I received an email today from Anne, one of my Aberdeenshire walking friends, writing from Scuol Hospital in Switzerland, following a ski touring accident in the Silvretta (on a tour with Glenmore Lodge). She is seeking advice:-
She has a suspected torn anterior cruciate ligament. She is now waiting to discuss the results of the MRI scan with the surgeon and may have to make decisions:-
- Whether to have it fully repaired, or not
- Whether to have this done at Scuol Hospital, or come back to Scotland / UK. (She does also have private UK health insurance, as her husband in is the oil industry in Aberdeen.)
- Is repair of anterior cruciate ligament best done as soon as possible, or have you waited until return to the UK?
- Has anyone any experience of the Scuol Hospital?
- Anne is in her late 50s, I recall from other Eagle cruciate events in the 90s (including Rupert) that the surgery is sometimes restricted to younger sports people. Have any “older” Eagles had cruciate repair surgery done recently and how successfully? Anne is fit and athletic.
Thanks for any advice from Eagle ski tourers to forward on the Anne at Scuol.
Thanks, Jay
jay(at)jaturner34.freeserve.co.uk
DarrenHudson
Hi
My girlfriend was unfortunate enough to tear her ACL on Boxind day in France. The doctors in France felt she should return to the UK for further investigation.
The Chelsea Westminster in London gave her an MRI scan which confirmed detachment of the ACL fron just behind the knee. The specialist suggested surgery. He did confirm that it will repair on its own and one can live quite well without the surgery, though he felt as my girlfriend is quite young (21) that she should proceed with surgery to allow her to continue being 'sporty' and reduce possibilities of arthritis in later years. He explained that there is no rush for surgery and sometimes they prefer a period of strengthening before hand.
She has now had the operation and there is a period of 3 months when she must be very slow and careful with her movements, followed by a further 3-6 months of physio which is very important to avoid a permenant limp. The surgery consisted, as I understand it, of taking a ligament from the side of the leg and attaching it to the ACL on one end and then drilling a hole through the knee threading it through and holding it in place with two screws. It is apparently a simple operation lasting approx 45 mins, however, it is quite brutal.
She had the operation last Friday and came home the same day. She is walking with crutches and the knee was initially very swollen and painful though goes down daily. The self physio is naturally painful but movement improves daily.
Before the operation she had been healing well and was walking without crutches and stationary cycling, though think her swift improvement was a lot to do with her age. It will be interesting to see if recovery to walking unaided is as swift after the operation as it was after the accident.
I hope this is of some help. I suppose the question is quite how active one is and how much less so one is without the operation as I appreciate your friend is a little older. I had a friend of 45 who ruptured his ACL and had reconstuction and is just about to tentatively ski after 18 months!
Good Luck and please feel free to get in touch if I can help further.
Darren