Recurring Problems since ACL Surgery - Don't Know Why!!

[jonnywoods]

Hi, I am hoping somebody may be able to give me some sort of advice on my knee problem, whether it's through medical knowledge or personal experience, any comments are welcome.

I ruptured my ACL back in November 2004, and had reconstructive surgery in May 2005, which I was told went very well. After extensive work in rehab, I managed to start playing football again in about January 2006, but I took it pretty easy for a while and wasn't playing competitively. Around March 2006 I started getting the occasional twinge in my knee, and it felt like it was "giving way" a bit. I laid off the football for a while and concentrated more on building up my muscles around the knee.

From July-August 2006 i did a full, difficult pre-season at semi-pro level, and felt absolutely no pain in my knee. The work was very intense but I had no reaction whatsoever. On the 1st game of the season, my knee gave way severely, was swollen and very painful, and I didn't play again for 4-5 months. An MRI scan revealed no ligament damage.

This current season (since August) I have been playing competitively again with absolutely no problems, and the muscles around my knee feel and look stronger than ever. However, last week my knee once again gave way, and has been more swollen than ever for the last 4-5 days. The hospital did an X-Ray and said there was no bone damage (which i kinda knew anyway), and did some basic tests and said there was no ligament damage, but they could not give me any kind of answer as to why this had happened again. Infuriatingly, they just said to "rest it for a week or so"!!

If anyone can offer any advice I would be most grateful. I just want to know WHY the knee keeps giving way on me!!

Thank you.

P.S. I'm only 23 so am still hoping to recover from this well enough to play football!!!

[porkchop74]

I've had the same problem for 17 years. I've visited docters and noone can give me answers either

[Ruth]

Hi Jonnywoods,

Sorry to hear of the injuries you have sustained, have you ever considered playing in a supportive brace to protect your knee a bit? It might be worth it just to give that extra bit of assistance to the joint?

Regarding your ongoing problem, the X-Ray as you pointed out would only show bony changes, the best scans would be CAT or MRI but obviously these cost quite a bit more so aren't generally a first choice.

It could be possible that you have some damaged cartilage, this can often cause the knee to give way or to "catch" or "lock", and can cause swelling and significant pain. I would have thought they would check this out during your ACL reconstruction, but there could be areas of damage that weren't picked up, or you could have sustained further damage.

Has the integrity of the graft been checked to make sure it isn't working loose? Can you get in to see the consultant who originally operated on you (or at least one of this team, or an ortho surgeon) and get their opinion?

These are a few things that you may want to consider, also possibly if you can see a physiotherapist they would be able to assess your knee and check all the different ligaments, as well as assessing the cartilage for damage.

Please let us know how you get on with this problem!