Sunday, May 20, 2012

ACL Reconstruction - Five Years

May 15, 2012 was the 5 year anniversary of my ACL surgery.  Five years!

The initial purpose of this blog was to interact and document my recovery from surgery and my return path to karate.  The anniversary posts are important to me.  They serve as a reminder of how far I have come and how fragile the human body can be.  I tore my ACL landing a jump during a two person form.  It was not a contact injury rather my body turned against itself.  My foot planted and my knee went in the opposite direction. 

The truth is that I have been thinking a lot about my knee lately.  I have been training hard and pushing my knee with intensity.  After some practice sessions, my knee feels gooey (it is the best word I can use to describe it).  I have been training on several different flooring surfaces - carpet, mat, padded surface. I have a variety of knee braces in my locker which I normally do not use.  Last month, I bought a thin brace at the drugstore after a knee challenging workout. The thin brace provides support without restricting movement.

And then there is jumping...

I have been hesitant to jump in kata since my recovery.  I do the jumps...kind of.  I added a column to my spreadsheet and listed the number of jumping techniques in kata (19) and the number of times you drop to one knee (13),  The numbers are approximate because I keep finding more.   The worst knee moment for me is landing a jump kick on my right (reconstructed ACL) leg.  I hesitate and hesitation is not good.  I am at a point in my training where I need to do the jumps.

Best of luck to all who are going through ACL surgery and recovery!  Thank you for all the emails over the past five years with your questions and comments.  Check out my ACL links page for more information.  If anyone would like to share their ACL success story and write a guest post, feel free to contact me. 

7 comments:

The Strongest Karate said...

ACL: the sole reason I do not train in Kyokushin Karate for competition.

I am glad to hear that you're still kickin ass!

Rick Matz said...

Happy Anniversary to the blog. I am looking forward to the next five years of posts, and hope the ACL episode in your life becomes a distant memory.

Michele said...

Thanks!

Journeyman said...

5 years! That's pretty amazing. While I've been lucky enough not to experience what you have, I've had to alter my training over the years to compensate for knee issues. Congrats about the condition of your knee and for adding to the blog-o-sphere for the last half decade.

Keep up the great work on both counts.

Jhenc said...

I would like to thanks the author for posting an informative article like this. It really help those people who are hopeless in their life especially those people who are experiencing a same circumstances.
Here are 7 benefits of the ACL Reconstruction:
1. Surgery is often done under a local anaesthetic resulting in shorter wait times, less trauma and faster recovery.
2. Success rate ranges from 82% to 95%
3.The patient may regain full range of movement and be able to return to previous levels of activity.
4. Prevent further tissue damage to the ACL.
5. Help to prevent early onset arthritis.
6. Provide relief from intense pain and swelling.
7. With the outpatient procedure there is less scarring and faster recovery
To know more about Pros and Cons of ACL Reconstruction, you can visit http://aclreconstructionsurgery.org/

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