If you've been reading these posts for a while, you'll gather that getting back to being active is the main goal for my ACL rehab. So, having ascertained that there's not a lot more we can do to reduce the instability beyond physio, physio and yet more physio (a lifetime of quad sets - what joy), I wanted to set my expectations re what a successful outcome will look like:
"Maybe not today,
Maybe not tomorrow,
But soon and for the rest of (my) life."
(With apologies to Casablanca's scriptwriters)
The good news is that ski-ing and tennis - sports I've not had chance to try yet but would like to - are, apparently okay (subject to bracing the knee up).
The bad news - and a surprise to me - is that both physio and consultant would have spat out their tea, had they been drinking it, when I mentioned trampolining. "That would be disastrous", or words to that effect, were uttered.
Now, this interests me. Mainly because having had to give up competitive artistic gymnastics due to what I now know was the torn ACL, I began trampolining just a year or so later. Strictly non-competitively (ha ha, it was all of six months before I did my first competition!)
I carried on competing for four years, progressing to double somersaults, fulls, rudys & randys (stop sniggering at the back!) before a back injury at nationals (and let's be honest, a growing interest in underage drinking at the pub) saw me drift away from the sport . Ah, the lure of Lemon Hooch and Two Dogs at the Rock Station (*dreamy face*)
Anyway, in all that time, I only remember my knee giving way while trampolining once. I always figured that was because there was less pressure on it landing on a soft trampoline bed than 'hard' landings on a gym floor.
Now, I can see why trampolining - and I use the term loosely - at a trampoline park or on a garden trampoline, where you can't control how many people are going to be on the bed at any one time, may be a problem. Kipping, awkward landings and general falls would all be risky. But I'd like to think I know what I'm doing.
It has been put to me that the risk lies in the fact that trampolining is a straight-leg activity (and hyperextension is my enemy). But is it?
See these two videos of Canada's Karen Cockburn at the World Championships in Birmingham a few years back:
(Skip to after 1 minute on the second one!)
I'm pretty sure her knees are bent going into each bounce, even in the more difficult voluntary routine.
While I'd be concerned about making sure I took off and landed every move square (no early/late twists), if I keep everything relatively simple, is it really any more risky than say, playing tennis or kicking a football around? My flash-Harry trampolining days are long gone so it would be the second routine (minus the doubles) at best and, frankly, achieving an even tuck and kicking it out is a long way off right now.
I've already told my little girl that she can't have a trampoline until she's old enough to have one large enough to do 'proper stuff' on (translation: one that Mummy can have a go on too) and I'm not going to deny her that just because I won't be able to resist having a go.
So, I'm genuinely interested to know what you think, particularly if there are other sports physios / medics with experience working with ACL patients in similar sports. If you know what you're doing, is it really a total no go?
For now, I'll make do with having moved the conversation with my physio on to "Let's not not have the conversation. Let's just not have it now." (Sorry John, I did warn you that I'm stubborn!)