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AIL "Alpine Injured List"


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Welcome to the "missing PCL" club. I lost mine to a tree 23 months ago. Riding w/ a brace now, don't really notice the brace or the fact that the PCL is missing at any time while riding. The one time I do notice the PCL missing is while doing yoga. Surgeon was pretty much dead-set against a reconstruction, thought I'd be fine for the sports I do as long as I keep the quads in shape. Personally, I think upper calves are even more important, as the amount of unnatural movement seems to decrease as I build calf mass.

Heal well!

I tore my PCL many years ago, maybe 16 years ago now. For the first ~6-7 years I didn't really notice it, but the unnatural motion (shin shifting backwards) slowly got looser and looser and looser until it really started messing stuff up (my knee would lock up, I'd get pain for days after sports, etc.).

Quads help some, I guess, but you're right, the calf is probably more important; I noticed a long time ago that flexing my calf muscle would pull my shin into the correct place. Having better, stronger calf muscle tone made it less shifty.

However, my knee degraded to the point where I needed the full reconstruction, and I have to say, the rehab sucked, but it was worth it to not have to think about it any more. Now I don't have to concentrate on holding my knee together every time I fire my hamstrings.

BTW, I think snowboarding (alpine or otherwise), is probably one of the least stressful sports to your PCL. So that's a good thing. Even cycling, on the back stroke, stresses the PCL when you fire that hamstring.

Watch out for bending your knee with your foot poked out to the side (like standing with duck feet and squatting). It won't hurt anymore because you have no PCL, but it'll be stretching stuff apart in there that's not supposed to stretch apart.

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First day of the season on softies in fresh snow (and new manmade) I was having a lovely day on nearly empty midweek slopes. Or so I'm told, I don't remember driving to the mountain, the day at the mountain, and only bits and pieces of the next 4 days. (I think some of that is due to percocet.)

Apparently, I hit a roller on a trail that we had gone down many times before, landed a little forward in a pie of new manmade, and did an endo onto my face. Thankfully my goggles and helmet took the brunt and I didn't end up with a fractured skull. I did end up hitting the ground so hard that I split the skin on my left temple. My ski buddy realized something was wrong when I couldn't remember who he was, or even what year it was.

$150 copay for er in BFE. cat scan, sent on 4 hour ride back home with buddy. (don't remember the ride)

Get home, intractible vomiting, $150 copay for er in the city, 2nd cat scan. (out of network, $232 extra for that) sent home with drugs. Slept most of the next 4 days, follow up with Doc 1 week later, still having short term memory issues, told that I am out for at least a month, valentine's day possibility.

So, as a certified ski and snowboard instructor who isn't allowed on snow, I guess I'm SOL. But hey I'm alive, and I ordered a new helmet so I'll be ready when I can get back out.:biggthump

I got a helmet for this season.

Z_215%20TLDPS1.jpg

The guys at Troy Lee said they did not want to submit it for DOT testing (higher costs because of insurance) ...and likely with so many vents it wouldn't pass but they felt extremely confident about it not being any lesser of a helmet.

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It's a pretty big Lid... but my feelings were that if I hit my head.. it would be hard enough to warrant a lid like this.

At 47 years old and 33 years of riding and NOT hitting my head... (20 mph faceplant once ..) I just figure I might have just about used up my luck.

D3 Carbon Fiber (nice layup too!) about 1 kilo. The full face does block a tiny amount of my lower vision perhaps just 1/2 inch more than my goggles (still not used to it) but I am trying to manage.

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great advice about the upper calf and PCL....that would seem to make sense since it is close to that area... do you do calf curls with the last 10 degrees of rom to hit that?

I just do calf raises (stand on one leg, up on toes, down, up on toes, down... either toes on stair so that heel sinks lower than toes), and it seems to build the whole calf nicely. Calf curls as you describe may well be more effective for targeting the top part... My PT wanted me to focus on building it in a balanced fashion, and I've had good enough results to not feel the need to try anything else.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Was at Blue Wood ski, Dayton WA today. 4" of fresh on top of the ice from previous rains they got. Pow was pushed into piles with ice inbetween. Hit a bad spot of that and chattered out something fierce. I'm wondering if I could have strained calf muscle or achilles tendon. Very painful on heelsides afterwards had to give up and attend to my kids over on the bunny hill anyway. Don't ever remember getting injured just from chattering out on bad terrain but I'm new to hardboots/alpine. :-/

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Was at Blue Wood ski, Dayton WA today. 4" of fresh on top of the ice from previous rains they got. Pow was pushed into piles with ice inbetween. Hit a bad spot of that and chattered out something fierce. I'm wondering if I could have strained calf muscle or achilles tendon. Very painful on heelsides afterwards had to give up and attend to my kids over on the bunny hill anyway. Don't ever remember getting injured just from chattering out on bad terrain but I'm new to hardboots/alpine. :-/

The next fews days will tell.

Hope it is a minor strain. Yes, that chatter can create some serious yet momentary pressure.

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I guess this qualifies as last year maybe, but I quit voluntarily last year. Had a new half knee put in last July robotically. Worked out very well, no pain and up and walking within a week, light work in 10 days (mostly walking around and not carrying anything too heavy). Was walking rapidly a couple of miles a day in 3 weeks or there abouts till PT had me doing these clam things that torked my knee and set me back. Anyway recovered.

I waited till Dec back in Duluth Flatopia before I tried boarding. I figured I couldn't get in too much trouble there-no bumps-no off piste. First day I went out for an hour and it felt not too bad. Four days later I went for 2 hours doing laps. Screaming down the hill, no problems and picked up where I last left off and maybe a little better. The problem came getting to and from the lift and having the board hang off the knee with no footrests on the chairs. Twisting the knee while peddling became painful. Couldn't hardly do stairs for 2 weeks afterwards.

My wife suggested just taking off the board and walking, but she wants to ski. (I was immediately impressed with her concern.)

Now the sucky part. Wife and I have put money down on a condo in Big Sky, and we're just waiting for the banks OK (shortsale, really shortsale).

I head off to the Doc on Weds. When I twist my knee it audibly clicks. The polyethylene lower is obviously riding over the Titanium upper. This clicking does not hurt in any way. This would really suck if I couldn't board again. I can't complain too much, as I couldn't walk a block before the surgery. I'm now able to fully work, spend time on my knees (and I mean multiple hours a day), use ladders, and walk, and bike like a fiend. Stairs are just a bit stiff, and trail running is a no go for now.

I am whining a bit, but boarding was the main thing I lived for in the winter. This one is lost, but I'm hoping for next year. 6 months was maybe a little soon?

Anyway the point of this was to find out if anyone else is running on new knee parts and what they experienced.

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The next fews days will tell.

Hope it is a minor strain. Yes, that chatter can create some serious yet momentary pressure.

Thanks, I'd like to get a little more in before season ends. I blame some of it on my lack of working out lately, stretching, warming up, etc. I've been neglectful lately.

The problem came getting to and from the lift and having the board hang off the knee with no footrests on the chairs. Twisting the knee while peddling became painful.
This has always been a bit of an issue for an old meniscus repair of mine, probably need more work done. Just fine when boarding but soon as that back foot comes out for lift lines and peddling its seriously vulnerable :-/ Probly could never be a skiier.........oh darn!
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Let me add myself the the list. On February 3, 2011 I was on my stiff GS Donek, with Catek OS2 and Head Stratos Pros. I was making some really powerful, deep carves on ice. I had my boots clamped down tight.

On a toeside carve, all of a sudden I unexpectedly lost my balance. Couldn't believe that I would make such a novice fall. I thought there must have been a monster trench that I ended up hooking the nose into, but I saw nothing and the way I lost my balance was just weird. I cartwheeled twice before coming to a stop.

My front leg hurt. I tried to get up but I had no stability. Of course it happened under the chairlift. On top of it, it was the last night of training with the patrol candidates before their big test on Sunday. We were working on practicing nice carved turns before bringing out the tobaggans.

When the candidates and other patrollers caught up with me, I told them to get a toboggan and we can practice for real this time.

I thought I had a really bad strain until I got X-rays the next day. Even I could read the X-ray, the fibia was broken at about the boot top level. In talking with the doc, it sounds like I may have had a stress fracture started earlier, when I got into the deep carve, it let go. When it let go, I lost my lateral stability, which would explain why I couldn't understand why I fell.

Most likely, my season is over. No cast is required, just a cane, but the crepitus is driving me crazy. It takes a few weeks for the bones to knit together. In 12 weeks, shouldn't be able to tell it was broken.

The good news is that all the patrol candidates passed their final on the hill tests on Sunday. I guess it goes to show the motto is true "Those who can't do, teach."

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as i always say; do some sports or - stay healthy..! :ices_ange

feel so sorry for all you guys who wrote in this thread.

wednesday last week, i also was again in hospital. got some titan plate and screws put together with a piece of transplanted bone from my hip. a nothing at all healed collarbone fracture was hopefully finally fixed now.

last march i was shoot from behind and took a hard landing. they fixed it with a nail. nail comes out early and would removed. after i builded a 'nice' pseudo arthrosis with 1,6cm space between broken bone pieces. final bad diagnosis came out last september. hope this new OP's heals now.....

for my motivation, i will get a new gladiator-2, evo3 the next week...:biggthump

wish u all the best

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Due to lack of snow here in Greece i caught a rock with my left hand pinkie while carving this weekend and now it is broken,doctor braced it with the next to it finger and advised me not to snowboard for at least a month!

I don't see the reason not to snowboard ,i know that i would need to keep my hands close to my body and in no way touch snow or even think of EC.

Besides it making it difficult to suit and boot up (I hope that my friends or wife will give a hand there!)do you guys think i should listen to the doctors advice or keep on boarding?

I knew that this would happen sooner or later (EC style riding is like your asking for it to happen!)but damn it not now, since all season there was almost no snow and i only rode 4 times,and this weekend we are expecting heavy snowfall.

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^

Really? There's no way I would stop cause of a broken finger.

I've actually been riding this season with torn rib cartilage. I got speared playing hockey. At first it was very painful. I took 1 week off riding but still skied. For the next month every time something bumped my ribs it would hurt for the next 24 hours.

Riding wasn't that bad. Healside was a bit uncomfortable and sometimes a bit painful, and there's no way I was getting the full range of motion.

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^

Really? There's no way I would stop cause of a broken finger.

I've actually been riding this season with torn rib cartilage. I got speared playing hockey. At first it was very painful. I took 1 week off riding but still skied. For the next month every time something bumped my ribs it would hurt for the next 24 hours.

Riding wasn't that bad. Healside was a bit uncomfortable and sometimes a bit painful, and there's no way I was getting the full range of motion.

unclip from bindings? push self up from hill? if I couldn't quickly do any of those, unassisted, i wouldn't have gone back on the hill last week.

falling on a break may make it worse, and if you have to go back for further alignment, they might look at you funny.

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unclip from bindings? push self up from hill? if I couldn't quickly do any of those, unassisted, i wouldn't have gone back on the hill last week.

falling on a break may make it worse, and if you have to go back for further alignment, they might look at you funny.

You don't have to agree with me, and I totally understand why you wouldn't. I'm just saying if it were me I would still ride. I've got 8 months to heal properly when our short season is done. :)

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You don't have to agree with me, and I totally understand why you wouldn't. I'm just saying if it were me I would still ride. I've got 8 months to heal properly when our short season is done. :)
yes. being out for 8 weeks of Prime Groom has not soothed my soul, but better that than compounding what I'd already done. ;)
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unclip from bindings? push self up from hill? if I couldn't quickly do any of those, unassisted, i wouldn't have gone back on the hill last week.

falling on a break may make it worse, and if you have to go back for further alignment, they might look at you funny.

I don't think that i could push myself up from the hill one handed that's a thing that bothers me most!

The break on the pinkie is like a hairline crack and when i asked the doctor if i could snowboard he told me that if i do and the finger breaks even more than i should look for another doctor!

I thought maybe of making a self made cast for the pinkie if i go riding,would that give any protection?

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I don't think that i could push myself up from the hill one handed that's a thing that bothers me most!

The break on the pinkie is like a hairline crack and when i asked the doctor if i could snowboard he told me that if i do and the finger breaks even more than i should look for another doctor!

I thought maybe of making a self made cast for the pinkie if i go riding,would that give any protection?

Tape and splint. Add padding. Hard protector on the outside of glove.

Go.

Snowboard.

Stop dragging your hands. Little ice chunks can break finger too.

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see photos -- left ankle was pretty well damaged 2 weeks ago when riding at Whistler Blackcomb... went into a normal toe side turn and caught something on the nose -- it stopped and flipped me up vertically - the snowboard looked like a fence post for a moment.. and then several cartwheels later.. it was a tobaggon ride to the emergency center thanks to ski patrol and an end of my season...

Had surgery last monday -- now I have more Titanium in me than my golf bag has..

The BIG part that sucks is when I got home with my cast -- my new Coiler AM was waiting for me... now it has to wait till next year to see how it rides...Damn it all..I cant golf or bike or ride /// it is damn boring hanging around with my leg elevated.

post-53-141842336037_thumb.jpg

post-53-14184233604_thumb.jpg

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see photos -- left ankle was pretty well damaged 2 weeks ago when riding at Whistler Blackcomb... went into a normal toe side turn and caught something on the nose -- it stopped and flipped me up vertically - the snowboard looked like a fence post for a moment.. and then several cartwheels later.. it was a tobaggon ride to the emergency center thanks to ski patrol and an end of my season...

Had surgery last monday -- now I have more Titanium in me than my golf bag has..

The BIG part that sucks is when I got home with my cast -- my new Coiler AM was waiting for me... now it has to wait till next year to see how it rides...Damn it all..I cant golf or bike or ride /// it is damn boring hanging around with my leg elevated.

Sorry about your injury. Metamucil? Heavy drugs and couch time can really mess with your guts. Word to the wise from someone that has been there a few times.

post-198-141842336043_thumb.jpg

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