United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hello! I was wondering has anyone used crutches and if so how? I have meniscus & ligament tears in my left knee! I have to go see my ortho ASAP, went to the ER yesterday. I was running on a treadmill, the knee popped and down I went, right on my knee & BPI elbow, thought I broke it but it is just bruised! I have had knee surgery before and have had to use crutches.... how would I do that now??

Court xx

Oh my that doesn't sound good at all! I know that crutches would really be awkward with having an injury to the arm too. I'm not exactly sure how that would work. Best of luck to you. I hope you heal quickly.

Oh Courtney,

I am so sorry to hear about your injury, please let us know what the doctor says and what you will need to do.

Sorry, I have no idea about crutches.

Hugs, Karen

Court, Dont know if it helped but i responded on the other boards.

I got on okay in hospital using the one crutch. I had busted up my right knee and BPI'd my right arm, so I got around on my left leg and holding a crutch in my left hand. No big deal, yeah it kind of feels retarded hopping around like that, but it can be done.

THanks for all the input! i iwll keep you posted!

COurt xx

See my post on tbpi-group.

Hugs n stuff

Hi Courtney,

In my accident I tore my acl and meniscus as well as my bpi injury and a bunch of other things. I waited for my knee surgery until March this year. The dr had me use 1 crutch and put an adjustable brace on the leg I had surgery on. As leg improved I could adjust the range of motion in the brace. Overall it wasn't bad. After the bpi stuff the leg was a walk in the park in comparison.

Like a bpi surgery the right dr is key. My therapist told me that there are drs whose recuperation time is much better than others. After say a year the results tend to be about the same but speed of recovery can be drastically differentfrom one drs patients to anothers. She said it is because of the speed of the surgery - some drs are just faster. The quicker they are the less swelling and this means faster recovery. I got recommendations from her, found one my insurance accepted and went from there. My recovery was excellent - much faster than any one else I know whose had the same surgery - and I don't think it had anything to do with me. I was partial weight bearing in less than a day. Less than 4 months after surgery I was hiking in the Alps!

Since most pts see a lot of acl/meniscus surgeries from a bunch of drs I would ask one which drs they would recommend in your area. Good luck.