Torn ACL, surgery or no?

[MVP]

1 year since surgery. Knee is strong, no problem squating or deadlifting weights like before surgery. But hamstring where they took graft keeps giving me problems so no return to soccer or basketball yet. I know I can't change anything now but keep thinking I should have done what 99% of pro's in NBA, NFL and MLS get - a patella tendon graft instead. Oh well, there is still hope it will get better with time and physio but seeing how some people who had patella graft return to basketball after 9-12 month makes me feel disappointed in my choice of surgery to say the least.

 

[LogGrad98]

1 year since surgery. Knee is strong, no problem squating or deadlifting weights like before surgery. But hamstring where they took graft keeps giving me problems so no return to soccer or basketball yet. I know I can't change anything now but keep thinking I should have done what 99% of pro's in NBA, NFL and MLS get - a patella tendon graft instead. Oh well, there is still hope it will get better with time and physio but seeing how some people who had patella graft return to basketball after 9-12 month makes me feel disappointed in my choice of surgery to say the least.

Bummer man, but glad to hear you're on the mend and it was generally successful. You'll get there.

 

[Archie Moses]

I swear my ACL surgery was the start of all my health problems. My right leg is a little over 1" shorter than my left leg now. I wear an 1" sole in my right shoe and it helps.

I've only known this for about 6 months. I think this was either the cause or a factor of tearing my left hip labrum, which I had surgery for last year. The surgery wasn't bad, but the hip is a weird joint and the pain comes and goes.

After my surgery, my left lower back started hurting. It's progressively gotten worse. My doc tried to get me MRIs for it last November, but my insurance denied it until I did something like 8 things of physical therapy (conveniently cause my deductible was paid as well as my out of pocket.) I did physical therapy twice, couldn't walk afterwards.

The last 3 months my lower back pain, left hip, left glute, left thigh, has gotten to be nearly unbearable. Somedays I can barely stand up, lay down, etc, but I've learned to live with it.

I called my new insurance company this year and they approved an MRI. Had the MRI and went to the follow up. I have 2 slightly bulging discs (pretty normal for my age) and on disc that's bulging pretty good as well as a pinch on my sciatic nerve. My doc barely went over my MRI and said to get a cortisone shot.

I was on the fence about getting the shot. I've had one in my upper back about 6 years ago and it worked for about a week. Anyway, I scheduled it and went in to get it this morning. I was concerned about what my doc went over was the cause of my pain because he made it seem like it wasn't that bad.

I had the shot done at a different place from my doc cause his surgery center is out of network. When I got there this morning I was hurting pretty bad and was really still. I could barely stand up straight. When the brought me back to the table, they asked me if I had any questions. I told them my concerns if my back not being the issue and it might be my hip - possibly sacriotic joint dysfunction. I told them the doc was pretty nonchalant in my follow up. They told me that they were certain my pain was caused from my back and showed me my MRI. It was clear as day I had a ruptured disc and pinched nerve. I'm not sure why my doc made it seem like not a big deal.
It made me feel better about getting the shot. The gave it to me and I immediately felt better. I'm still stiff and still have pain, but it's probably 60 to 70% better. I hope it lasts for a while.

Has anyone had good experiences with cortisone shots? My concern is it's just a bandaid and not a permanent solution for my back and hip.

 

[Ron Mexico]

I swear my ACL surgery was the start of all my health problems. My right leg is a little over 1" shorter than my left leg now. I wear an 1" sole in my right shoe and it helps.

I've only known this for about 6 months. I think this was either the cause or a factor of tearing my left hip labrum, which I had surgery for last year. The surgery wasn't bad, but the hip is a weird joint and the pain comes and goes.

After my surgery, my left lower back started hurting. It's progressively gotten worse. My doc tried to get me MRIs for it last November, but my insurance denied it until I did something like 8 things of physical therapy (conveniently cause my deductible was paid as well as my out of pocket.) I did physical therapy twice, couldn't walk afterwards.

The last 3 months my lower back pain, left hip, left glute, left thigh, has gotten to be nearly unbearable. Somedays I can barely stand up, lay down, etc, but I've learned to live with it.

I called my new insurance company this year and they approved an MRI. Had the MRI and went to the follow up. I have 2 slightly bulging discs (pretty normal for my age) and on disc that's bulging pretty good as well as a pinch on my sciatic nerve. My doc barely went over my MRI and said to get a cortisone shot.

I was on the fence about getting the shot. I've had one in my upper back about 6 years ago and it worked for about a week. Anyway, I scheduled it and went in to get it this morning. I was concerned about what my doc went over was the cause of my pain because he made it seem like it wasn't that bad.

I had the shot done at a different place from my doc cause his surgery center is out of network. When I got there this morning I was hurting pretty bad and was really still. I could barely stand up straight. When the brought me back to the table, they asked me if I had any questions. I told them my concerns if my back not being the issue and it might be my hip - possibly sacriotic joint dysfunction. I told them the doc was pretty nonchalant in my follow up. They told me that they were certain my pain was caused from my back and showed me my MRI. It was clear as day I had a ruptured disc and pinched nerve. I'm not sure why my doc made it seem like not a big deal.
It made me feel better about getting the shot. The gave it to me and I immediately felt better. I'm still stiff and still have pain, but it's probably 60 to 70% better. I hope it lasts for a while.

Has anyone had good experiences with cortisone shots? My concern is it's just a bandaid and not a permanent solution for my back and hip.

I've had a couple cortisone shots and they helped a lot. Albeit they were in different places.

It depends what you do with them. If you take a cortisone shot just for pain then it is a bandaid. If you take it for pain and to allow yourself to do physical therapy or get the proper range of motion back and strengthen the muscles it is great and can really help long-term. It cured me of rotator cuff problems I had for years prior.

 

[bigb]

I swear my ACL surgery was the start of all my health problems. My right leg is a little over 1" shorter than my left leg now. I wear an 1" sole in my right shoe and it helps.

I've only known this for about 6 months. I think this was either the cause or a factor of tearing my left hip labrum, which I had surgery for last year. The surgery wasn't bad, but the hip is a weird joint and the pain comes and goes.

After my surgery, my left lower back started hurting. It's progressively gotten worse. My doc tried to get me MRIs for it last November, but my insurance denied it until I did something like 8 things of physical therapy (conveniently cause my deductible was paid as well as my out of pocket.) I did physical therapy twice, couldn't walk afterwards.

The last 3 months my lower back pain, left hip, left glute, left thigh, has gotten to be nearly unbearable. Somedays I can barely stand up, lay down, etc, but I've learned to live with it.

I called my new insurance company this year and they approved an MRI. Had the MRI and went to the follow up. I have 2 slightly bulging discs (pretty normal for my age) and on disc that's bulging pretty good as well as a pinch on my sciatic nerve. My doc barely went over my MRI and said to get a cortisone shot.

I was on the fence about getting the shot. I've had one in my upper back about 6 years ago and it worked for about a week. Anyway, I scheduled it and went in to get it this morning. I was concerned about what my doc went over was the cause of my pain because he made it seem like it wasn't that bad.

I had the shot done at a different place from my doc cause his surgery center is out of network. When I got there this morning I was hurting pretty bad and was really still. I could barely stand up straight. When the brought me back to the table, they asked me if I had any questions. I told them my concerns if my back not being the issue and it might be my hip - possibly sacriotic joint dysfunction. I told them the doc was pretty nonchalant in my follow up. They told me that they were certain my pain was caused from my back and showed me my MRI. It was clear as day I had a ruptured disc and pinched nerve. I'm not sure why my doc made it seem like not a big deal.
It made me feel better about getting the shot. The gave it to me and I immediately felt better. I'm still stiff and still have pain, but it's probably 60 to 70% better. I hope it lasts for a while.

Has anyone had good experiences with cortisone shots? My concern is it's just a bandaid and not a permanent solution for my back and hip.

Schedule your back surgery now. It’s coming. My mom had the same problem. The shots worked for a while, but she had to have surgery eventually.

 

[JazzGal]

Yikes, that all sounds awful, Archie.

Many years ago, I had terrible tendonitis in my wrists. Cortisone shots would help, but only for a couple of months. Over time, I had three in each wrist (the max they would do), and I ended up having surgery on one wrist. However, I've had little pain from either wrist for 20 years now, so the cortisone shots at least fixed the one wrist.

I had a cortisone shot in my foot for plantar fasciitis. Didn't do anything.

I think cortisone is a great thing for some pain relief, and I think it often lets your body heal while you are experiencing the pain relief. But it's not a perfect solution.

 

[Keefe]

Cry harder.

Seriously though, I find doctors to be dismissive as **** like that usually and it’s frustrating as hell. Like, yes you have back issues with a ruptured disc and pinched nerves and that’s causing pain. But the root of those issues could certainly be the hip from what you’re describing and for them to wave you off like that is annoying as ****.

 

[Hotdog]

I had a knee problem for about 5 years. Everytime I went to the doctor they told me it was tendonitis. Finally it got so bad I told then I want an MRI. Turns out I had a golf ball sized cyst growing on My ACL and PCL. I had surgery last February to remove it. Everything went great. Best decision ever getting that done. Cant believe the bad diagnosis's I kept getting.

 

[lauriandres]

I called my new insurance company this year and they approved an MRI. Had the MRI and went to the follow up. I have 2 slightly bulging discs (pretty normal for my age) and on disc that's bulging pretty good as well as a pinch on my sciatic nerve. My doc barely went over my MRI and said to get a cortisone shot.

I was on the fence about getting the shot. I've had one in my upper back about 6 years ago and it worked for about a week. Anyway, I scheduled it and went in to get it this morning. I was concerned about what my doc went over was the cause of my pain because he made it seem like it wasn't that bad.

My wife had similar back problems for several years. Doctors recommended the usual - painkillers, physiotherapy etc. until one day she made an awkward move and was practically legless. She had MRI after couple of days and after that next day disc prolapse surgery by one of the famous doctors (neurosurgeon) in Estonia; it was covered by the social tax. After that it was like heaven, of course, recovery took couple of months.

So in short, maybe the back surgery is the right thing - if not in USA then maybe in some private clinic in a cheaper country elsewhere. If the prices in USA are what they are, then maybe total cost (plane tickets, hotels, surgery) will be cheaper elsewhere?

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

I'm about to invest in some knee sleeves.