Knee Surgery.

[huskyarcher]

Well i had i pretty fun turkey season. Although i committed a terrible sin and killed one with a gun, i spent the last half trad only which was rewarding in itself, even if i didnt get a bird. And then i got the terrible news.
 I tore my ACL MCL and destroyed all the cartilage in my right knee Wrestling in Southern Nationals back in high school. I played football, baseball and wrestled on it till i finally cracked and had surgey my sophmore year. Well my senior year in football went around the corner running an option, and bam. There it gooes again. So i had excruciating wrestling and baseball season after that. It kept me from wrestling in college which was the real bummer. I just found out that i have to have total reconstruction on it all. Which is terrible news considering i wont be able to even walk for near a month.(im going to double my post count on here lol)


 So heres my question, what to do? I have some shafts feathers, chopper on the way to do and a couple of hunting dvds, and i just traded for a lightwight 45# bow so i can shoot from a chair with a straight leg. You fellers got any ideahs for a cripple to do trad related? im gona be bored something feirce.    
Thanks ahead of time for responses and be happy with your healthy knees! God Bless you all,

Dalton

[Jim Wright]

Dalton if you are talking about knee replacement surgery, I watched my wife recently go through two of them. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS from your orthopedic surgeon and REALLY,REALLY FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LETTER from your physical therapists that follow the surgery. You will be pleased at how fast you recover.

[mike g]

As far shootin your bow, try sittin on a small bench like a horse and shoot that way....
   And I have an appointment with a orthopedic on june 20th....
   I told my Doc, that I dont know why my knee hurts I have not twisted it or hyperextended it lately....
   He looked at me and said, lets see, your ex Army and Marine, you used to flat track motorcycles and yrs in Martial arts....
   He said youve done plenty to it, it's just catching up....
   Anyway do as mentioned above, mind your Doc....

[jim ratcliff]

Hey that's my problem!....I go the 26th for surgery on my left knee I messed up last november and it didn't heal correctly. I've got my 45# k mag ready for action...wifes a physical therapist so I'm good to go...

[BUFF]

healing from minor knee surgery now. Staples come out tomorrow.
Get well soon.... deer season is coming

[JMR]

I feel for you brother, I just got walking again after knee surgery on March 24. It was healed before my Turkey season began so I was able to get out for that. Find some good trad archery books and movies to stay occupied. Follow the doctor's orders and good luck on a speedy recovery.

[Dave Thaxton]

husky,
right there with you friend. I'm looking at total replacement in mid-June. Hang in there.

[DEATHMASTER]

I am being injected with the comb of rooster chickens in my knee. (#3 Thursday) I have not seen improvement yet.

Follow the advice above.

You can get a bunch of surewood shafts and crest them.
Many guys like to buy made ones. Sell for cost and you will have therapy doing it.

[smokin joe]

I had my knee replaced with a titanium and plastic knee about two years ago. That was after years of knee problems and surgeries from playing sports. The new knee is great -- as is the new hip joint I got four years before the knee.

It is possible to become really beat up over the years and get fixed up by modern medicine. My advice, after at least 10 reconstructive and sports surgeries is this: Do what the doctor says and don't rush the recovery process. You will get better, but your body needs plenty of time to heal itself.

Good luck.
Joe

[BOWMARKS]

Been in a wheelchair for 9 years thats when I actualy started traditional shooting. If you got a nice driveway or indoor range you will not miss out on your shooting. You will actualy pick up a new shooting position.    

Good Luck MARK

[mountain trapper]

How long are the new Hip/knee's good for?

[mountain trapper]

Can you still do the things you did before the replacements, like pack out elk?  Good luck and heal up fast.  Also look at taking an herb called Arnica Montana, its great for helping the healing process of surgry, it takes out inflamation and really helps things heal.  A lot of plastic surgeons put their patients on it before and after the surgery it works so well and its cheap too!  Its available at most health food stores, I like the Homeopathic version by Boiron, it comes in a small clear blue plastic container the size of a tube of chapstick, it looks like little white BB's, just follow the directions on the bottle.  It typically runs $7.50 a bottle and has about 85 pellets in it, you generally take about 5 three times a day.  Its good for all kinds of musle aches and that sort of thing, also comes in a gel form for topical use, works great for back aches.

[B/W lvr]

My doc told me 15 years on a new knee. For me that should be just fine as it will take me over 80years old and thats past my life expectancy. Frank

[Lowrider]

I was lucky. Had arthroscopic knee surgery 12-22-10 and after doing exercises the Physical Therapist told me to do, was good to go after about 3 weeks. Don,t know why but I seem to shoot better sitting rather than standing anyway. Like said above you may find a  new position to shoot from. Physical Therapy is everything to recovery from past experience on shoulder surgery and from what a friend  told me that had total knee replacement. Good Luck.

[Living_waters]

Spent a year in a chair and a couple of short stints after that. I actually learned to shoot setting down pretty good. By doing so you immobilize the lower half of you body and and can actually shoot more consistent.  Fist season after I was hurt Killed both of my bow deer setting on my 4wheeler.

Originally posted by mountain trapper:
How long are the new Hip/knee's good for?

That all depends, the biggest factors are weight and activity level. I got the new Stryker knee a few years ago and it claims it will out last the 30yr knee (I believe smith and nephew makes it)My doctor said with my size (Im 6'3" 200+) I could expect 15 as the very minimum, dependent on my activity may go as long as 25. A good rule of thumb is about 85% of normal activity after replacement. Thing about it you just learn to do things different.

[Bowwild]

The first thing I thought of for you to do was learn a new archery "craft". Making your own arrows is a good one. You might even learn to splice feathers for really fancy ones.  

You might also do some internet study of a state you've always wanted to hunt. There are lots of map and aerial photo sites on the web that can be used to uncover a new place to hunt.

I've been struggling with a left knee problem since October 9th. No trauma preceded it just 3 days of walking on concrete (NASP Worlds)and the knee was swollen.

MRI and Doctor said I tore the ACL in 1972, damaged the MCL recently, and had some cart. damage. Three stints of rehab to prevent surgery. I'm on the 3rd now. I go back June 23rd to see what next.

My number one issue has been the uncertainty of the doctors.  I've beeen to two orthopedists.  Neither want to operate. The latest diagnosis is that the ligaments have heeled but arthritis in the knee is my main problem.  It is tolerable.

[mountain trapper]

Bowwild, have you tried Glucosamine Sulfate? What about Chondrotine (I know I'm spelling that one wrong)?  I use glucosamine myself and it works well, in Europe they use the two of them together for arthritis treatment, they have proven that either of them but particulary if used together will actually REBUILD cartiledge, its slow but works.  It norrmally takes about  90 days before people start to feel any differance, and some never feel a differance (although over 70% do) even though looking at their x rays and MRI's the doc's can see that they have increased the amount of cartiledge in their joints!  Great stuff.  Just remember to get the sulfate version of the glucosamine as it is more bio available.  I use Standard Process brand.

[mountain trapper]

Almost forgot, Standard Process has a product that will help ligaments, its call LigaPlexI and LigaPlexII.  You cannot buy them through a health food store or GNC, its only sold through health care professionals, alturnitive doctors and chiropractors would be you best be for finding it.

[BoonRoto]

Good luck!