Experimental ACL Surgery being performed in Canada

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-X-

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The Dude
@the zohan gave me a heads-up about this after reading about the question regarding QBs who have come back from 2 ACL surgeries. It's an interesting read, and I wonder if Bradford has been made aware of it. Or if the NFL would even permit it? I have no idea how their medical coverage works. He could, of course, just go ahead and do it on his own, but I don't know how it would effect his contract.

Anyway...


How experimental knee surgery got Kaya Turski ready for the Olympics

By Carmen Chai Global News
http://globalnews.ca/news/1124694/h...rgery-got-kaya-turski-ready-for-the-olympics/

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1128925/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

Watch the video above:
Canadian Freestyle skier Kaya Turski’s comeback helped by experimental surgery. Crystal Goomansingh reports.

TORONTO – It happened on her last day of training with the Canadian ski team in Mount Hood.

Olympic athlete Kaya Turski was working on a switch left side rotation, a spin that isn’t a natural move for her. She came around the turn just a little short and felt a snap.

She knew right away what it was – she’d ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament, a bundle of fibres crucial in stabilizing the knee, twice before.

That was August 11. The Montreal native was just six months away from the Olympics.

“A zillion things went through my mind when I fell and I felt my knee go. You know, obviously the Olympics was the first thing that came up,” Turski told Global News.

“It’s something I have been training for for as long as the event has been included, basically my whole life.”

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1128039/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

Fast forward to just a week before the Olympics: Turski captured her fifth Winter X Games gold medal in women’s ski slopestyle.

But her road to recovery came with the help of a Canadian doctor and an experimental knee surgery combining a cadaver’s ligaments and synthetic ones.

“The challenge is, it’s not her first time. So the decision-making is quite a bit different than someone who’s already had the surgery,” Dr. Bob Litchfield said.

He’s the medical director of the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic and a professor at the University of Western Ontario. It was his skilled hands that oversaw Turski’s surgery and recovery.

In Turski’s case, Litchfield had to take into account the hardware that’s already in her knee, tunnels already drilled through bone from her previous injuries.

WATCH: Kaya’s video diary from the day she discovered injury through surgery and recovery to her return to the slopes

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1125766/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

With a countdown to the Winter Games looming, Turski and Litchfield also didn’t have time on their side.

Ultimately, Litchfield decided that he could put new soft tissue grafts in her knee, supplemented by a synthetic ligament. The grafts, which are tissue that replicates the function of the ACL, were used from donor cadavers.

The anterior cruciate ligament joins the tibia through to the femur. It’s important in stabilizing – especially with a stop-and-go sport. It controls when you plant your foot, change directions, turn on a ski and land from a jump.

Those are all stressors on the ACL. And sometimes, like in Turski’s case, the load is too great.

Between the cadaver’s tissue and the synthetic ligament, Litchfield said he hopes the knee surgery will give Turski immediate stability and that over time, the graft will grow into her own bone.

READ MORE: Canadian skier earns Olympic berth the hard way

“We didn’t want to go through a short-term solution for Kaya. She’s still a very young person,” Litchfield said.

“I sure hope it’s the last surgery she has on this knee. That’s the plan, anyway.”

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1125396/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

ACL reconstructions and revisions of ACL reconstructions are pretty common, especially in young professional athletes. Revision rates can reach as high as 20 per cent for reconstruction, Litchfield said.

“The difference with this surgery was, most of the time we’re using tissue alone and in Kaya’s case, we’ve incorporated tissue with synthetic together with the goal of trying to get her back to high-level performance earlier,” Litchfield said.

“In that way, it is unusual and I guess experimental, if you will.”

READ MORE: Canada’s Turski wins slopestyle gold at freestyle worlds, Howell wins silver

It’s unclear how the synthetic will hold up, especially with Turski’s slope-style skiing.

She’s constantly coming from height, accelerating, slowing down and landing jumps, akin to a gymnast doing aerials and multiple back flips.

Litchfield said he’ll be watching Turski like a “nervous father.”

“We learn a lot from elite athletes. We learn what is capable of the human body that we didn’t think was capable,” Litchfield said.

For now, he wouldn’t recommend this kind of surgery to a larger group of patients. But that could change.

“Surgery’s always evolving. We’re always looking at new techniques and better ways of doing things and better ways of decreasing failure rates and re-injury rates so it has to stand up to scientific scrutiny,” Litchfield said.

WATCH: Back to school for cross country ski team

In the meantime, Turski said she’s “feeling good.” She returned to skiing in early December.

“The first run was obviously something I just needed to get it over with. It was nerve-wracking but as soon as I clicked in and started taking my first turns, everything just made sense and I feel really good,” Turski said.

Some days come with some aches and soreness but she has a full-time physical therapist on hand to help work out the kinks.

She’s also taking on maintenance workouts, cycling, and ice baths to keep her knee in check for the Olympics.

“I’m just excited to stare at the course, look down at my feet, pinch myself, realize I’m actually there. Look at my coach, look at my teammates…and let it be go time,” Turski said.

“I made it here against all odds, really.”

carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
 

the zohan

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This stuff is wild. With the money pro athletes have I wonder why this isn't out there more. I've read about several X games people that have done this stuff up in Canada including Matt Hoffman. These extreme athletes put there knees through more stress than Football players do I would think.

That was her third tear to same knee! She came back and won the gold from tear to competition in 6 friggin months. I would love to see Bradford get this and be back next year lighting it up. Wish we could forward this to him.

Thanks for posting @-X-
 
Last edited:

The Rammer

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Dude that is a hell of a article and videos. Crazy! Looks like a shoe string or a nylon rope! lol
If this actually holds up it would be amazing to have people with ACL issues take care of this with this technique.
Sam would be a very good candidate for this surgery IMO. Wonder how this would affect him with contract etc. as well. Very good question
 

Loyal

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Great article X..Wouldn't it be cool to fix Sam's knees permanently?
 

Mackeyser

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Just tweeted about this. That would be amazing. 3rd ACL tear for a female freestyle skier??? And that gels with what was written before about more women having ACL tears potentially because of narrower tunnels. So, even if he does have them, this procedure may be an answer if he does have narrow tunnels because it's already worked on a female... and this was her 3rd ACL tear.

The thing that really gets me is that she won the X-Games weeks before the Olympics meaning that she was performing those jumps at the X Games....LESS THAN SIX MONTHS after surgery. Typical rehab for traditional ACL surgery is 7 months... and that doesn't allow for sport specific strength building.

Man, such a thing could be a real game changer...
 

PeteMD

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Really good read. Thanks for sharing -X-.
James Andrews - the physician, who operated Sam Bradford (but also RGIII, Brian Cushing, Tom Brady and so on) is probably one of the best/most experienced orthopedic surgeons. I guess, that Bradford will be operated again by Andrews, since he knows Bradfords knee and what he exactly has done during the operation.
Bradford has now a whole year to recover from it - but the main question remains: Can both parties regarding Bradfords contract reach an outcome, which is both equitable and sustainable? I doubt it.
 

ramsince62

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This stuff is wild. With the money pro athletes have I wonder why this isn't out there more. I've read about several X games people that have done this stuff up in Canada including Matt Hoffman. These extreme athletes put there knees through more stress than Football players do I would think.

That was her third tear to same knee! She came back and won the gold from tear to competition in 6 friggin months. I would love to see Bradford get this and be back next year lighting it up. Wish we could forward this to him.

Thanks for posting @-X-

Why do we reach for examples that don't apply? How many X games people get tackled by 300 pound linemen, stress or no stress?
 

RFIP

Guest
Now I know I've lost my marbles...I kid you not, since this has happened I've thought repeatedly about "why can't they use a synthetic acl as a replacement?"

Also, my wife had her's done in 2002, she was a highly competitive softball player and someone who would not take no for an answer. She was playing, albeit with a large brace, 4 months after surgery which was performed by the highly acclaimed Dr Freddie Fu who is the Steelers and Pirates orth surgeon.
 

rhinobean

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Why wouldn't this surgery be the latest, best way to go? Seems like progress in the area would be welcomed by all who have had this issue! It works, don't it?
 

DCH

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Why do we reach for examples that don't apply? How many X games people get tackled by 300 pound linemen, stress or no stress?
I'd imagine the stress on a skier's knees is somewhat significantly greater than the stress on a quarterback's knees. Can you tell me that this:

ski_park_gold_1.gif


isn't harder on the knees than this:

gif_410x280_665ed0.gif


Force equals mass times velocity. She weighs less, but she's going way faster.
It could well be applicable. That girl puts her knees through a lot of torture (phrasing...).
 

rafa

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@the zohan gave me a heads-up about this after reading about the question regarding QBs who have come back from 2 ACL surgeries. It's an interesting read, and I wonder if Bradford has been made aware of it. Or if the NFL would even permit it? I have no idea how their medical coverage works. He could, of course, just go ahead and do it on his own, but I don't know how it would effect his contract.

Anyway...


How experimental knee surgery got Kaya Turski ready for the Olympics

By Carmen Chai Global News
http://globalnews.ca/news/1124694/h...rgery-got-kaya-turski-ready-for-the-olympics/

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1128925/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

Watch the video above:
Canadian Freestyle skier Kaya Turski’s comeback helped by experimental surgery. Crystal Goomansingh reports.

TORONTO – It happened on her last day of training with the Canadian ski team in Mount Hood.

Olympic athlete Kaya Turski was working on a switch left side rotation, a spin that isn’t a natural move for her. She came around the turn just a little short and felt a snap.

She knew right away what it was – she’d ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament, a bundle of fibres crucial in stabilizing the knee, twice before.

That was August 11. The Montreal native was just six months away from the Olympics.

“A zillion things went through my mind when I fell and I felt my knee go. You know, obviously the Olympics was the first thing that came up,” Turski told Global News.

“It’s something I have been training for for as long as the event has been included, basically my whole life.”

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1128039/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

Fast forward to just a week before the Olympics: Turski captured her fifth Winter X Games gold medal in women’s ski slopestyle.

But her road to recovery came with the help of a Canadian doctor and an experimental knee surgery combining a cadaver’s ligaments and synthetic ones.

“The challenge is, it’s not her first time. So the decision-making is quite a bit different than someone who’s already had the surgery,” Dr. Bob Litchfield said.

He’s the medical director of the Fowler Kennedy Sport Medicine Clinic and a professor at the University of Western Ontario. It was his skilled hands that oversaw Turski’s surgery and recovery.

In Turski’s case, Litchfield had to take into account the hardware that’s already in her knee, tunnels already drilled through bone from her previous injuries.

WATCH: Kaya’s video diary from the day she discovered injury through surgery and recovery to her return to the slopes

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1125766/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

With a countdown to the Winter Games looming, Turski and Litchfield also didn’t have time on their side.

Ultimately, Litchfield decided that he could put new soft tissue grafts in her knee, supplemented by a synthetic ligament. The grafts, which are tissue that replicates the function of the ACL, were used from donor cadavers.

The anterior cruciate ligament joins the tibia through to the femur. It’s important in stabilizing – especially with a stop-and-go sport. It controls when you plant your foot, change directions, turn on a ski and land from a jump.

Those are all stressors on the ACL. And sometimes, like in Turski’s case, the load is too great.

Between the cadaver’s tissue and the synthetic ligament, Litchfield said he hopes the knee surgery will give Turski immediate stability and that over time, the graft will grow into her own bone.

READ MORE: Canadian skier earns Olympic berth the hard way

“We didn’t want to go through a short-term solution for Kaya. She’s still a very young person,” Litchfield said.

“I sure hope it’s the last surgery she has on this knee. That’s the plan, anyway.”

[parsehtml]<iframe src="http://globalnews.ca/video/embed/1125396/" width="670" height="437" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>[/parsehtml]

ACL reconstructions and revisions of ACL reconstructions are pretty common, especially in young professional athletes. Revision rates can reach as high as 20 per cent for reconstruction, Litchfield said.

“The difference with this surgery was, most of the time we’re using tissue alone and in Kaya’s case, we’ve incorporated tissue with synthetic together with the goal of trying to get her back to high-level performance earlier,” Litchfield said.

“In that way, it is unusual and I guess experimental, if you will.”

READ MORE: Canada’s Turski wins slopestyle gold at freestyle worlds, Howell wins silver

It’s unclear how the synthetic will hold up, especially with Turski’s slope-style skiing.

She’s constantly coming from height, accelerating, slowing down and landing jumps, akin to a gymnast doing aerials and multiple back flips.

Litchfield said he’ll be watching Turski like a “nervous father.”

“We learn a lot from elite athletes. We learn what is capable of the human body that we didn’t think was capable,” Litchfield said.

For now, he wouldn’t recommend this kind of surgery to a larger group of patients. But that could change.

“Surgery’s always evolving. We’re always looking at new techniques and better ways of doing things and better ways of decreasing failure rates and re-injury rates so it has to stand up to scientific scrutiny,” Litchfield said.

WATCH: Back to school for cross country ski team

In the meantime, Turski said she’s “feeling good.” She returned to skiing in early December.

“The first run was obviously something I just needed to get it over with. It was nerve-wracking but as soon as I clicked in and started taking my first turns, everything just made sense and I feel really good,” Turski said.

Some days come with some aches and soreness but she has a full-time physical therapist on hand to help work out the kinks.

She’s also taking on maintenance workouts, cycling, and ice baths to keep her knee in check for the Olympics.

“I’m just excited to stare at the course, look down at my feet, pinch myself, realize I’m actually there. Look at my coach, look at my teammates…and let it be go time,” Turski said.

“I made it here against all odds, really.”

carmen.chai@globalnews.ca

Let's make our front office / medical staff / Sam B. know about it! (y):sneaky:
 

V3

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Why wouldn't this surgery be the latest, best way to go? Seems like progress in the area would be welcomed by all who have had this issue! It works, don't it?
Because the FDA is shit. I speak from experience due to my own medical issues. The U.S. is years, if not decades, behind other countries in many medical areas.
 

the zohan

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Why do we reach for examples that don't apply? How many X games people get tackled by 300 pound linemen, stress or no stress?

Opinions are opinions man. You say reaching, I say looking at different angles. How many times does a QB get hit by a 300 lb lineman? Especially compared to people who put extreme pressures angles and speeds on there knees?

This isn't just about Bradford. What about athletes like DX? Think he would try something like this for a few more years of living his dream?

I'm always reading about people who go around the world for experimental cures, procedures, etc.. Why? Because of the FDA.

Research Mike Spinner, Matt Hoffman and several other extreme athletes. They have all gone to Canada to have ACL procedures. Why? Because the FDA wont approve it here.

This is legitimate stuff to discuss. What is the NFL's stance on this kind of stuff? How does it affect contracts. Could this be better for second even third tears?

I will keep reaching for answers while you stand with the status quo.
 

tahoe

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I believe Bradford had synthetic ligaments put in his shoulder for the ac separation, if I remember correctly, so why not do this?
 

V3

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I believe Bradford had synthetic ligaments put in his shoulder for the ac separation, if I remember correctly, so why not do this?
I can't say for certain but I'd wager a HUGE sum that it's because the procedure isn't approved by the FDA. He'd have to go to a different country to have it done and pay for it on his own- no insurance will cover it.
 

ChrisW

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I'd imagine the stress on a skier's knees is somewhat significantly greater than the stress on a quarterback's knees. Can you tell me that this:

ski_park_gold_1.gif


isn't harder on the knees than this:

gif_410x280_665ed0.gif


Force equals mass times velocity. She weighs less, but she's going way faster.
It could well be applicable. That girl puts her knees through a lot of torture (phrasing...).


Most ACLs are fluke injuries anyway. Doesn't really matter who has more stress. It only takes the right amount, throw in an awkward landing....and your body weight does the rest.
 

LesBaker

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I think it should be pointed out that people recover very, very differently. She may be blessed with a makeup that patches itself quickly. Remember Faulk? That guy missed just two games two years in a row from having his knee scoped. And there was no dropoff, he kept rolling. How many guys can do that......very, very few and I cannot name one of the top of my head.
 

blackbart

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Why do we reach for examples that don't apply? How many X games people get tackled by 300 pound linemen, stress or no stress?
I'll bet their stress and falls are a lot like what damaged Sam's knee originally.
 

ramsince62

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I'll bet their stress and falls are a lot like what damaged Sam's knee originally.
Physically, of course, but the circumstances (catalyst) is not the same, nor are the circumstances (jeopardy) FOLLOWING the repair.

In any event, the comments I have read by physicians (strongly) indicates that:

1. Recovery from a 2nd ACL takes longer (generally up to 18 mo's).
2. Serious questions remain as to whether Bradford's knee will ever be the same....will the Rams willing to gamble again? Remember, his second graph will now have to come from someplace else, what impacts will that have?
3. Nerve regeneration takes substantially longer than 18 mo's.
4. Healing (blood flow) takes substantially longer than 12 mo's. IMO, this is an important element which promotes "deep healing" and cellular regeneration, key elements for healthy tissue.
5. Psychological damage to Bradford is indeterminate at this point, (think Bolger).

After all that's happened these past 10 months, would YOU put him on the field again next year? Or would you wait until blood flow (deep healing) and nerve regeneration has had the opportunity to complete itself? If he couldn't hold up to his first injury in that time period, what makes you think things will be different next season? IMO, the odds do not favor Bradford's return next season and if so, Bradford will be 28 and in his 7th season before he can even conceive being anywhere near his old self and even then there's no guarantee.