well, this morning i went to the first doctor and he glanced at the pictures and said "yep, torn ACL"... he recommended surgery in the next few weeks. and was against putting it off as i would just increase the chance of injuring it. he was estimating 6 moths total recovery time.
this afternoon i looked up the leading expert in Germany for knee problems - Dr Jurgen Troft - and got an appointment there (spent over 3 hours, first seeing an assistant doctor, then getting some tests, then meeting with Dr Troft personally)... he said it is definitely completely ruptured and recommends surgery ASAP. Otherwise he said about the same stuff except:
1) he was more optimistic on the recovery time meaning that i should be able to bike relatively OK after 4 months or so...
2) he does a type of surgery that few others do - most take tissue from somewhere else (the Hamstring i think) and construct a new ligament thread and sew it on. in the first 6 months (he actually recommends waiting 4-6 weeks after the injurs) when there is still tissue from the old ruptured ligament, he offers another procedure where the transplanted fibers are fed THROUGH the old ligament tissue giving a better more natural and less invasive finish...
his plan is to attempt the "Chanelling" procedure and if there is not enough old ligament to do a standard one.
i have to think it over but i have an appointment for surgery next Thursday with Dr Troft...
anyone know anything about the "threading" procedure? Dr Troft has done over 4000 ACL repairs.
Originally Posted by Koffee
Dude, BTW, I'll be out in northern Italy early summer and would love to swing by Munich via the train fora day or two.... let's PM and set something up.
you're welcome to visit anytime. i have plenty of floor space. my parents are visiting like the first week of June but otherwise i don't have anything planned -- well, i have a bunch of races and tours planned but they will probably now be cancelled
