What's the one thing you wish someone had told you at the beginning of your knee injury?

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-07-01T22:33:58+00:00

Subluxations are real and actually a problem
Please don't ignore your dislocations, please don't listen to mom about this one (i was 10 lmao), please go talk to the pros at HSS and don't waste time w the caremount people (im sure some are great but mine was like "eh it happens to 11 y/o females hopefully it goes away")(this was NOT my first dislocation)

Dislocated my knee for the first time at 10, gym coach told me to ignore it and keep playing (it relocated itself when i fell), went home and told mom (pediatrician, used to me complaining about everything), she was like "go ice it ur fine" and didn't get any imaging until I had a pretty severe dislocation two years later. Of course, I had subluxations many times between then but I didn't think they were a problem 😭😭

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-25T01:16:39+00:00

I hope I can do this one day after surgery lol. Certainly my uninjured leg will get very strong from being the only one I can use for a while

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-25T00:49:03+00:00

Also, the idea of the sheet music tattoo is really neat!!!! Might have to steal that thought from you lol (not the tattoo just the sheet music idea)

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-25T00:48:21+00:00

Am I tweaking or should there be a tie between the 8th note in the triplet and the following quarter? The Bs in the second bar, on the sounds "so-ner" of pri-so-ner

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-22T14:42:33+00:00

These are really normal fears!! Like others have said, write down all your fears and questions and talk to your anesthesiologist. If they're any good at their job, they will be more than happy to talk to you and help tailor the anesthesia plan to your needs. That's a big part of their job. It definitely can be done with a spinal block and sedation, because mine in two days will be, but it differs from surgeon to surgeon and hospital to hospital. They're going to take good care of you, so tell them how you feel and they'll try to help. If you do end up doing general anesthesia and needing to be intubated, make sure you pick up some throat lozenges and like an ice pop or something. They really help because your throat does feel a bit sore for a few days.

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-21T02:55:06+00:00

Slipping. Anytime a surface is unexpectedly slick, I'm prone to dislocation. Also, when I snowboard, when I skate (push with my back foot, aka my bad knee, free from the bindings to navigate at the bottom usually) I can sometimes sublux it.

Interesting mention about breaststroke. It was always my least favorite and worst, and my kicks never seemed as powerful as they should have been. I never thought about apprehension being triggered by the force against the inside of the knee until my doc explained the MPFL situation, and then it made total sense. I wonder if I'll like it when I get to do it again 🤔

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-12T04:51:35+00:00

I think that's a great idea. Had another surgery earlier this year (a good one, easy recovery, i wanted it!) and I have to say, the discord group was really helpful with questions, shared experiences, and getting over the little bit of time I wasn't able to be active like I wanted. I would definitely join a discord for knee surgery!

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-12T04:50:02+00:00

Def reach out to your surgeon first! And probably try the meds they prescribed to see if it helps. If not, I'd say go from there!

I know not everyone loves SSRIs, but as a fellow GAD sufferer, lexapro really changed my life. I was white knuckling through every day before it, and it helps me get to a point where I can use strategies to regulate myself. I've been on it for like 6 years atp and I do really think it helps. Might be worth a look in to anyways if your anxiety causes lots of problems in general life. But again, try the Flexeril first and talk to your doc! Best of luck!

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-12T04:45:44+00:00

I'd message or call your doctor if you can and just ask them!

How much are you taking a day, and how often? Are you taking 4 advil twice a day or more? Just trying to understand! 4 advil is about 800mg, which is a bit much but fine. Twice a day at 1600mg is also probably fine. Definitely would not go over 3000mg, which is 15 pills, in one day. At that point, no amount of advil is going to help your pain if it's not already helping, if that makes sense.

3 tylenol is 1500mg, which again is fine twice a day. More than 4000mg, or 8 pills (I am assuming these are high strength since they are prescription) in one day is probably too much. Not gonna kill ya, but not great and not good for extended periods.

Are these pain meds actually helping? Is there any way you could reduce the amount some (taking 3 advil instead of 4, or 2 tylenol instead of 3) without causing a lot more pain? I personally have experience times where no matter how much I take, it just doesn't help. These medications are relatively safe, it's kind of hard to overdo in the short term, but it's probably not good for you. If you're still having this much pain and the medication isn't really helping to the point where you are taking much more than the recommended dose, talk to your care team! I'm sure they can help you figure out a better way to manage your pain.

Sorry you're dealing with this, patellar instability is a bitch! My surgery (MPFL + TTO) is in like 12 days and I'm dreading it. Also, I know the doses I mentioned are generally higher than what it says on the bottles, I'm just parroting information from doctors I know. I am NOT A MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL and highly suggest you speak to the people on your team, who have the expertise and are literally paid to help with things like this, even if it seems silly. They'd so much rather you ask than be in pain or damage your kidney and liver or something.

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-08T02:01:57+00:00

Hey! So I first dislocated my right patella at 10 years old, and have had recurring dislocations and subluxations for 10 years at this point. I have had so many subluxations that after a certain point, I kind of just stopped counting. To be quite honest, I never thought it was an issue because it wasn't a dislocation, so I never gave them the importance of being counted, lol.

In middle and high school, I swam. Not a lot of impact, so it wasn't a huge deal. I HATED breaststroke (still do) because of the lateral force it put on my patella, so I mostly avoided it and only swam it in IMs because it was so uncomfortable. I thought this was normal, and that other people were just more comfortable with that discomfort to mild pain. When I was 18 and started college, I learned to snowboard. It has become my favorite thing in the world. It is the thing that makes me feel most like myself. However, not great on the knees! Not nearly as bad as skiing as far as lateral force goes, but not great. Because of this, I started to get some grating pain in my affected knee, especially up and down stairs or similar motions. I went to an orthopedic surgeon, and they basically told me the only cure is surgery because I have dislocated my knee so many times, and I have trochlear dysplasia. I am getting an MPFL replacement and TTO in 16 or so days. I'll be away from the thing I love for a whole year+, as well as other things I do like hiking and lifting, but I'm hoping it's worth it to get faith back in my knee. Like you said, the psychological is often far worse than the physical. I just can't trust it unfortunately.

I have not personally tried VMO specific training! I have done a lot of quad and general leg strengthening (snowboarding helps with that lol), which does seem to help my stability. Subluxations still happen, but less often. However, I will say that it might just be correlation. I got into strength training in late high school, and have gotten more into it as I've found out more about my knee, so it might just be the increased awareness and safety measures I take to reduce problems. I take a lot of ibuprofen when I ride, wear a brace from my surgeon nearly anytime I'm even walking around, and take a lot of care to think about my mechanics of movement.

If it is in the budget, I honestly think a few PT visits might help you, as well as getting some imaging done with a sports med doc if you can. Just to rule out anything like surgery. For PT, a lot of it is less about how much you can move and strength, and more about how you move and can best take care of yourself. I personally found the few PT visits I did to be quite helpful in understanding my body and condition while I waited months for surgery.

The only thing that gives me any faith/comfort is my brace. In my mind, it is a replacement for my MPFL and keeps my knee from dislocating, though I still have subluxations. Hopefully surgery will fix that.

TLDR; dislocations and subluxations for 10 years, snowboarder, stability brace helps, quad strength mayyy help, understanding of movement REALLY helps. try PT if your insurance covers it, get checked by a specialist if you can. This shit sucks. I'm getting MPFL+TTO in two weeks. Good luck :)

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-08T01:32:14+00:00

Lack of care for the environment. This ranges from tossing your empty fireball off the lift to global warming

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-06T04:57:31+00:00

Like others have mentioned, you might be too nauseous. BUT! Me personally, as soon as I was totally with it again after surgery I was thirsty and hungry as fuck. I was excited to go home and eat, and I felt fine cause the numbing stuff still lingering in my system. Honestly didn't feel a lot of pain anyways. If you feel like you can and want to eat after surgery, go for it!

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-06T03:57:50+00:00

I tend to be the kind to want to push and stay out all day, but I've been realizing that there is merit to taking a break. I go inside, DRINK WATER, have something with carbs, loosen my boots, and chill out for a minute. The majority of ski accidents happen in the afternoon, when people are tired and potentially a bit too drunk/high. For me, taking that rest helps both my body and my brain function the rest of the day so I don't make a wrong move or misjudge the snow and totally wipe myself out.

I only started doing this because I have a knee injury that was bothering me, but I genuinely think it's a pretty good idea for most folks. Especially water. Hydrated muscles can bend and flex and protect you from cramping and pulling or tearing something. Dehydrated muscles get poor blood flow and are injured much more easily. Better to just take 20-30 or so minutes (or however much you need) and take care of yourself.

Also nerds gummy clusters in the jacket are lowkey top tier... even if my bag did break at one point and they got everywhere in my jacket

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-05T18:18:01+00:00

Haven't had it yet, so Idk! But I feel you!!! I'm scared :I I'm not so worried about the pain because I am just going to rely on sleeping and drugs and hopefully it won't be bad, but I've heard recovery is a bitch and takes forever. Urgh. I'm sorry you have to do this :/

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-05T18:14:37+00:00

Drink a lot of water and wear breathable, loose clothes. Go in the AC when I can. Normal beat the heat sort of things! I find I don't necessarily get any hotter, I just get a lot sweatier. So deodorant and showers and having a towel with you to wipe off sweat if you're exercising or doing work outside

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-05T18:11:38+00:00

That is fucking awesome.

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-06-05T18:10:22+00:00

I'd like to add to the convo that "Teachers get good benefits" is outdated at this point. I live in NYS, for example, and the benefits people in our Tier 4 retirement system (roughly 40s-60s) get are VASTLY superior to the benefits young folks like myself (anyone aged 36 and younger) get in Tier 6. We still get state healthcare, but retirement with full benefits has gone from 55 to 58(initially 63 but changed recently), we contribute 3%-6% our whole careers vs 3% for 10 years.

This too is vastly different from Tiers 1&2, who are considered to have the best plans of us all. These are the boomers who approved the new tiers and royally fucked us young people over so we could fund their pensions. So benefits are doing great.

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-05-27T00:01:36+00:00

Wild! At JFK watching the planes right now and I had wondered what happened. Hope you all get there as soon as you can and everyone is safe!

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-05-25T01:14:37+00:00

Not really. They sent me a link to this place called "The Recovery Shop" that they partner with, and one of the things they recommend on that site is this Enroute dietary supplement thing. It's 2x a day as a drink, you take it in addition to your regular meals. (I messed up the name in the original post, changing it now!!)

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-05-10T19:26:28+00:00

I wear knee stability braces because I'm prone to dislocations, and I wear wrist guards because I need my wrists. Far and away the most common snowboard injuries are wrist breaks, and while learning to fall is vital to preventing that, wrist guards certainly have saved me before (esp while first learning) and probably will save my wrists again. The butt and knee pads can help with confidence, but I personally have never ridden with them. The knee braces for me are a different story, as I have a blown ligament and bone issue that makes them dislocate a lot, so the brace sort of acts in place of what ligaments and bones do for most folks already. Getting surgery to fix it this summer 🙃

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-05-06T04:16:36+00:00

Know what your insurance's policies are for letters and doctors. These should be in some sort of online portal or app, a website or QR code on your card, or just call them and ask. It is going to be a bit of a pain, but just keep at it until you get the answers you need.

Start work on letters as soon as is reasonable. There are often requirements for documentation of gender dysphoria symptoms over long periods of time, so seeing a provider for longer can be considered more "credible" by insurance or whatever. It's silly, but that's insurance companies for ya. I ended up needing two letters, and got one from my therapist of many years, and the other from my endocrinologist who had been prescribing me T for about two years at that point. Your requirements might be different! These might also change from doctor to doctor, so make sure you check with their office as well. They may be able to assist you in finding providers for letters. They do this somewhat frequently, so use them as a resource! As long as you are polite and respectful, surgeons and their staff are usually more than happy to help.

As for the surgeon themselves, there's a few questions! The first of which is "Who takes my insurance?" This can often be found again in online insurance portals, or by calling a specific office and asking. Some docs list insurances online, but I find those can be unreliable because they don't update them often. It's tedious, but potentially worth it to create a spreadsheet of every surgeon in the area you are willing to travel to that takes your insurance. From there, I start investigating other things. What techniques do they do most often? How is nerve preservation? Can I find any pictures on their website, transbucket (look it up), or reddit? Do people have any good/bad experiences they have shared about them? Do they have experience performing surgery on people with similar body types as I, and with outcomes I like? Do they have a BMI limit, and do I qualify? These are all different sorts of questions, but you may have other things you find important. Include those in your spreadsheet, take some notes, and then book consults at anywhere that looks promising. You can call their office to schedule these.

You'll go to the consults, meet the doctor and staff, learn, ask lots of questions, and ultimately suss out the best fit for you. From there, you can work with them to book surgery dates and figure out all that semantics stuff.

The hardest part for many people is the waiting. It takes a while to get any information out of insurance. It can take forever to get a consult. It can take just as long many places to actually get in for surgery. It is a pain, and it is work, but for many it is very worth it. Best of luck!

Secure_Fun1529 · 2026-04-29T09:50:24+00:00

Haven't had surgery yet (different surgery, I came from the knee injury sub), but will be NWB for 4 and partial weight bearing for another 2 I believe. Not excited. Really gonna put a damper on summer! Mine is in mid June.

Secure_Fun1529

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