Attn: Gilmour - Knee injury question

[Brian Morris]

email me, I have a knee injury question for you.

Thanks,

TheBrain

[John Gilmour]

I suggest you contact Dr. Anthony Schepsis at University hospital in Boston- I have had conversations with over 20 of his patients- all of which have had amazing results. Don't believe others when they tell you their surgeon is "great- one of the best, world reknowned...etc.."...believe it when you see procedures named after your surgeon. Believe it when your surgeon operates on athletes with multi million dollar contracts...and they win after he operates. Believe it when he is on a team of top surgeons- then go get fixed.

[John Gilmour]

I just got treated by Dr. Paul Tornetta and his team at Boston University Medical center. Schepsis is also great for Ligaments and Dr. Tim Foster comes reccommended by A PT friend of mine.

Great crew...If you hurry up and get in here we could hang out and play pro skater between rehab appts.

I snuck onto an unattended computer - too hard to type from this wheel chair though as it is a standing workstation.

[Wendy Chao]

Just back from Boston Medical Center, where Gunter Westmann presented an injured John Gilmour with a plaque for his 4th place finish in the Teleboarding World Championships.

<img src="http://www.wendychao.com/skate/gunter.jpg">

Congratulations John!

<a href="http://www.wendychao.com" target="_blank">Wendy Chao</a>

[Alexander Scott]

A happy John G. receives the Blue Dove Award, given to outstanding patients by the nurses at Boston Medical Center.

<img src="http://www.alexanderscott.com/bluedove.jpg">

Thanks for all the support, training, and good times, John!!

<a href="http://www.alexanderscott.com" target="_blank">Alexander Scott</a>

[Gary Fluitt]

Just had my ACL rebuilt here in Golden and I'm happy to report I've got 95% range of motion, pretty much all of my strength, and great stability in the joint.

Learned a couple of interesting facts today.

When you get a new ACL done, the grafted tendon can come from one of three places;
A. Patellar tendon
B. Hamstring
C. Cadaver

A. The advantage of the Patellar tendon (the one that connects your knee cap to you Tibia) is that the graft is made of a little bone fragment on each end of the tendon that they stip off the Patellar tendon. So the attachment of the graft up inside your knee is bone to bone. They couldn't do this on me because I have this big Osggod Slaughter's Disease knob on my Tibia and I've already had Patellar tendonitis. not a good option for me. The disadvantage of the patellar graft is that it can leave you with a divit in your tibia and knee cap. The Patellar tendon harvesting is way easier for the surgeon than the Hamstring harvest. There is a lot of debate on which is better. Some say that the Patellar graft is for the surgeon. The hamstring graft is for the patient.

B. Hamstring grafts are a little harder to recover from because you hamstring is a big muscle that you've just stripped some tendon from though it is actually done from the side of your knee where the hamstring wraps around and connects at the front of your knee (didn't know that did you). Also, the way they attach the tendon inside your knee is more complicated cause the drill a hole up through the front of your tibia, through the top of your tibia and up into your femur. that's one looooong drill bit. They push the graft all the way through this "tunnel" and screw the tendon into to hole with some hardware. The advantage is that the tendon is potentially stronger than the original. why? because when they take the tendon from your hamstring they weave the fibers together before they embedd it into your femur and tibia. This is option that most of the pro ice hockey skaters are having done now (it's all the rage with the Avalanche here in Denver).

C. Cadaver grafts are cool cause they require the least invasion on your joint. They can pop a couple of portals in your knee, slip the cadaver tendon in there, and your recovery time is greatly shortened.
The problem with the cadaver tendon is that they can't really screen for HIV and Hepatitis until it's too late. Sure it's a 1 in a million chance you're going to get some diseased cadaver tendon but I'm not all that stoked on having a dead guys tendon in my knee. When they have better screening of the tissue, I would really consider it.

The other thing I learned from a knee surgeon last week is that the rebuilt ACL is strongest when it first goes into your knee. Then as the fibers align themselves to the motion of the joint, the tendon weakens for a time. That time is 6-8 weeks post op. You need to be really careful at that time not to screw it up. After 8 weeks it starts to steadily build strength. At 24 weeks the tendon is 50% of it's maximum stregnth. I don't know when it peaks, but lets hope that happens sometime before my next big digger.

If you want to learn more about the procedure to strip the tendon and the fixation procedure, there is a VERY graphic web site, including downloadable video (ugh) at this site http://www.carletonsportsmed.com/anteri ... uction.htm

gary

[John Gilmour]

oh boy......

I can hardly wait...
I never thought I would be racing in "Reconstructed Class" with Fluitt.

The more $ value in reconstructive surgery you have...the better your handicap. Every dollar spent equals a 1/100,000 of a second off your time. Spend $100,000 and get a 1 second Handicap!

Prior to my accident I had a .11 second handicap. 1 Wrist $3000 + 1 shoulder $8000. (hospitalization included).


I'm sure Gary is leading before my bills come in. Shoulder + Ribs + Knee.

though Claude Regnier might have us both outdone with his heart surgery- and we'' count his Canadian dollars at par because of their National Healthcare coverage.

So far in reconstructed class I think we have Atilla -Collarbone + Shoulder?, Jack Smith -Elbow, Don O'Shei -Tibia plateu fracture +???, Gary Fluitt -Shoulder, knee, ribs, Paul Dunn- the finger, Micheal Dong -Ribs + Shoulder?, Claude Regnier -Heart + Knees?, John Gilmour -All 4 limbs + wrist, Troy Smart -all those multiple knee surgeries can add up + a new purchase..an Appendix taken out two days ago). I'm sure I missed a few.

The dark horse????Jim Korten, those Medevac charges add up as do all those stitches (over 100 in his "John Thomas")- shattered pelvis etc.

Womens class? Startlingly The Handicap leader is likely Wendy Chao-one hip chic. http://www.wendychao.com/cycle/ note the total reconstruction of the pelvis- and that doesn't count the hands and legs. She may be the only person to get more than a 1 second handicap.

What's yer tally teammates?

Thanks for the info Gary- good to have some knowledge before I talk to my surgeon.

Cool video, watched it during lunch- always wondered what that stringy stuff in the roast beef was-just pulling yer leg.

[Gary Fluitt]

Winner of the Reconstruction Class will receive the "Lee Majors Memorial Award for Outstanding Performance by a reconstructed Slalom Racer" and this autographed poster.
<br><center><img src="http://www.oz.net/~blam1/DiscoVision/im ... ar_Man.jpg">

[Claude Regnier]

Let's get it right.

2 major knee. one reconstruction on each + 1 scope on each.
Opened twice for the Heart surgeries and I have parts of a Cadaver.
Elbow Dislocation, Cracked fingers, and of course the Thumb.
The wrists, hitting that wall in 86 training for the Expo comp, still hurts. My Handstands have never ben the same since.
Bursa, left elbow, I had it done on Dec 23, 93 the same day they recontructed my left knee.
I have a couple of others but who's counting.

Well Okay, while were on the subject there were bike injuries when I was young, I stuckmy pedal in my leg, creating a hole which required skin graft and hospitalization for 10 days. Then I flew through the handlebars and watched the fence post approach me as my nose hit it good.

I finnally had that fixed at same time I had my ? fixed.

What you can take to the bank is that I am not done yet. Eventually I will be going in for more Heart repairs.

So if you haven't given up yet, don't!!!!!

Bye for now, C- Ya'll soon. Does anyone want me to mention Da Farm disaster?

Naw, didn't think so.

[Troy Smart]

As a veteran of many knee surgeries as well as quite a few scopes I can tell you this:

Rehabilitation is the key.

I have done both schools of rehab. One says to let the injury heal and then build it up...
The other says to get on it right away.

The first seems like the natural way to go and the obvious choice but it is wrong.

Get on that shit.
Scar tissue is the enemy.
Bend it until it really hurts and then bend it some more until you can't stand it.

And then bend it more.

If you let it heal and then try and build it up then you will have problems with it the rest of your life.