# Life Altering Injuries
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [June 14, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743 "2014-06-14T00:13:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/1 "2014-06-14T00:13:31Z")
I blew out my right knee yesterday.
I’m three years away from 50 and I’m playing basketball with some high school kids.
I decide to go strong to the hole. I plant my right foot hard, my upper body went right, my knee buckled left and I fell in a heap on the floor.
I knew immediately something was very, very wrong.
I am not trawling for sympathy but I’m certain this one is going to be with me for the long run.
Any others who had injury befall you with the immediate realization that this was the big one?
Quick dénouement to my story: Trip to the emergency room. X-rays show no break but experts agree that there has to be a tear. Big old knee brace and crutches for hobbling. Somewhat bummed disposition.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/2 "2014-06-14T00:36:46Z")
From about 3 inches above my right elbow up to & including the shoulder joint that is out board of the shoulder socket for ease of description, there is no actual socket. (in a wreck) 1996
I was 53.
I was a pilot.
Had to have a new prosthesis in 98 as the original did not work out.
I was let go from work.
When I was again able to pass a flight physical (2005), I found that places willing to hire (62) me were not to be found.
Yeah, I pretty much knew that my life was changed forever.
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### Author:  [@slowlearner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slowlearner)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/3 "2014-06-14T01:35:39Z")
Child, that is not a life altering injury, good medical care and motivated rehab, you’ll be good as new in a year or two. Haven’t you ever been hurt?
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### Author:  [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/4 "2014-06-14T01:44:03Z")
> [@minlokwat](#):
>
> Any others who had injury befall you with the immediate realization that this was the big one?
>
> Quick dénouement to my story: Trip to the emergency room. X-rays show no break but experts agree that there has to be a tear. Big old knee brace and crutches for hobbling. Somewhat bummed disposition.
Gentle observation - there are at least two paraplegics on this board and I think there are more than that (I am one of them).
What happened to you isn’t a life altering injury to us.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/5 "2014-06-14T01:51:56Z")
If they can’t find the tear easily with the yanking and pulling tests, the chances are fairly good that it’s not as bad as you’re probably thinking. Things like ACL tears and MCL tears are pretty obvious based on the yank/pull tests from what I understand.
I’m not saying that it won’t be a change for you, but what I am saying is that with today’s surgical techniques and rehab protocols , it is extremely unlikely that it’ll be crippling, and in the long term, may not even limit you.
I ought to know; I hurt my left knee twice in high school (partial ACL tear, full MCL tear), and just this last January completely tore my patellar tendon in my right knee and had to have it reconstructed via emergency surgery. I’m a 41 year old man, for what it’s worth.
6 months later and I’m cleared to do whatever I feel like. Run, jump, squat, bend, you name it. It’s not 100%, but I’d say somewhere around 85%, and that last 15% of ability is more dynamic stuff like running and jumping that I haven’t done much of since my injury. I have no doubt that it’ll come back in time.
That’s not to say that everything will be just like before- probably the biggest lasting effects are the honkin’ great scar I have and the numb right side of my knee. But that’s small potatoes in the grand scheme of things. You may be all sorts of limited for a short period, but that’ll pass in time, and if you get a sharp and no-nonsense physical therapist, you’ll make more progress than you thought possible. (mine’s a sixty-something Polish woman who I suspect gives me a bit of the old Eastern Bloc sports medicine)
It’s all in how you approach it- most of these sorts of things can be completely or mostly overcome with enough effort. That part is up to you.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/6 "2014-06-14T01:58:50Z")
> [@Canadjun](#):
>
> Gentle observation - there are at least two paraplegics on this board and I think there are more than that (I am one of them).
>
> What happened to you isn’t a life altering injury to us.
Ha! +1
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### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/7 "2014-06-14T02:13:33Z")
> [@Canadjun](#):
>
> Gentle observation - there are at least two paraplegics on this board and I think there are more than that (I am one of them).
>
> What happened to you isn’t a life altering injury to us.
OK, ok I appreciate what you and the others have contributed. I have no intention of letting this beat me. I am not looking for a pity party.
I coach tennis. I’m a runner and I bike and I’m a decent basketball player. I’m hoping these are activities that won’t be significantly hampered in the remaining years.
Orthopedic appointment scheduled for Tuesday and I will absolutely commit 100% to rehab and recovery.
Really though I didn’t intend for this thread to be about me.
I was just wondering about injuries that were significant, how one battled back and the aftermath as it played out.
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### Author:  [@Inna\_Minnit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inna_Minnit)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/8 "2014-06-14T02:18:46Z")
You know, the fact that something worse has happened to other people doesn’t change the bad that has happened to the OP. People are allowed to be concerned about what injury they have sustained.
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### Author:  [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/9 "2014-06-14T02:37:10Z")
I blew out my knee just shy of two years ago. It sucked. I was at a seminar learning how to work protection dogs, when I did much the same thing you did. Planted my foot, took a step (with 30 lbs of suit and 70 lbs of dog hanging off me) and felt my knee clunk over and back. I dropped to the ground, they removed the dog and I knew something was terribly wrong with the noodle that was my now my leg. Ligament strain was the initial diagnosis, but when they finally got around to doing an MRI, there wasn’t much left of my ACL.
I am 50 years old, somewhat overweight and work in an office. I would have jumped at the chance for surgical repair and a quick recovery. I was told to do physio, and that my torn ACL would heal in time. When I finally got an appointment to see the ortho specialist eight months later, he told me my knee was as good as it was going to get and I should get used to it. I wanted to cry and I wanted my life back. I may not look active, but I am and it’s taken a long time to feel normal again. I am still cautious with my knee, but it is, finally, functional.
Contrast that with my previous knee injury twenty years ago where I managed to tear the PCL off the bone getting kicked by a horse, had it surgically repaired two weeks later and after six weeks on crutches and a bit of physio, was back to working full time with horses three months later.
It’s not life-altering, but it does really suck.
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/10 "2014-06-14T02:55:55Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#):
>
> You know, the fact that something worse has happened to other people doesn’t change the bad that has happened to the OP. People are allowed to be concerned about what injury they have sustained.
I didnt see anyone say thay they couldnt be concerned about their injuries; _you_ introduced that idea because you wanted to criticize. All that was originally pointed out was that “life-altering” might not be the most accurate term to use to describe that injury. Calm down.
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### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/11 "2014-06-14T03:17:16Z")
I think **Canadjun** and **Ambivalid** have a point. I was expecting to hear about paralysis or amputation when I read the term life altering.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/12 "2014-06-14T03:32:25Z")
> [@brainstall](#):
>
> When I finally got an appointment to see the ortho specialist eight months later, he told me my knee was as good as it was going to get and I should get used to it. I wanted to cry and I wanted my life back. I may not look active, but I am and it’s taken a long time to feel normal again. I am still cautious with my knee, but it is, finally, functional.
Your problem isn’t so much with the injury, but with whatever reason that took you EIGHT MONTHS to see an orthopedic surgeon after a ligament tear. That’s why yours healed so badly- after 8 months, there really isn’t much they can do. Had they caught you in 8 hours or 8 days, I suspect your story might be quite a bit different. I mean, I tore my patellar tendon, and saw an orthopedic surgeon in something like 3 hours and had the repair surgery less than 24 hours later. Had I waited 8 months, I’d literally have been crippled at this point.
Are you in Canada or the UK and that long wait time is a consequence of the healthcare system, or is you insurance in the US just particularly draconian?
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### Author:  [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/13 "2014-06-14T03:41:57Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#):
>
> You know, the fact that something worse has happened to other people doesn’t change the bad that has happened to the OP. People are allowed to be concerned about what injury they have sustained.
Aren’t you the one who mocked a poster for revealing a personal “low point” that you felt wasn’t low enough compared to other people’s stories in that thread? I guess you had a change of heart about comparing sad stories.
> [@bump](#):
>
> Your problem isn’t so much with the injury, but with whatever reason that took you EIGHT MONTHS to see an orthopedic surgeon after a ligament tear. That’s why yours healed so badly- after 8 months, there really isn’t much they can do. Had they caught you in 8 hours or 8 days, I suspect your story might be quite a bit different. I mean, I tore my patellar tendon, and saw an orthopedic surgeon in something like 3 hours and had the repair surgery less than 24 hours later. Had I waited 8 months, I’d literally have been crippled at this point.
>
> Are you in Canada or the UK and that long wait time is a consequence of the healthcare system, or is you insurance in the US just particularly draconian?
Yup. When I blew my ACL my doc said that it needed to be dealt with fast, or not to bother at all. Had the surgery and nearly a year of rehab, but was pretty much back to normal.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/14 "2014-06-14T05:28:35Z")
> [@Canadjun](#):
>
> Gentle observation - there are at least two paraplegics on this board and I think there are more than that (I am one of them).
( this guy also ) Ha +1
Wrote 4 different responses.
Had to delete them all.
Don’t want to get in trouble.
:::: shakes head & wanders away ::::: :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/15 "2014-06-14T05:56:05Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#):
>
> ( this guy also ) Ha +1
>
> Wrote 4 different responses.
>
> Had to delete them all.
>
> Don’t want to get in trouble.
>
> :::: shakes head & wanders away ::::: :rolleyes:
Good for you. Showing self control. Ya still got it champ! 🙂
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### Author:  [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/16 "2014-06-14T07:39:50Z")
Life-altering injuries don’t have to be as dramatic as para or quadriplegia.
For me, it was slipping (bulging, prolapsing, call it what you will) a bloody disc in my back. Not just once, but five times in the last 3 yrs. It’s affected my ability to work (each time it happens, I’m unable to move without extreme pain for up to 4wks at a time). It’s affected my general mobility (I’m so afraid of doing it again that my activity level has been severely limited…no more bending over in the shower folks!!). And stuff I used to love to get down and dirty in…(gardening!) is mostly off the agenda. I can’t bend over to lift up my grandkids when they’ve fallen over to give them a cuddle, I can’t do a whole heap of stuff that I used to do. The shit that used to give my life ‘meaning’ has been compromised wot.
So yeah, even seemingly minor injuries can be life-altering. Maybe not to the extreme that some of our posters have experienced, but life-altering all the same.
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### Author:  [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/17 "2014-06-14T12:55:30Z")
Well this thread took a slight turn for the odd.
I can’t help but think of this **Far Side** [Cartoon](https://www.google.com/search?q=far+side+peghead&rlz=1T4ACEW_en___US390&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=kUWcU_7CIo3gsASJlIDgAg&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAQ&biw=819&bih=471#q=far+side+pegleg&tbm=isch&facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=puhXDuIGNrEkUM%253A%3BDFexPccrB958nM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252F4.bp.blogspot.com%252F-siNWEaClVw8%252FT7Zz4CxvAqI%252FAAAAAAAABLQ%252F-WMre5HCIEk%252Fs320%252FFarSidePegLeg.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fericmerk5.blogspot.com%252F2012_05_01_archive.html%3B250%3B320)
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/18 "2014-06-14T13:48:44Z")
I knew a guy with a thriving one-man dental practice. Working on his property, using a chainsaw, he suffered a major hand injury resulting in the loss of two fingers. He hired a dentist to run his practice for close to a year. The practice remained successful.
After multiple surgeries and physical therapy he returned to his practice. _crickets_
He retired a few months later. He was physically able to do the job, but his patients were, I guess, uncomfortable about his handicap.
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### Author:  [@brainstall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainstall)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/19 "2014-06-14T14:26:29Z")
> [@bump](#):
>
> Your problem isn’t so much with the injury, but with whatever reason that took you EIGHT MONTHS to see an orthopedic surgeon after a ligament tear. That’s why yours healed so badly- after 8 months, there really isn’t much they can do. Had they caught you in 8 hours or 8 days, I suspect your story might be quite a bit different. I mean, I tore my patellar tendon, and saw an orthopedic surgeon in something like 3 hours and had the repair surgery less than 24 hours later. Had I waited 8 months, I’d literally have been crippled at this point.
>
> Are you in Canada or the UK and that long wait time is a consequence of the healthcare system, or is you insurance in the US just particularly draconian?
I am Canadian. I was seen by an orthopedic surgeon when the injury happened; it was the ‘specialist/surgeon’ that took eight months, most of that because of the long wait time just to get an appointment. Didn’t help that the first doctor wouldn’t even refer me until I had regained some mobility and was able to bend my knee to 90 degrees, which increased the wait by six weeks.
Much of my reading about ACL tears indicates that outcomes after a year and a half are the same whether you have surgery or not. I think the decision to not surgically fix my knee was based on my age and weight, but no one said that outright to me, and I had to wait out the healing time. Apparently my knee is now held together with the threads of my ACL and scar tissue and is as stable as it’s going to get. Cold comfort.
My coworker blew her knee a few months ago, too, and she is dealing with much the same unhelpful and discouraging stuff that I went through. She, too, is being told there’s nothing surgically that can be done to fix it, work on strengthening exercises and suck it up.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [June 14, 2014, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-altering-injuries/690743/20 "2014-06-14T17:11:51Z")
> [@kambuckta](#):
>
> Life-altering injuries don’t have to be as dramatic as para or quadriplegia.
Concur. One-upsmanship is petty regardless of the context.
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