weeks ahead of Nic Naitanui...is there any chance you can lend your knees to him so we get him back by the bye round next season:) 

and we're back on the water!

Back on the water is a big plus, you have put in the hard yards now enjoy the reward.