I'm Damaged for Life... (well my knee is)

When I was 15 I developed a click in my left shoulder. My mum took
me to a specialist who discovered that a bit of the joint had gone
missing (probably as a result of a sports injury - practicing my
goalkeeping skills on Hastings beach).

25 years later this led to a dislocation during a skiing holiday.
However, the Italian doctor who treated me suggested that I look at
the bright side: if my shoulder pops out easily then it is also easy to
pop it back in.

Originally Posted by Professor

the Italian doctor who treated me suggested that I look at
the bright side: if my shoulder pops out easily then it is also easy to
pop it back in.

Typical easygoing Italian attitude! Would never get the NHS being so blase about something like that

Originally Posted by SVeeedy Gonzales

Typical easygoing Italian attitude! Would never get the NHS being so blase about something like that

Only because you would still be waiting out side

Originally Posted by SVeeedy Gonzales

Typical easygoing Italian attitude! Would never get the NHS being so blase about something like that

The Italians are indeed easygoing, but at the same time efficient
with regards to medical emergencies. It took only a few minutes for
the ambulance to arrive and deliver me to A&E. Upon arrival the
doctor took a new boxfile, wrote Number 1 on it and said:
Congratulations! You are patient number 1 in the 1997/98 skiing
season!

Throughout the whole experience I had a camera in my pocket, so
after the shoulder was fixed we took a group photo:



The easygoing doctor is on the left, the ambulance driver is on the right, and my X-rays are in the background.

Sorry for derailing the thread.

[timwilky]

No wonky kneee for me. I got a wonky left shoulder thanks to a Mazda driver that wrote me and his car off whilst I was stopped at a red traffic light some years back.

4 courses of physio, injections into the shoulder, even acupuncture. 2 weeks ago my physio said "Sorry it looks like it is permanent". In the middle of a claim. Everyone seems interested in movement what can I and can't I do.

I don't want money. I just want it to stop hurting. It is as if there is a cold 50lb lump of steel on a swivel joint connected to my shoulder. Sometimes it feels like joint is being pushed forward, sometimes back or down. Just bloody uncomfortable.

If someone ever says to you "Oh it is just a soft tissue injury, it will heal in time". ********, hit them at 70MPH wearing CE armour. just because there ain't nothing broken doesn't mean that it don't hurt.

Prof...Nice of them to lend your brother a Doctor's white smock!

Originally Posted by Grinch

As some of you know I was involved in a little thing with a recovery company that ment my knee and bike got a bit damaged. Looks like I'm stuck with the damage to my knee for the rest of my life... theres more about it on my biking blog.
I've been told I could do surgery, but I'm thinking its a bad idea, can anyone else say the same?

Hmm Unfortunately I am a bit of an expert on knees having bent mine the wrong way when playing footy. My studs stuck in the ground going full pelt I went over but bottom half of my leg stayed upright. You know this sort of injury is serious as when you do it you scream like a girl (no offence girls) and everyone whos seen it (and heard it in my case) comes running over to see if you are alright.

Anyway, my leg snapped back pretty quickly and being an idiot I drove home thinking Oh it wasnt that bad. Anyway pain got worse and went to A&E with a knee the size and shape of a rugby ball. The T*(T of a doctor said it was a bad sprain even after I explained what happened. To cut along story short after going private (thank god for works private med insurance) it turned out that I had damaged cartiledge, snapped my two central tendons, stretched the inner tendon beyond repair and streched the outer tendon so it was ok but would have permanent damage. So after discussing with the surgeon I went for op and had three tendons replaced with bits of my hamstring (modern medicine is cool) my cartiledge trimmed and two titanium rods inserted in the upper and lower bones to hold it all together. Two years later and lots of physio its about 75% of what it was, which is pretty good considering the damage I did.

DO I get into the wonky knee club please??

I tell you this story as it sounds like you have something similar to a friend of mine, which was purely cartiledge related. You can have an exploratory op where they stick a camera in and if they find floaty bits they will flush it out. I had this as part of mine and this is quite common. If on the other hand you have a tear in your cartiledge, this can be fixed by being snipped but of course you are removing the cushion from between the two bones so there may and I mean may be long term affects from this. depending on the size of the tear and what they remove. Be very specific with them on what you want them to do depending on what they find i.e. if its only occasional pain dont let them remove the whole cartelidge.

I would definitely see a specialist and preferable one with a sporting injury background as they see this sort of thing all the time. Dont rely purely on what your pyhsio chap says. Yes a percent of ops on anything like this can make it worse but with proper physio and following there exercise at home to the letter you would be suprised what they can do.

From my op, the scary thing was they sent the private med bills to my house although they had been paid so I saw how much my knee and physio, after care cost. To put it bluntly the most expensive thing on my bike is my knee !!!

I got a wonky knee too, mine was from rugby after the scrum collapsed and i tried in vain to support nearly 50 stone of front row...the outcome was one shagged knee, after 3 years of going back n forwards too hospital for scans, x rays, physio sessions with the butchest lesbian you'll ever likely too see (reminded me of our prop ) and seeing consultants they referred me for an operation, they cut out my cartelledge, done a exploratory and said my tendons were stretched but would be fine.

Anyway 2 years after the op my knee still gives way whilst walking ( numerous spills down the stairs ) much to the amusment of the missus now if im riding in the colder weather i find my knees locks into my riding position...bit of a ****ter when your stopping at traffic lights
I now walk with a permanent limp...look like douglas bloody bader and still at the young age of 36
Hey ho though at least i can still ride thats the main thing.
Cuffy

Cuffy, when I had my knee looked at they said that the two remaining attached ligaments (tendons) where stretched but could be left in place but my knee may wobble or even give way on uneven ground. I decided against this and went for all but one to be replaced. I would rather have a weaker but steadier knee than be coming down the stairs and have it give way and break my neck!!!

Get them to look at it again. You could insist they cut your hamstring up and replace your ligaments (tendons) with it. Its not only cool but mine is now steady as a rock. Has never given way after the op.

Still gives me pain on ocassion, but the surgeon said it would always give pain sometimes as I was old for the sought of op I had, and that was when I was 29!!!!!!!!!!

Cheeky get

Don't know whether this is related, but a colleague of mine, an avid
skier, fractured a kneecap at the age of 76. It proved impossible to
fix the kneecap, so one half was removed and tendons reattached to
the other half. And 2 months later the man was back on the slopes!