Chelsey's ACL (pre) Surgery

by Chelsey
(Canada)

My name is Chelsey and I am 16 years old, and very athletic. I play rugby, basketball, volleyball, softball and I am a highly competitive cheerleader.

I tore my ACL in September 2010 while at a cheerleading practice. I was landing a simple front handspring when I landed on my feet in a strange manner. My knee immediately snapped in a hyper extension and slid sideways. I dropped to the floor and immediately knew that I just had seriously injured my knee. I just kind of sat there for a minute trying to figure out the extent of my injury. My friend seen what I had done and helped me to my feet. At first the pain was not so bad, and I could even manage to walk a bit on my leg. Although I could walk, my knee was extremely unstable and felt as though it was sliding out of place, which when happened, was excruciating. I managed to limp my way out of the cheerleading gym and went home.
Once I was home the extent of what I had done really set in. My knee started to swell and become very painful. I knew something was seriously wrong. I then proceeded to head to the emergency room at the hospital.
Now,in January of 2011, after about 10 appointments, an MRI, physiotherapy, special movements and a lot of ice I am soon due for surgery (January 20th). I am so so so nervous and I am very scared I will not be able to return to my sports as soon as I want to, and I'm really frightened I won't be at the same level I was at prior to my injury.
At this point in time, I can do a fair bit of activity providing I am wearing my special ACL brace. I can jog, run, go up and down stairs very well and can bend my knee to 127 degrees (which is pretty good). Occasionally I still have instability and "popping" in my knee when I let my guard down or try something difficult (like basic gymnastics) and sometimes my knee gets stiff and gets painful to stretch out.

Chelsey's ACL surgery continued.

by Chelsey
(Canada)

I had previously written my story here about 2 weeks before my surgery. It has now been 3 months since my surgery and things are going quite well. I can jog, run, jump, climb stairs and even do some basic gymnastics providing I am wearing my brace. I even competed in Cheerleading Expo Nationals in Halifax a week ago and got first place! Although my knee is progressing quite better and quicker than average there are problems as well. I find my knee kinks and cramps up time to time, sometimes when going down stairs as my bad knee bends it doesn't bend all the way and when I stand for long periods of time my injured leg gets weak and tired well before my good leg.
Hope everyone's ACLs are coming along well!!