Today marks 3 years since my microfracture surgery. I wasn’t a planned celebration day, but it was a nice day.
I’ve been riding a lot with very little pain in general. The weather has been doing everything that it can to give me pain (highs in the low 60s and clouds). So I am very happy with the way my knee has bee acting. Just the other day I managed an average pace of 19mph on a 20 mile ride. Considering stop signs and a bit of a hill, that is good and not too far off what I was doing before the surgery.
Instead of a ride today, I went fishing. No problems moving around the boat or keeping my balance in the waves. I realized while we were out there that today was the 3 years day.
Plan to get better over a year. There will be hard times.
I know I am 5+ years now and the microfarcture part of it is fine. You need to work through rebuilding, but you can get it done. Try not to let the bad days get you down.
Hello!!
Today marks week six after my microsurgery us ACL reconstruction after an accident playing tennis. I am 43 and I am also grateful to hear success stories like Steve’s. My surgeon has not been to informative as far as how tough the recovery will be. Mine was a femoral condhle lesion about 1 X 2 cm .
I am willing to give up tennis if I have to, but I also enjoy traveling, which requires long walks and I am wondering if that is a realistic expectation to have in te near future.
Any input will be gratly appreciated.
Patricio
I apologize – this site has been a bit neglected. I owe it an update.
In 2012, I did a good job of getting some muscular balance back. I was able to spend a lot more time on my bike where I managed over 3200 miles and over 133,000′ of climbing.
I’m not perfect. There is a lot of pain after I’ve been siting for too long, but I still say I’m doing better and it was worth it.
Howdy,
I also found your site while discovering what microfracture surgery is, I Found out last week that i have chondral damage but i still dont know to what extent, I will find out tomorrow but i am shitting my pants.
The results i have been given by my physio is that my ACL is gone and substantial chondral damage, I had an arthroscopy 15years ago and they removed half of my miniscus
and they also tried to tell me my ACL also broke 15 years ago……sounds like shit to me, surely its not possible to be active for 15 years with no ligament…..!
I am now 38yo and not had any trouble after my initial op until now, i am very apprehensive on how to proceed and but know i need to move on and get it sorted, my daughter is just starting to walk so this is reaaaaaallly bad timing….
It was motivating to read your story and anything you can help with would be great,.
David – how are tyou getting on?
-Dan
Howdy,
Yesterday, I had microfracture surgery myself for a femural condyle lesion. I came across your blog while researching today, and have been very fascinated to read about your rehabilitation process.
Since our situations seem somewhat similar, I was just writing for a little encouragement…
My story, briefly: I’m 34 years old, and have been an avid/competitive cyclist for years. A year and a half ago, I developed fairly severe medial knee pain while cycling which forced me to stop riding. Last summer, I had an MRI which came out “normal”, showing inflammation and tendinopathy, but no cartilage or joint damage. So for the past year, the injury has been treated as a soft-tissue injury (pes anserine bursitis). Over the past year, however, it just hadn’t improved. (still unable to resume cycling, pain and stiffness when walking, etc.) So last week, I went back to my OS. He recommended arthroscopy to inspect the joint and make sure there wasn’t something that was missed by the MRI…
…when I woke up yesterday morning from the arthroscopic surgery, I was told that I had an “8mm grade three femoral condyle lesion” and that he treated it with microfracture. What the-what? 4-6 weeks on crutches? 6 month rehab? As you can imagine, I’m feeling really overwhelmed at this point, both with the shock of finding out how severely damaged my knee was, and with the prospect of a very long and difficult road to recovery. On one hand, I am glad that I finally have an “answer” as to what has been wrong with my knee all this time, and that there is a path forward for getting better, but on the other hand, I have a lot of fear and apprehension.
Anyhow, thank you for taking the time to write about your journey. If you have any words of encouragement for me at this point, they would be much appreciated…
-David