Skiing With a Torn ACL

-eREKTion-The more time you spend without getting your knee repaired it becomes less likely that the repair will be successful. I've never blown my knee but I tore my wrist apart two seasons ago. It was just my wrist, so I didn't stop skiing and eventually the pain numbed, so I put off surgery for another season. I went to get a consultation early in the summer and my doctor told me that by waiting this long my ligaments had atrophied and I would never regain full range of motion in my wrist. I would be scared shitless if that happened to my knee. You do you but you should definitely think about a repair sooner rather than later.

ConnorClaytonIf you've ever torn your ACL, or any other ligament in your knee for that matter, then you know how long and grueling the recovery process is. After blowing my knee out for a third time I am trying to pro-long any reconstructive surgery for as long as possible. So once again I'll be skiing this year without an ACL, and I am curious if there is anyone out there in a similar situation/ debating whether or not to ski on a torn ACL. Let me tell you it is possible.

I've been working on creating a website circulating around ACL tears to help anyone who has to endure the injury, and I know I've seen plenty of threads based on the idea of skiing with a torn ACL, so I created an article to hopefully help anyone facing this dilemma! Check it out here:
http://teamnoacl.com/can-you-ski-with-a-torn-acl-the-question-all-skiers-ask

Cheers :)

**This thread was edited on Nov 5th 2017 at 3:10:36pm

leprechaunsissyI have had 3 solid seasons with a torn acl, but I have to be really mindful of falling. Only had one solid spill in that time, and it swelled and kept me out for a month. Doesn't keep me from skiing hard, but has forced me to refrain from doing anything that poses any tangible risk.

LemuelAs someone who has torn their ACL twice in the same knee, I am one away from calling it quits. The first time I tore it, about 3-4 weeks later I couldn't tell I had done anything to my knee and really wanted to ski. I did not. Ended up slipping on some black ice on a sidewalk a week before surgery and that was not good. Don't fuck around man, you can really do some serious damage if the slightest thing goes wrong.

bp-managersI tore my acl and mcl with other bone fractures on november 17th. I know it will be a long time until i will be back on skis but does anyone have any feedback as to the soonest i could be skiing again?

willyg0808It's easy to say "get it repaired" until you're in that position. I am currently undergoing a scare and have an MRI tomorrow for my ACL. Blew it out two seasons ago and recovery was fucking depressing. For someone who loves the outdoors, sitting sideline for 6-9 months just sucks, especially when you know the pain and dedication it takes to get back to where you almost were before the injury. I feel your pain man. I'm not sure what the solution is.

Titus69Anyone have experiences with other ligaments? Reinjured my LCL strain that first happened last April, same exact trick to the knuckle yesterday, and like the first time I could still ski well and do tricks with little pain but walking sucks, also hurts from my upper groin area then down across my leg to my LCL which is weird cause LCLs are short ligaments so it's something else too.


Gonna give it a rest while shit weather rolls through and ice a lot, my knee injuries are so fucking annoying this year, gonna make sure I'm good by the end of winter if I don't blow up again, and get fit and strong so this happens less easily next season. Almost wanna remove ligaments if I can, 4 months of rehab vs 6 weeks sounds nice.

DANNY.HI ruptured my ACL in May, got it fixed in July and done nothing since but the physio and rehab. I have been signed off to ski (no park) December 1st by my physio and Doctor. I am lucky, i know but it can be done just listen to the advice the professionals give you and follow it to the letter.

Is it the same knee three times dude?!

ConnorClaytonYeah man, tore my LCL two years ago alongside with my ACL. Honestly I'm not gonna be much help here as somehow the MRI didn't even pick up that I tore my LCL and it wasn't until I actually went under the knife that my surgeon found that my LCL was torn... Either way, I skied on a torn ACL and LCL all year and I mean it worked, but it definitely punched my ticket to getting some early onset arthritis in my knee. It sucks that the only advice I can give you is to get it checked out, get an MRI, see what the damage is, and don't push it. If you have a strained ligament rather than a torn one- which it sounds like it's strained as you wouldnt feel pain if it was fully torn- then stop skiing for a bit and heal it up. As you said it's better to spend 6 weeks healing a strained ligament than going through surgery and spending 6-9 months to rehab a new ligament. Hope that helps and best of luck to ya!

VISHNUProfessional athletes in the NFL and NBA, basically superhumans in peak physical condition that are worth tens of millions of dollars to the teams they represent usually get ACL surgery within the week after injury, sometimes literally the next day. I WONDER WHY???? If it's how they do it with that much money on the line, then it's how you should do it too.

I have torn my ACL, I am speaking from experience. It is stupid and irresponsible in regards to your long term health to ski without a major ligament in your knee. There's SO much more damage to be done. Tibial plateau bruising/stress fractures, additional ligament damage, arthritis, etc. Furthermore, it's pretty irresponsible to try to influence others to do the same/make them feel like doing this is okay. IT'S NOT. No matter how bad it sucks, no matter how bad you want to ski, you need to get surgery ASAP. No debate. This riles me up, clearly.

/end rant

bp-managersI tore my acl and mcl with other bone fractures on november 17th. I know it will be a long time until i will be back on skis but does anyone have any feedback as to the soonest i could be skiing again?