I had MPFL Reconstruction surgery last Wednesday at Spire in Anlaby . Surgery went well but the pain is something else , the pain killers take the edge off but not a great deal of relief .
I was wondering if anyone on here has had this or similar knee surgery and how long your recovery was,
Settle in for my knee story (it’s a long one...mind you, no rush, you’ll have **** all else to do for a while!)
In one tackle playing rugby I did the folllowing
Snapped an ACL
Ruptured a PCL
Snapped my Lateral ligament (somehow both ends...still not sure how)
Had the lower end of a hamstring tendon pulled out of the bone so it pinged back up my leg curled up half way up my thigh
My MPFL was the only bit of my knee in one piece and that was what I’d had previous injuries to!
The surgeon said I couldn’t have snapped my hamstring, it must be just muscle wastage (despite the fact that one of the hard chords at the back of my knee was completely missing) When I woke up the scar was like a foot long shark bite...looked like he’d had both ****ing elbows in working on it! When he came to see me he told me I had snapped my hamstring after all...which is what I’d been telling him for months!
Recovery wise it was painful, but Kapake helped (basically knocked me out)
I had a problem with nerves too either snapped or damaged during surgery so my leg was numb below the knee. That gradually reduced to pins and needles, and the area of the pins and needles reduced (over years!) but I still have permanent pins and needles on the top of my foot about 20 years later.
Physio was ****ing agony because I had my knee set at 30 degrees for months. I assume so they could have the fun of torturing me by forcing it to move later on. Excruciating.
Gradually worked on movement and strength but had a full leg brace on for 7 months (without it before the op I could move the bottom half of my leg inwards about 30 degrees. With no pain as I had no nerves)
12 months off work and even then I went back a bit early I think
Other than that it all went fine!
Actually seriously it did go fine. That knee is no problem now apart from if I don’t do any exercise for a bit so I need to stay fairly active. I did play rugby again afterwards, to check I could, but only one game then retired. Played football a few times and been ok. Run 5k a few times a week and after the recovery I took up snowboarding! Sliding down mountains on a board is good for my knee...I’ve decided!
Good luck, I do feel your pain