Post-operative nutrition

Krasi

Krasi

Silver Level Site Supporter
Well, on Aug 29th I had a nasty crash, dislocating my right knee. 10 days later I had my surgery - ACL recontruction, MCL stitiching, lateral miniscus cut. PCL and LCL are partially torn and should heal on their own.

Anyway, dows anyone know if it'll be useful to take some supplements - Calcium, aminoacids, proteins, etc., in order to help ligament and bone recovery? Also, anything for the joint itself? Thanks.
 
Glenn, GMP here, unfortunately, probably knows alot more... :(

But if it were me, I would take glucosamine and choindroitin. I would also take fish oil pills - which thin the blood and help circulation and helps with joints.

jeff
 
GMP should have some insite,, and if you do a search on "anti-inflamnatory diet" something should come up.. My chiro always suggests this but my wife is on a strict diet for migrane relief and both diets would limit her too much.. Certain vegies and fish help with body rehab.. and certain things hurt.. If I can get the diet from the chiro I'll send it to you..
 
If U find the info Cruiser, I'd like to see it too. I have rotator cuff surgery on the 22nd of this month. Not the answer I was hoping for either.:(
 
No smoking!!!

If you smoke now is the time to quit. I had pretty much the same as you with acl reconstruction using part my own hamstring ligament as the donor.

Everything I found online pointed towards more than 50% recovery failure (the reattached ligament dies) if you smoke. There is very little blood supply to the whole knee area and smoking obviously relaces some of the blood oxygen content, something like 15 percent?

I at that time quit smoking and did physical therapy for 2 months before my surgery in order to improve my odds of recovery (my choice). I also quit smoking at that time and have at this point fully recovered. (4 years?)

Sorry I can't help with the nutritional supplemant part of things. Do a google search for "Bob's ACL Board", excellent forum with tons of advice and doctors frquent the discussions.

Best wishes for a full recovery!
 
No, I'm not smoking, and never have.

My ACL reconstruction is with a patellar tendon, i.e. bone damage and recovery.

Cruiser, what's "chiro"? Chiropractor?

Currently I'm taking some mixture of vitamins and minerals, plus extra an gram of vitamin C. I also have now protein-based supplement called "Total Recovery". It's mainly for bodybuilders, though.

Thanks to webmaster, as of today I added a fish oil pill to the pile.
 
NO SMOKING! That should be obvious.

Patella tendon is the better way to go for ACL reconstruction, good choice.

High protein diet. For bone healing, 1200mg+ Calcium per day, with vitamin D. Caltrate, Citracal, etc. NO NSAIDs! Naproxin, Ibuprofin slow bone growth and healing.

This is per Dr. Mark Sanders, who fixed me, Boomhauer, and many other motorcycle rider/racers.

For joint maintanence, I have been taking Glucosimine Sulphate/Chondroiton for years and continue to do so. Dr. Mark recommended a supplement package called "Nutrex Sport", which is designed to support surgical recovery in athletes, but I have yet to find it locally.

Move as much as you can and rehab as much as you can as soon as you can, but listen to your doc, and hope he is right. Dr. Mark always says: "it all depends on who's holding the knife".
 
The supplements mentioned are good. If you really want to do your digestive tract a favor and get all that nutrition to your body, consider eliminating Gluten from your diet. Look up a diet for Celiac Spru. It's an awful condition which means you're allergic to wheat. My mom has it. Anyway, Gluten really slows down your ability to absorb good stuff. It also makes your core work so hard to digest, that it's detracting from it's job of holding you together.

The diet is a pain to get used to, but if you learn to make your own bread, you can make Spelt bread (Spelt is not gluten free, but has broken down gluten, which for a non celiac should be easier to digest, works for most anyway) and replace normal bread. You can also make spelt pasta, well, someone can, not me.
Spelt bread is waaaay better tasting than the wheat flour stuff, you'll never go back.
 
Last edited:
GMP said:
NO SMOKING! That should be obvious.

Patella tendon is the better way to go for ACL reconstruction, good choice.

High protein diet. For bone healing, 1200mg+ Calcium per day, with vitamin D. Caltrate, Citracal, etc. NO NSAIDs! Naproxin, Ibuprofin slow bone growth and healing.

This is per Dr. Mark Sanders, who fixed me, Boomhauer, and many other motorcycle rider/racers.

For joint maintanence, I have been taking Glucosimine Sulphate/Chondroiton for years and continue to do so. Dr. Mark recommended a supplement package called "Nutrex Sport", which is designed to support surgical recovery in athletes, but I have yet to find it locally.

Move as much as you can and rehab as much as you can as soon as you can, but listen to your doc, and hope he is right. Dr. Mark always says: "it all depends on who's holding the knife".
Click to expand...

Thanks, GMP.
Not being native English speaker I have to ask - what are those NSAIDs? We use Iboprufin as a painkiller. Is it the same one? The only painkiller I'm taking occasionallty is Hexalgin (a liquid analgetic), and it's not for the knee.

My six-month old son is eating some gluten-free paps. May be I will start joining him for dinner? :)
 
Yes Chiro is chiropractic.. and I'll be seeing my guy on friday.. the rotor cuff isnt as bad as it seams,, had the lower part of mine removed when I was 21,, had an issue with it dislocating and it folded in on itself when I put it back in.. lost most of the feeling of my arm.. They fixed it with the surgury but I wish it was done later in life as the procedure they do now is much much better than mine,, some 18 years ago,, and if they clamp you on the spin table,, you will be sore the day after.. believe me!
 
NSAID = non-steroidal anti-inflamitory drug. A family of drugs which include Ibuprofin, Naproxin, (yes, the same over the counter pain killers) and additional stronger precription medications of the same type, like Celebrex. Avoid them while bone is healing.

With the way my life schedule is now, I'm lucky to get a home cooked dinner a couple times a week. Make my own bread? Let me mention that to my wife and see how that goes over.:eek: Very good advice in theory, just tough to practice in the rat race of today, especially here in the cut throat northeast.
 
I suppose making your own bread isn't for everyone, but I'm a simple farm boy, and I can't see paying $6.50 for a loaf of bread, which is what the local bakery (real bakery) charges.

If you are willing to spend the money, there are lots of good options out there. Eating healthy can be expensive if you have to buy organic food. I'm not completely sold on organic, studies have shown that organic has no more nutritional value than any other food. I go for Organic meats, but veggies, not so much. Nothing like home grown beef! I miss it.
 
Still recovering from the knee operation, my morale was boosted with the following joke:

In doctors' office:

- Doc, my knee hurts?

- Can you flex it?

- Sure! In which direction do you prefer?
 
Some progress from me. Short flashback - O'Donaghue's triad plus more after luxation of the knee.

Yesterday, 5 weeks post surgery, I had a visit to the doctor who mercifully allowed me 30 degrees of flexing.
Today I had my first PT session. There was some pain and crunching noises from inside. I'm at about 30 degrees, though. Extension is something like -5, -10 degrees and I agreed with the physiotherapist to take it easy on it and focus on flexing for the time being. Can't help it being terrified with hyperextension and the pain.

Man, it's weird how the knee seems, feels and behaves like a brick. Complete disobedience of direct orders to flex! Unfortunatelly I can't fire the MF and through it out of the door :)

P.S.
My PT therapist is "she". I sure hope that helps ;)
 
Do as much movement/PT as you can, even if you have to take pain medication to do it.
 
Some update if someone is following my tragedy :)

First week of PT has elapsed. I'm slowly progressing, I think. I have some improvement in flexing and extending, but nothing dramatic. PT sessions are still painful and weird. I can't help it feel that something will pop, snap or brake in there at any given moment. When the physiotherapist is flexing the knee and applying pressure I'm sure that my tibia will pop to the front. The whole knee is still hard as a rock when you touch it (or flex it). The patella has finally stared moving around a little bit when you push it with fingers. I still comfort myself that there can't be miracles in 7 PT sessions after 45 days of immobilization (and surgery, of course). Muscles are still quite sponge-like, especially on the thigh.
 
Today was my PT seesion #11 (I have them daily) and something very weird happened.

For about half of the sessions, I lay on my bellie and the physiotherapist is flexing my knee up to it's limit. Naturally there is a lot of pain during these exercises and today was not different. But at the 2nd or 3rd repetition, I think (I repeat, I think) something crunched in there and the pain decreased tremendously! There is no dramatic increase in ROM or something, but the pain is definetely much less. Even now, while sitting and writing these the knee feels better than before.

Have you, rehab veterans, experienced something similar? Could I've snapped or ripped something (like the new ACL, for example)? We have a saying round here that too good is no good...
 
Probably some scar tissue releasing its death grip.

I had a 5 for 1 deal on the operating table to fix the outcome of a rather violent shoulder dislocation and have had a few instances of just what you said during the last 5 months of rehab.

Oh ya, gotta love pain if you want to recover! :eek:

Good luck!
 
Thanks for the reassurance.

I also came to this conclusion, after applying some common sense. The sensation was remarkably close to what I felt when I dislocated the knee and then it poped back into place.
 
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