Sean Hartel - August 2009 blog entry

Well it’s been 2 ½ weeks since my last knee surgery and I'm happy to report that I’m healing up fast and strong. Between both legs, I now have two cut up patella tendons, two fully replaced anterior cruciate ligaments (ACLs), both medial meniscus have been scraped and repaired, and I have a total of four screws, a few staples, and about 1/4 of the muscle mass I used to have in each leg.

Fortunately, I was able to work with one of the top orthopedic surgeons in NYC. I got my knees done six weeks apart, which is really close together considering most people are still on crutches after six weeks, and I was already wakesurfing and playing tennis!

My surgeon keeps telling me that I'm a freak of nature and that I’ve been healing faster and stronger than anyone he's ever seen after this type of surgery. Every time I go in for a checkup, he brings his resident doctors in to check out my knees. Of course I attribute my strength and fast healing time to taking Joint Fuel®, Krill Essentials® Joint Krill Oil™, and other assorted superhero Twinlab supplements!

Here's the big catch... When the doctor opened up my knees to do the surgeries, there was absolutely no trace of an ACL in either knee. For people that tear their ACL all the way through, there are usually pieces of the ligament still attached or floating around your knee. Since I didn't have anything left, the doctor thinks I initially tore my ACLs well over a year ago and that my recent splat at the Snowbird competition was more of a painful re-injury. The only other time I've hurt my knees was in New Zealand two summers ago. At the time, they thought I tore my meniscus, but I never got an MRI to confirm that diagnosis, so there is a good possibility that I've been skiing on no ACLs for the last 2 winters.

So now my knees are fixed and even with weak muscles, my stability is better than it’s been in years. I can do exercises balancing on one knee that I have never been able to do before. And though I won't be able to start jumping until the end of January, once I do I have a feeling I'm going to have the ability to ski better and harder than ever! I CAN'T WAIT!!!