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captmoto
3/3/2018 5:57am
3/3/2018 5:57am
Anyone riding with a total knee replacement? I'm going for a consultation on Tuesday. If you are how does it feel riding and do you wear a knee brace? Did your doctor say it was OK or did you just decide to go for it? I would hate to give up riding but my knee has a pretty negative affect on a lot of other aspects on my life.
Yes you can ride, however the pounding it takes will shorten it's life span and in the event you re-injure it in a crash, the damage can be severe.
Doc told me to give up riding but I just can't not ride.I have a couple of buddies that still race with Artificial knees.
I had a bad crash at Pala in July 2016 and tore my ACL completely as well as my medial and lateral meniscus. My ortho is the ortho for the San Diego Padres. He opted to do a hamstring graft to use as my replacement ACL. He was able to salvage both sides of the meniscus by cleaning it up and stitching it up.
I was off the bike for 11 months. I never even felt pain from the ACL injury (aside from my hamstring being very sore for about 2 weeks after surgery), rather the meniscus recovery was a very long and slow process and the most painful. For the first 3-5 months post-op i was doing PT 3 days a week. The first couple weeks of PT was excruciating; you really have to fight through immense pain to regain your range of motion. Then it tapered off to 1-2 days a week for the next month or 2, and then i was slowly getting back into activity (no impact motions like running, just light cycling and light leg exercises at the gym).
Fast forward to today. For the most part the knee feels great, however i do feel hot sensations or some minute localized pain in the meniscus area from time to time. Its nothing that prevents me from riding or doing any activity for that matter, but just figured i'd mention it. The knee certainly doesn't feel 100% like my other one, but its definitely really solid. I always ride with my knee braces and have dabbed my repaired leg many times without issue. I don't have problems with the knee swelling up after a ride, either.
One thing i'm still battling today is that my leg with the repaired knee is overall weaker (muscle) than my other leg, so i find myself using more of the strong leg while on the bike. I've been working hard on and off the bike to try to correct that.
The Shop
I still want to be able to ride as much as possible and jump the big stuff. Nothing else clears my head as much.
So as far as riding that is your choice. I am sure MX riding would be a bit rough on the knee but maybe it's worth it to you. I know my running is worth it to me. I would be a bit worried about twisting it though. Good luck with whatever you do.
I just continued to wear my CTI braces and honestly never really thought about not riding again. And it's been awesome to be able to walk after riding now too because it would take a day or so for the swelling and pain to subside before replacement.
I'm a 54 year old carpenter/contractor who's been on my feet my entire life and l blame construction more than riding for the overall deterioration of my knees. But l just do shit like that.
Now, my story is not the norm. Both of my lateral ligaments (which are kept during replacement) are seriously compromised from previous injuries. I tend to blame that. Also, I am tall, 6'4:, with 36" inseam. THat is a lot of extra leverage put on the knees. Oh yeah, I have been wearing CTi2 knee braces for over 25 years. Before any knee injury and after replacement.
My advice would be to get the replacement. It really is life changing in a good way. Not having pain every day is a good thing. My doc supported me going back to riding. After the latest thing though,I did some sole searching, and decided it was time to walk away from the sport I love so much.
Get it done, rehab hard, and get back to moto!
If you are already bone-on-bone, and in extreme pain, then ask your Ortho about the osteotomy first - it still preserves your knee ligaments.
If that's not an option, ask about a unilateral replacement, if you have mostly one-sided degeneration (usually the inside). The unilateral replacement will preserve your cruciate ligaments which is HUGE thing - without those you really don't have knee stability.
Last case scenario would be the full replacement. There is no going back from that. It can obviously be WAY better than spending the rest of your life in pain, but athletic activities are a roll of the dice afterwards. Some of the guys here are very lucky to me riding and doing moto, but they will eventually have to "pay the piper". The joints themselves may not wear out, but what will happen is where the anchors attach into the bone will wear and get sloppy, and the joint will have to be replaced again. But hey, if we know that going in, and we realize that it'll cause us problems in the future, BUT it allows us to do what we love - OK!
Both my knees have issues from years of running, wearing load bearing and ballistic vests, carrying rifle and ammo, etc. I've had multiple meniscus surgeries on both knees, and a micro-fracture surgery on my left knee in an attempt to grow more cartilage. I've barely been able to walk up and down stairs the past year. Just had my 2nd shot of Orthovisc today (they do a total of 3 shots in 3 weeks), and I'm happily optimistic - no pain going up and down stairs for the first time in several years.
Running or jogging is the kind of activity that will get you a much sooner revision. The metal eventually works itself loose. With moto you at least have suspension to soak up the big bumps.
I find snow skiing to be tougher on the body than mx, but keeping speed and jump heights reasonable on the bike is the key.
In my case the wear and tear from having both ACLs done in my younger years took its toll.
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