Back ten years or so ago, I had a complete ACL rebuild. I remember being told at my first appointment that I needed to wait until all swelling went down (this ended up costing me two weeks).
In today’s new age of technological wonder, does this still hold true? Can MRI’s be done with swelling in place or is it still best to wait until the inflammation has subsided?
Is this drawing too close to the medical advice line?
You needed to wait until all the swelling went down for what reason?
Thirteen years ago, I had ACL reconstruction (used a ligament) and orthoscopy, was ordered to start walking around on crutches the following day. Used crutches for 10 days, while I was in the hip to ankle brace, then a cane for another week while I was Ace wrapped.
IIRC, surgery was on a Thursday, I went back to work a half day that following Monday - Wednesday (as I had a lot of walking to and from my office), by the following Thursday I was back at work FT.
I assume they needed the swelling to go down for clarity during the MRI? Or maybe it was so the doctor could accurately gauge the damage during his initial inspection
No. It’s not a about a specific case so it’s fine.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
I’m assuming the OP means that the surgeon wanted the swelling from the initial injury to go down before doing diagnostics and surgery. IANAD, but my understanding is that inflamed tissue is harder to work with surgically, does not hold stitches as well, and may not look/act the same right after surgery (if done immediately) vs. later when the swelling has subsided.
Well, look at football players. I’m sure they get the most modern treatment, and they always have to wait a few weeks before surgery.
In addition to the above, when I had my surgery, my doctor recommended I wait until the swelling went down, and that I do rehab to get my range of motion back.
Oh, after initial injury. I had to wait almost two years. Doctor after doctor told me it was just a sprain, no big deal. One moron actually patted me on the head. Because my insurance required a referral to see an orthopedic surgeon, I finally found a doc who listened and sent me over. MRI the next day. By that point I had 1/4 of my ACL left and about 1/3 of the cartilege left. I was scheduled for surgery a week later.
Not a medical doctor but I worked on a research project in a pretty related area.
While the tissue is inflamed, you can’t work with it or even see what is going on to make more than a really obvious diagnosis (your achilles tendon completely ruptures, it can sound like a gunshot :eek: no mystery diagnosis there)
Is surgery always necessary? I know 2 people who have completely torn ACL’s and play sports regularly. Then there’s Dejuan Blair of the San Antonio Spurs who has no ACL’s at all.
No not always necessary (at the time of injury). Sometimes the muscles around the knee will provide enough support that no surgery will make it any better. From personal experience though, surgery might be required years later.