it sounds like he is recovering well- and is up for visitors-he is booked to move to bentley rehab hospital soon. I will update this on thursday morning.

Great news thanks for update

I have a scar like that on the outside or inside top of my thigh but i have not yet looked at it after 10 weeks - true.

I am looking now as i write and i cant find it over the leg brace so hopefully it is not that long.

I put two 1000 i.u vitamin E capsules in oil on my knee scar daily. I also put unrefined or cold pressed coconut oil on my knee at least twice a day as i believe that will help with the internal healing of the knee. Massaging the knee softly for an hour per day or so will help to increase blood flow to the area. Going to start tomorrow with this.

Doctor told me last night when i went for a medical certificate i will be walking a little bit in 3 months,though i am far from convinced.

5 months plus without walking is not fun.

Neil must have been euphoric after the successful surgery,i know i was.

When we both do get back on our feet i am certain we both will appreciate life that much more.

lunny74 said..
Whoah theres a battle scar!

Nah, it's just a scratch, it should buff out.

Seriously though, good to hear you are on the mend Neil.

looks like he used a whole box of staples, hope they're stainless steel - no rust from future water immersion

Can't wait to have you back at Peli Pt Neil

petermac33 said..


Doctor told me last night when i went for a medical certificate i will be walking a little bit in 3 months,though i am far from convinced.

5 months plus without walking is not fun.

Wow! How do you keep yourself entertained? It must be frustrating.

Hi Pete, I feel your pain, sort of. I blew up my knee big time skiing 4 years ago. Did my ACL, MCL and a fracture. Needed one operation first to clean all the ****e out (2 months post injury because my knee wouldn't bend by the time I got home) then another to actually do the reconstruction (another 2 months of pre hab later). So it was about 4 months before I could actually get into rehab proper, so that was about May. Missed half the season.

By November, I was wave sailing at Exmouth. Tentatively I admit and I did it with a brace but I did it and that was my goal.

No secret, just constant and hard at the rehab. I did everything my physio asked me to do to the letter and more. By the time I got to Exmouth, my legs and gluts (arse) had never felt stronger and to be honest, was the best thing because I hadn't realised before how much power the bottom half of my body had. I just hadn't trained it right.

So, lesson of the story is, do your rehab and hard ! Don't pussy around with it. You will be amazed by the results if you do it right. What the physio gave me was good (ex WCE physio and player John Annear), but it was the young personal trainer who had had 3 ACL reconstructions that whipped me into shape. Lots of weighted leg squats, deadlifts, romanian squats etc etc etc.

Anyway, they really helped and turbo charged the physio's program dramatically.

Obviously your situation is different to mine but good luck.

azymuth said..
Neil's on the mend, no infection - starting light physio.

Still at Bentley but hoping to go home on Tuesday.

Great work by the orthopedic surgeon

This looks like hot could be the latest design of Marc Newson.... this time instead of polished aluminium he works with leather / skin.
Some Italian Designer will be really jealous when they see this beauty. I have heard this designer used perfectly clean tools as I have read there are no infections endanger a fast recovery. I am sure this dude will break any rules to get back on/into the water.
All jokes aside Greatest news that Neil is at home and in best hands.

^^^^
Awesome - I noticed a spike in the WT share price

Reflex Films said..
Had our first board meeting yesterday since the accident - its been nearly a month since the last surgery on Neil's leg.

We have some interesting plans in the pipeline.

Yeah i reckon the patent office is gonna be bloody busy pretty soon!

Why doesnt the board have a coffee too? Someones after a dieted board (80L)

Really? You want to miss a season? I would be asking what it takes to make sure I could sail the next season. Its a pretty boring summer watching everyone else sail!

petermac33 said..
Went to RP today for my checkup this morning.

Previous one was 10 weeks ago.

Doctor binned my leg brace and told me the reason i can only bend my leg around 30 degrees max is i have been slack doing the physio stretches. I have been doing physio each day but not much stretching.

I have to return in 6 weeks and if i cannot get it to 90 degrees minimum by then - they are going to put me to sleep and force the leg to bend.

A bit of a shock yes.

I have also to put half my 70kg on my injured leg when walking.

The physio got a book the same depth as the weighing scales. I had to put my good leg,the right leg on it and my injured left leg on the scales.

The target was 35kg. I reached a peak of 10 kg for a split second but mostly was around 5-6 kg only.

Physio and doctor said i am way,way behind normal at this nearly 4 month stage. He was impressed that i could lift my leg up on the bed,though could only lift it when it was a little bent.

Also i have been hopping mostly instead of walking.

They want me to walk a little in 6 weeks which means putting full weight on my leg. My time frame for walking was another 6 months so around November so 6 weeks came as a huge shock to me.

Anyway,going to stretch like mad from now on - even forcing it a bit.

Not sure how Neil is recovering but my advice after today is see a physio regularly.

Love to be able to sail next summer but realistically the following season is more likely.

Pete, see my post of 9 April above. I couldn't bend my knee either initially, because I had let it wither. So first op to break and bend. Second op for ACL recon. Before and after that though, no let up on the rehab. As I said above, my second op was in May and I was wave sailing at Exmouth by November.

No reason you can't sail next season BUT YOU HAVE TO DO THE REHAB.

0.131 is generally not "a couple of drinks" for an adult male. Even for someone 45 kgs, that's almost four.

I rang the investigator around 4 weeks ago and he said it will be finished shortly....

I am having serious problems with the lack of improvement bending my leg.

Only at 68 degrees, an improvement of 8 degrees in the last two months.

Best way I've found to improve the bend is to go as far past the range of motion as possible ( which will only be a few degrees) and then hold it there with a belt for as long as you can. I plan to do this for three times throughout today for 60 minutes each time.

Pushing the bend to its range does not increase the range from my experience.

Pushing the bend past the range of motion hurts a lot! If it does not hurt a lot you are not pushing it beyond your range.

I sit on a small one foot stool with both my lower legs rested down square and then straighten my back as much as I can and hold for 10 minutes.

I then lay on the carpet and pull the rope around my foot super hard till I've went past my range ( 68 degree)

Hold then in that exact position for an hour. It takes a lot of strength and energy!!

I measure my range daily with my crutch.

Neil is likely having trouble with his range of motion too so I hope this helps him.

After I busted my knee in 2007 and had my knee in a straight splint for 12 weeks after my second surgery range of motion was a real issue.
I went to the physio 2x per week ( until I maxed my policy out) of which most of that was spent massaging and stretching the scar tissue.

Unfortunately you need to tear the scar tissue.
It hurts.
I managed to get back on the water with limited range of motion and a CTI brace but still one day on the water hand an issue where I thought I'd busted my knee again by over binding it past where it wanted to go.
The pain was amazing for 10 min. and was completely gone 2hrs later, but I had torn the last of the major scar tissue and after the swelling went down a few days later I had gained significant range of motion.
If your still struggling see if they can put you in a twilight sedation and tear the scar tissue for you. should be no need to break the skin just manipulate the knee. My mother in laws friend required that to be done after she refused to do the rehab after a knee replacement.

I still have limited ROM and my hamstring makes it hard sometimes coz its weaker but I could also go and do more exercises to strengthen things too. It took 18 months to (almost) fully recover from my final surgery. Walking up and down stairs carrying weights was my best rehab. The key is to not favour the good leg!