New to the ice with a knee question.

[Joe Ryder]

Ok, I haven't been on skates for about 25 years.

I just had my left ACL replaced and some meniscus work and some bone trimming work a few months ago and though the knee is now stable, I'm still a little scared. The graft was taken from my patellar tendon and it is still painful when pushed too much. My right knee is scheduled to have pretty much the same done as soon as my son get's out of school (I'm a single dad so logistics can be interesting). The right knee is prone to simply go away with no warning and put my face to the pavement.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, my 6 year old decided to take up Ice Hockey. To be completely honest, I'm an avid motorcyclist and bicycle rider and really wasn't all that interested in skating. My son is doing well and though I have no intention of even thinking of putting on a pair of hockey skates and going out to fall down, hit walls, and be hit by walls. I would like to be able to participate at least at some level with my son. It's not that I don't want to skate, I've just been involved with too many other things and never really gave it much thought. Also, since till recently, we lived in a Part of California where winter sports just aren't all that popular. My mother was a skater and she tossed me onto the ice when I was young but as I grew older, I was more interested in motorcycles so drifted away from the sport.

I am considering tossing a couple of post operative braces to both knees and lashing figure skates to my feet and braving the ice. I just went out and bought a pair of skates btw. I got them from a large sporting goods store. Though the skates are OK, the edge they put on them is horrible! It looks like the wheel had a flat spot. That can be corrected I suppose.

Is this an insane idea? It would be one thing if I were an experienced skater returning after an injury but for all practical purposes, I'm a complete beginner. I've had some pretty dumb ideas in the past and have the scars to prove it but I'm wondering if this is one of the worst. Anyone else have similar knee problems who could shed some light?

[Team Arthritis]

Yes, this is totally insane. Welcome to the club, if we adults were rational then we'd never be skating. OTOH ask your orthopod, most falls are only going to whack your knee- not much of a problem for an ACL, just hurt enough to make you cautious. However, if your knee has lateral instability then skating is a bad idea because it puts much more later shear stress on your knees than many other sports and it may be good to just put this off a year. In the end, its up to you - we all push the edge. Good luck
Lyle

[jenlyon60]

I had an ACL reconstruction/patellar tendon graft in June 1999, following a ski accident in late Jan 1999 where I did full ACL rupture as well as MCL rupture in my left knee. My orthopod chose to delay the ACL recon until after the MCL had healed. 6 weeks after my surgery I moved across country and started a new job.

I started skating again in May 2000, but had gone skiing in March 2000, so could have started skating again earlier than that.

When I first began skating again I was extremely cautious because I was worried about damaging the knee. Then one evening about 3 weeks after I started skating again, I caught a toepick and went down. Bruised the knee area, but everything was stable. And that gave me a mental lift.

Considering you mentioned that you still need to have an ACL reconstruction on the right knee, I suggest that if you do wish to skate, at a minimum you brace the right knee with some sort of support.

And as you probably know from the pre-hab and rehab for your left knee, one of the best things you can do prior to the 2nd surgery is to ensure your leg muscles (quads/hams/calves/shins) are as strong as possible. That will provide some measure of stability in the meantime, and will make the post-op rehab go faster.

A better option to participate in a skating related activity with your son, until you have had the 2nd surgery could be to work with the hockey program in which your son is involved, in some sort of off-ice capacity. Then, once you've had the 2nd surgery and have been cleared for a sporting activity such as skating, try and take up the skating.

If you do decide you wish to skate now, I would suggest the following:

1. Try to skate only on relatively empty public sessions. Since many public sessions (at least at the rinks I've skated at over the past many years) tend to have poor skater control, that will minimize the possibility of you falling due to an out of control skater.

2. Wear a support brace on the right knee (and possibly on the left knee) and consider taking group or private lessons so that you are relearning to skate in a controlled environment.

Good luck!

[BatikatII]

I'm not in quite the same situation but I did do serious damage to my left knee years ago in a skiing accident. I was supposed to have an arthroscopy on it but we moved abroad and when the surgeon told me I'd be his first I opted out of that one pretty fast. I did do quite a bit of physiotherapy on it to strengthen the quads and after a while barely noticed though I wore a support for skiing when I went agai which was about 10 years later!

When I first started skating I was a little dubious but didnt' find it much of a problem. When I went skiing again a few years after taking up skating the skating had improved my muscle tone so much that I did not need the knee support at all (and outskiied 2 off duty soldiers of the British army!)

I didn't do any jumping at first but when I did start to jump I thought it was fine as it was not my landig leg. However new coach has me learning to jump both directions so now it is my sometime landing leg and I have had no problem with it all.

I guess I would say that it is perfectly possible that you will be fine with skating but should ask your doctors advice (though if the first one says no you do what all good skaters do and go and see another til you find one that says yes:lol: )

Just take it very carefully and wear the supports at first til you feel confident and make sure that if you are getting any twinges you stop so you dont' do any more damage.

However I am not a doctor and don't know how bad your knees are so I wouldn't take my advice:lol:

[LilJen]

Don't know what kind of rehab you've been doing, if any, but I strongly recommend a balanced program of quads vs. hamstrings. Imbalance between these muscles often contributes to ACL problems (I'm from a family of multiple-ACL-injured competitive Alpine skiiers and a couple of hockey skaters, in addition to me, the figure skater). Keep up with the rehab to maintain strength around your knee as you're learning to skate. There's also inline skating, if you want to become accustomed to the feel of stroking--might give you a bit of an idea how the knee might hold up.

[Joe Ryder]

A better option to participate in a skating related activity with your son, until you have had the 2nd surgery could be to work with the hockey program in which your son is involved, in some sort of off-ice capacity. Then, once you've had the 2nd surgery and have been cleared for a sporting activity such as skating, try and take up the skating.


That's probably the wisest idea. I'm pretty good at doing stupid things and will likely go out on the ice against my own better judgement simply because it's really hard to see the other dads skating with their sons while I can only watch. I do appreciate and respect your advice. In a brace with the right knee locked down, I don't know If actual skating is even possible but I'd like to at least be out there. I tried walking on the ice but that wasn't working out so well. I prefer some sort of directional control:lol:

I'm not ready to give up riding and replace it with skating but I'll support my little guy in whatever he chooses. He's been riding since he was 3 (and he's quite good!) but since he got the skating bug, he's started losing interest in favor of hockey. I personally feel that hockey is too dangerous and slightly insane but many skaters feel that a little kid on a motorcycle capable of freeway speeds is dangerous while hockey is safe(safer). Some years ago, a good friend who won't even get near a motorcycle invited me to participate with him in the "Running of the Bulls." I told him I wished him the best of luck with that. I suppose it all depends on your point of view. I won't try to make him continue riding because that's my thing and I've seen way too many little kids riding for their parent's approval rather than for the joy. I do want to share skating with him because he's growing so fast that if I waste even a moment and even blink, he'll be grown up and the moment will be gone.

Being a parent ain't easy.