My ACL Injury

by mend5
(Alberta)

Hi, I am 16 and on Feb 26th I was playing in a basketball tournament. I was dribbling up the floor and did an "in and out" with the ball and I guess I planted "just right" and heard a sick pop, collapsed and was in shock. Luckily my assistant coach is a doctor so he assessed the injury with some movement tests and he said he was pretty sure it was my ACL. It was really sore and painful that day and the days to follow. The night I got home, a good friend came over who had had problems with her knee starting in her grade ten season (ACL, MCL, and Meniscus). She told me all about her experience and I was devastated at the recovery time and how much i would be missing. I love basketball so much and I was so sad. I never though anything like this would happen to me! I went to see an orthopedic surgeon on March 8th and he confirmed that it was my ACL but he also said it was my MCL and medial meniscus. He also said it would be about a 9 month recovery process. I couldn't help but cry when he broke the news to me. It had been feeling a lot better since it happened, so I was convincing myself that it wasn't going to be a complete tear or wasnt going to be that bad so when he told me, it felt like I tore my ACL all over again. I was devastated! Again! He said he would try to get me in within a month for meniscus surgery then I would have to wait 2-3 months to get ACL (hamstring graft) reconstruction surgery. The following day, the hospital called and they said they had an opening for surgery the following Monday, the 14th! I was excited and nervous but just happy that I got in because it will shorten recovery time!!) We just had provincials up in Edmonton this last weekend. My knee didn't bother me much at all. I was just car sick and headachy whole week. It is now March 21st. One week from my surgery. My surgery went great! And it is feeling a lot better! I have been wearing this huge mobile brace(30-90 degree). I will go back to my ortho surgeon in one week and he will tell me what the deal is. He never talked to me after my surgery so I don't know what he found out when he went in or how it went but I'm hoping it went as good as I think it went! Anyway I just wanted to know what kind of exercises I could be doing to strengthen my knee and leg before surgery in order to shorten the full recovery process. I have already lost one and a half inches off my right leg. Feel free to give me any advice!! Thanks so much!!!!