• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

(MCL)

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Practicing short turns behind the kids this sunny AM and caught an edge and went down hard sideways. MCL torn (grade 2) and very unhappy outside of knee/calf muscle, etc. Six weeks in a brace.

Tell me it will be okay or failing that say something funny.
Oh no you din't!!!

OK, let's see...I'm glad you weren't with me when it happened? I'm rather sad now that we never did get to meet up and ski together? You'll be back in March when spring skiing and tailgating is in full swing?

Did you get to ride in the toboggan like a mummy? I got lucky when I sustained my TPF that it was just dropping onto Penny Lane so I got to ride on a snowmobile instead.

But seriously, I am so sorry! Ugh the injuries can happen so fast in this sport. Can you ski before the six weeks if you continue wearing a brace? Or get fitted for a custom brace that will allow you to?
 

floatingyardsale

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I got the toboggan ride! But I sat up. School Hill on a sled is pretty sweet.

I should be OK for spring skiing assuming I heal okay. Definitely getting in the way of my plan to improve in the bumps (three runs of Pork Barrel yesterday and I bite it today?!? Falling on a green with your kids is a great way to get people to ask if you've ever skied before...)
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I got the toboggan ride! But I sat up. School Hill on a sled is pretty sweet.

I should be OK for spring skiing assuming I heal okay. Definitely getting in the way of my plan to improve in the bumps (three runs of Pork Barrel yesterday and I bite it today?!? Falling on a green with your kids is a great way to get people to ask if you've ever skied before...)
LOL School Hill on a sled yikes! Were you on the runout after Bear Hollow then?
It's ALWAYS the greens that get people, I swear! I won't ski Pork Barrel because I feel like everyone on the gondola is watching me so good on ya!

Hey, at least you weren't stuck in the hour long traffic jam getting out of there today like my husband was. :doh:

Ice ice baby. I hope the pain doesn't keep you awake at night.
 

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Oh no !!! I'm still working through my MCL and Meniscus tears from my "awfully big crash" at the end of our season, 4 months now and no improvement :cry: The breaks I sustained are all healed and good as gold its the stupid ligaments and cartilage that cause all the bother ! I'm sure when I do get back on the planks people are gong to be asking me if its my first time :laughter:Good luck with the recovery and hope you get back for Spring skiing xx
 

Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Practicing short turns behind the kids this sunny AM and caught an edge and went down hard sideways. MCL torn (grade 2) and very unhappy outside of knee/calf muscle, etc. Six weeks in a brace.

Tell me it will be okay or failing that say something funny.
No! Since I am limping around from a calf injury last Monday, I am very sympathetic. But not looking it anywhere near as much work to heal as you are. As far as I know that is! At least you didn’t get a long sled ride down a bump run or anything. Hang in there and heal fast.
 

floatingyardsale

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Worse! Top of Easalong! (no more warm-up runs for me ) So I got to sled through Bear Hollow too. It was so early that it wasn't crowded.
Oh no !!! I'm still working through my MCL and Meniscus tears from my "awfully big crash" at the end of our season, 4 months now and no improvement :cry: The breaks I sustained are all healed and good as gold its the stupid ligaments and cartilage that cause all the bother ! I'm sure when I do get back on the planks people are gong to be asking me if its my first time :laughter:Good luck with the recovery and hope you get back for Spring skiing xx

Oh, you poor kid. Good vibes for good healing.
LOL School Hill on a sled yikes! Were you on the runout after Bear Hollow then?
It's ALWAYS the greens that get people, I swear! I won't ski Pork Barrel because I feel like everyone on the gondola is watching me so good on ya!

Hey, at least you weren't stuck in the hour long traffic jam getting out of there today like my husband was. :doh:

Ice ice baby. I hope the pain doesn't keep you awake at night.
Not the point but one of the challenges of parking being so crowded was trying to figure out how leave the upper lot (we were tailgating by the bunny hill) to get me from the clinic and then back to the upper lot (so I could sit in a lawn chair while the kids got in a few runs with friends because I didn't want to ruin their ski day.)

Anyhow, it's fine, but I get the sense that one really needs an MCL especially on edges so it might be a while. Pain isn't bad but there is obviously a lot of muscle strain (my friend the athletic trainer thinks my muscles saved my ACL so keep doing those deadlifts, ladies!)
 

contesstant

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Worse! Top of Easalong! (no more warm-up runs for me ) So I got to sled through Bear Hollow too. It was so early that it wasn't crowded.


Oh, you poor kid. Good vibes for good healing.

Not the point but one of the challenges of parking being so crowded was trying to figure out how leave the upper lot (we were tailgating by the bunny hill) to get me from the clinic and then back to the upper lot (so I could sit in a lawn chair while the kids got in a few runs with friends because I didn't want to ruin their ski day.)

Anyhow, it's fine, but I get the sense that one really needs an MCL especially on edges so it might be a while. Pain isn't bad but there is obviously a lot of muscle strain (my friend the athletic trainer thinks my muscles saved my ACL so keep doing those deadlifts, ladies!)
Not Ease a long!
I'm glad it wasn't worse, truthfully. Some serious crap can happen so damned fast out there.
 

Iwannaski

Angel Diva
Alright, here’s an uplift. if you can find a good acupuncturist, get there fast. My friend tore her MCL and was able to get function back with acupuncture and without surgical intervention. Since then, we know at least 3 people who could have needed surgical repair of both soft tissue and bone who have been able to avoid it. (And the AVOID was “certified” by their orthopedic surgeons. Kind of a big deal)

You’ve got this. You are strong and can heal. Good luck!!!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Oof! Sorry to hear about the MCL. It will heal given time.

My first approach for an injury is acupuncture. I have been having an acupuncture treatment about once a month for 15+ years. For an injury, I go once a week to start with and then every 2-3 weeks until things feel better. Also take a Chinese herbal called Yunnan Baiyao, usually the capsules. My family's experience with Baiyao for leg injuries goes back to when my mother broke her leg at age 70 back in the 1980s.

I took Baiyao and did acupuncture when I popped off an ACL (not skiing) in 2012. A minor MCL strain was part of the collateral damage. It hurt for about three months to do a few PT exercises due to the MCL injury, so I didn't do those particular exercises for a while.

Last season I strained a calf muscle in January . . . on a groomer. Acupuncture helped get me in good enough shape for my early February Taos Private Ski Week. I took is easier than usual in the afternoons but was able to learn a lot in the mornings. My group were all older advanced skier interested in working on technique on blue and black bumps with the goal of becoming more comfortable on black and double-black terrain.
 

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I got the toboggan ride! But I sat up. School Hill on a sled is pretty sweet.
I swore I would NEVER get in a sled and pleaded with them to let me try and side slip down to a more mellow spot but they wouldn't have a bar of it ...... I crashed coming out of a chute on a black diamond run, it was so steep it took 4 guys (patrollers and my hubby) to hold the sled level so I could be VERY reluctantly loaded in. It was terrfiying !!
 
Last edited:

floatingyardsale

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The slope I was on was mellow enough that I just pushed myself into the sled. And they let me sit up. So the whole experience was more like having a guided tubing ride than anything terrifying. I can't imagine it on a bump or steep run!
 

Kimmyt

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I partially tore my MCL several years ago (yikes I guess its now around ten years) and it was the season I was basically ski bumming up at Breck. I tore it on a routine groomer run with about 6" fresh over top groom when I was just warming up and waiting for some more terrain to open up. I managed to walk the mile home to my condo in extreme pain. It didn't require surgery, but I did a ton of PT on it and was able to ski in maybe 6 weeks. All I did was basically PT and rice it. I was able to ski the remainder of the season and still squeaked in 100 days (oh to be young/er again) but I did wear a good brace while skiing the remainder of the season and was very very diligent about my pt homework. The PT told me MCLs are often more painful than ACLs, I remember hiking home from the hill with my skis on my shoulder in tears and some guy walking past me making a joke about how it was a powder day and I shouldn't be leaving so early!
 

geargrrl

Angel Diva
I tore my MCL and ACL in a bike crash. A MCL will heal *if it is braced correctly* and you follow all protocols prescribed. For me, this was leg in a brace, crutches, for six weeks.(no one footed drills) The surgeon wanted to see if the MCL would heal on its own. It did, and then I had surgery.
 

floatingyardsale

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The doctor said I could bike on my trainer once I felt up to it. They didn't give me crutches, just a brace, but I obtained some crutches as I couldn't get around at all without them and my knee feels really unstable so I feel more secure with them. I was told I wouldn't need PT. I haven't had an MRI yet -- we decided to wait to see how it's going. Right now most of the pain is on the outside of my leg, not the inside, and it's not that bad, painwise.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Seems a little odd not to have any PT. Doesn't need to be that many sessions, but useful to learn exercises that are good to help support knees in general.

After I popped off the ACL, with the minor MCL strain and a small hole in the meniscus (could heal without surgical intervention), my balance was clearly off for a few weeks. I learned why after I understood what proprioception means. Essentially my body had to recalibrate to make up for proprioceptors that were lost due to the injury. I used two crutches to be safe, especially because I wasn't at home initially. I was able to walk straight ahead with no pain even the day of the injury.
 

AJM

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
The doctor said I could bike on my trainer once I felt up to it. They didn't give me crutches, just a brace, but I obtained some crutches as I couldn't get around at all without them and my knee feels really unstable so I feel more secure with them. I was told I wouldn't need PT. I haven't had an MRI yet -- we decided to wait to see how it's going. Right now most of the pain is on the outside of my leg, not the inside, and it's not that bad, painwise.
I does seem odd .... no MRI to really see whats going on in there and no PT. I'm off for a second opinion on my possible MCL ( I call it my mystery guest as the MRI couldnt see anything there) and confirmed meniscus tears but in the meantime I'm doing as much PT as I can cope with which at this stage is around 30 mins on the excercyle plus various other leg strengthening exercises daily. I'm out of the brace but still have it on hand for when I feel I need it plus the crutches:injured:
 
Last edited:

beane

Certified Ski Diva
The doctor said I could bike on my trainer once I felt up to it. They didn't give me crutches, just a brace, but I obtained some crutches as I couldn't get around at all without them and my knee feels really unstable so I feel more secure with them. I was told I wouldn't need PT. I haven't had an MRI yet -- we decided to wait to see how it's going. Right now most of the pain is on the outside of my leg, not the inside, and it's not that bad, painwise.
I'm confused, without the MRI, how did they know the MCL was torn? I might push for that to get a little more clarity on what's going on.

Also want to sympathize as I busted my knee and am out for the season.
 

Iwannaski

Angel Diva
What kind of doctor did you see? Knowing how our medical system works*, I would suggest perhaps a second opinion if you’re not 100% sure that you are being treated appropriately for your injury. Sometimes a provider’s specialty can affect how they see things. This discrepancy is due to the way systems are set up to support and measure providers.
 

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,235
Messages
497,609
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top