Any one skiing with a total knee replacement? / Pro Ski Coach Water Ski Forum

LeonJones · #1 Mon, Nov 24, 2008 12:30 AM

I am a near 50 y/o rookie ( 15'-22' off at 32 mph) who needs a TKR. I've been putting it off, thinking it would be tough to ski with. Is there anyone out there who has had this done, who skis 80-100 sets per year? Thanks in advance for any feedback. My surgeon is recomending a trebuclar (sp?) implant that the bone grafts into for stregnth. He allows downhill skiing, half court basketball & doubles tennis, none of which I can do now, but I can slalom. My guess is that there is just enough give in the water so that the impact with a bone-on-bone knee is lessened. My hope is that this would bode well for skiing with the replacement. The surgeon doesnt know what to tell me because he's never had a patient who course skiied.
I know that my priority with this shouldn't be how it will effect my skiing, but it is :-) My biggest fear is that I'll have the procedure, and I'll then discover that my skiing is over. If I knew that would in fact be the case, I'd put this off and continue gulping NASIDs and keep getting cortasone injections.
HELP!

WadeWilliams · #2 Mon, Nov 24, 2008 1:38 AM

Leon,

Sorry to hear that your knee is still nagging you! If the doc says downhill skiing and the rest is cool, I don't see skiing the course being an issue. What is the success rate? It may be one more thing to relearn, but you have a good enough understanding of what you're trying to do on the water so I'm sure you'll be able to work through it. If you can have it done soon and be ready for the spring, then that could be the best plan for you! Otherwise it sounds like it's going to just keep being an issue...

Anyone have more first hand advice?

LeonJones · #3 Mon, Nov 24, 2008 3:44 PM

Wade- you hit the nail on the head; this old worn out knee gets more problematic as time goes on. I was in pain much of last summer. The Doctor has a 95% success rate, and the litature bears this out. It's a good operation, I'm just worried that after FINALLY making some progress in the course, my ski carear will be over just when it's getting fun! It's funny how this sport influnces most of the major decision in my life, but I get more pure joy out of it than just about anything else! Let's hope that in mid March I'll be back out at SkiTek bugging you!

SC_swerve · #4 Mon, Nov 24, 2008 6:01 PM

I was asking a friend, who's a physical therapist about knee replacements. I'm 52 and also have a deteriorating knee (2 surgeries in my younger years). He said the replacements only last about 10-12 years on sedentary individuals and 5 years on active people.

Leon, Are you getting different information?

LeonJones · #5 Mon, Nov 24, 2008 6:44 PM

SC swerve- yes , the new material used has a longer life span. The part that wears out is the polyethelene spacer thay put in to act as the replacement cartledge. The reserch indicates that at 20 years out, 90% of the replacements will still be good. I'm sure that percentage goes down for athletic people. Weight bearing & pounding (like running/jumping) activities are the worst. That's why I'm hoping skiing will be OK. I couldnt run from my living room to the fridge to get a beer w/o the knee swelling. However, for the most part slalom doenst effect it like running would.....so I'm hoping to be near the 20 year mark before "revision" surgery.

Last edited by Leon Jones (Mon, Nov 24, 2008 6:45 PM)

WadeWilliams · #6 Tue, Nov 25, 2008 2:17 AM

Leon, it would be sweet to push it back as far a you can but with as much trouble as it sounds like your having, if you can get the surgery and be good to go for march i'm sure you can ski your way back to and past where you are now. I'm no doctor tho :-)

LeonJones · #7 Tue, Nov 25, 2008 3:19 PM

Wade- it looks like I'll have it sometime in January '09. Hoping to get back on the water by late March. The Doctor says minimum of 6 weeks, but three months is best. So of course, I decided to split the difference, and plan to get my ski wet at the 9 week mark Also, I think I'll be calling you a few times in the late Nov and Dec time frames to just get some good free skiing in before going under the knife ( one last fix!)