Dreaded Triad - Grade 3 MCL, Grade 3 ACL amd Medial meniscus tear

[Bambid]

Hi I am the current owner of the dreaded triad! Grade 2/3 MCL tear, fully ruptured ACL and a medial menicus tear and all at the grand old age of 25. This is the latest in a long line of injurys over the past 6 months starting with a lowly dislocated knee. I tore everything 4 months ago and have just received my 5th cancellation to see the consultant for him to confirm that yes he is going to fix it, and what he is going to fix! In the meantime, I have been warned off all forms of exercise by my phsio, including swimming until its fixed. I have to admit I am now starting to climb the walls, I was previously doing close to 10 hours of exercise a week between hockey, rugby, gym and to go to nothing has been difficult. I am still struggling to walk properly can can only walk/limp for 10 minutes before I have to take a rest and stretch it out. I at least have full bend in my knee, but can't straighten it due, apparently to the meniscus tear. And now the pounds are piling on, not good for summer season! I am supposed to wear a knee brace full time but find that actually, if I then go without it I am in more pain and feel more unstable when I take it off than by not wearing it in the first place, so, I'm not wearing it. I have been told that I need to be as strong as possible for the operation, but obviously with 5 cancellations and no definite surgery date, I don't have a clue when I might finally see the consultant and when my operation might actually be, although I am hoping it might be this year. Given this, I can't sit around doing nothing as that is going to be counter productive for the whole strength thing, and hopefully retaining my position in my sports. So, does anyone have any ideas of what I might be able to do exercise/strengthwise that isn't going to damage my knee any further than it already is. Bambi

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[Yarok]

Hi

I think, You should do exercises and physical therapy, change the physio!
Yaro

[kwunfu]

Hi there,

I agree with Yarok however I would recommend continue to wear the brace for support as you may find that you will experience epsiodes of dislocations which are not pleasant but this may not be the case if your muscles have become accustomed to your injuries as your body has a tendency to compensate.

I would say that I have had a previous patient before that had all 3 injuries howevr was stuck in a rigid brace for 3 months and therefore was stuck in extension and required a lot of physiotherapy such as manual therapy, dry needling and massage to get it back to normal range of movement. I did give them gentle exercises with a theraband which is like a large elastic band to maintain some basic strength. Otherwise doing daily range of movement exercises as below.

Knee Range of Motion Exercises - YouTube

Otherwise I woudl recommend swimming but no kicking so having a pool noodle or bouy between your legs which is very important as kicking will aggravate your symptoms. However dont do any exercises that aggravate or make your pain worse.

I have had patients with injured knees still attend the gym but just so upper body exercises such as weights and the arm cycle (ergometer) machine which may be an idea to keep your sanity.

Also perhaps see another physiotherapist for some manual work like soft tissue release or dry needling as you muscles do tend to compensate and become tight and weak so sometimes (more often than not) releasing the muscle in not just your knee but also your gluteals and lower back assist with symptoms your feeling. Does this make sense? When you compensation and reduce the amount of weight bearing in your injured leg your muscle will automatically waste and reduced in strength becoming tighter and can be a source of pain.

Hope this helps.

Good luck in getting in with the surgery. Ihave found that I tell my patients to call on a weekly basis to check on where you stand with surgery on the waiting list just so they dont forget.