Welcome! From that, I'll assume that you've either damaged your ACL or know someone who has, in which case you have my sympathies! Who'd have thought that such a small piece of ligament could cause so many problems, eh?
While I'm no medic, I have been through the ACL reconstruction process. Twice to date. And now it looks as though I'll be going round the loop a third time after slipping on ice. Yeay me.
So why have I decided to write this blog? For both selfish and altruistic reasons, if truth be told. Selfishly, having somewhere to write about my experiences (and there are usually plenty of ups and downs along the road), helps me process it more effectively without boring my nearest and dearest half to death. I also hope that readers will be able to gain support from it, either learning more about the processes involved or simply being reassured that what they're experiencing is 'normal' and they're not the only ones going through it.
I know that first time around I spent a disproportionate amount of time reading up on the procedure online - via personal blogs, medical journals and specialist forums, such as KneeGuru - and that was incredibly helpful. But once you start on the revision reconstructions, the volume and quality of information out there significantly reduces so hopefully this blog will be useful for others going through their second or third procedures too.
As the number of women experiencing ACL injuries increases in line with increased participation in sports (which is a good thing, of course - the increased participation, not the injuries!), I'll hopefully be able to bring a different perspective to the experience too. While mechanically there's not too much difference between ACL injuries in men and women (Q angles and hormones aside), I know for sure I had some different rehab goals to most men (e.g. when will I be back in heels?) while other questions I found answers for were very much written from a male perspective.
Anyway, if you've read this far, I hope you find it useful. I'll endeavour to share good resources where I find them - hopefully other readers will do the same via the comments section - and I'll try not to be too self indulgent. But please bear with me if I'm having a bad day and need to have a moan! x