Thread: Hunting with a knee injury

Sometimes id be walking to super market at 5.15pm near church corner CHCH.Could hear my knees clicking over the 5pm traffic noise beside me.Had no ACLs left.Knees fkd.

Jeeze were a bunch of broken buggers! Must have something to do with our lifestyle

Fused foot already, and I'm putting off a replacement knee as long as possible. No cartilidge left inside, so long hauls are drugs territory. Brufin seems best, but if I fall or tweak it badly then out come the codein tablets.

Like others I try to use motorised means to get as close to game as possible. Then hunt a 1-ish k radius area and will then go back and grab the bike to go pick up the meat. Never skin or bone...just the meat these days.

Originally Posted by hotbarrels

Old age sucks, your injuries never so away, look after your body while you are young.

Old age? You're only 1 year older than me, and I'm still in denial!!

But now I think about it I go down hill a lot slower than uphill these days.... and not because I'm super fit (because it's been 30 years since I could say that)....

Firstly i'd say don't trust us on the forum. Listen to your doctor/physio/specialist first and foremost! The specialist/surgeon will give the best info specific to your injury, and your situation.

In my experience (lots of injuries!), doctors and physios are more generalised so more often than not tend to air on the side of caution.

Also i'd say in my experience, lot's of GP's are useless, some are awesome. Most physios are useless imo and a good one is hard to find. Hence i'd talk to and listen to a specialist specific to your injury any day of the week.


Other than that I can say i don't have an ACL, tore the collateral and pulled some of the hammy from the bone all on the same side at the same time. No surgery and i hunt almost weekly and train daily. Hence, longer term you can certainly make things happen.

Once everything is all sorted i'd suggest getting stuck into a solid strength regime with a strong focus on the legs, especially the glutes (hand brake and stabiliser for the knee). Obvilously including quads, hammys and calves. Maintain good flexibility to improve movement performance when out on the hill and its also a major insurance against injury.

Prior to your op, the stronger your legs are and the more muscle development you have the quicker you'll bounce back from surgery.

For cardio and joint health going forward, a push bike/stationary spin bike will be your friend. Think cardio without knee joint impact....


For longer term management i'd also suggest supplementing any or all of the following:

Glucosamine
Fish oil
Green lip mussel extract
Shark cartilage or similar collagen type product
Magnesium

At least the top two anyhow. IMO the best manufacture in NZ is https://www.o2bhealthy.co.nz/ . They're fully NZ owned and all produced locally in Nelson, there pricing is also good.

This will further help with your joint health long term as the weakness is now there and will never go away. But hopefully you won't need a full knee replacement later on as that can often lead to further issues with hips then going and then both on the other side etc...

Lastly, with any supplement use, always read up on them to ensure they're good for you. Monitor how they affect you as what works for one may not work for another.

All the best!

I did ACL when I was 18, had a small key hole to trim up a frayed ligament from where it had stretched. Post visits to Dr confirmed it had then snapped. Although I’m probably due a reconstruction, Ive never done it.After talking to quite a few sports doctors and physios, majority have said if you can strengthen all the muscles around it and avoid the knife you’ll be a lot better off. Obviously dependent on injury. I hit the gym regularly and have spent a lot of time building up legs and also stretching regularly to make sure the rest of my body is functioning properly ie. get rid of any imbalances so any lagging muscles or joints aren’t causing strain on the rest of the body.
It’s not for everyone, but I went from a joint that used to collapse and lock to what I would say is close to 100% and very rarely have any trouble. There are plenty of pro sports players with bugger all left inside their knees and still do fine.

Two years back, my new dog that had been trained to walk on RHS decided to revert from my LHS control to RHS - on a tight lead and she spun me round as my knee was hitting the ground - ripped an ACL, but not a total disconnect – could only limp on a support stick – very painful
Many weeks of Physio – imaging confirmed the ACL damage – Physio got me into a sports medicine specialist doctor – confirmed a tear and agreed to give me a steroid injection – two days later she put a long needle through to the center of the knee. Had to promise to keep it immobile for several days to keep the fluid in the joint area and take it very easy for seven days. Like magic, it began to improve, and pain subsided. Used a support strap for a while like used by @Cordite and six months later I was back up the Mount and doing all the other hill work that I do. I do plenty of hill work now – up and down with no support and its fine. Back to the gym again for some rebuilding – squats are high on the list.
I have had several joint injuries that Physio’ s gave up on - they finally got me into sports medicine doctors - required steroid injections – magic stuff!

Originally Posted by poc30

A couple of months ago I ruptured my ACL playing hockey and am planning to have surgery in January when its a bit quieter on the farm. Just wondering how people approach hunting when they set out knowing they aren't 100%? I obviously carry a plb and go with someone else and the surgeon said the odd hunt would probablybe ok. Wanting to see if many people have experienced problems with existing injuries and what they did about them, because let's face it who wants to wait for a year to get fully recovered to go hunting again

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I ruptured mine playing sport after surgery it was a good 4-5 months of physio and strengthening before I could confidently get out again. Get yourself the best brace you can find to hold it don’t skimp on price and buy a cheap one you think will do. Get out try it your body will tell you if you can do it or not

Thanks for all the comments and stories guys, I'm definitely not alone in my situation! Will keep working on my leg strength and see how I get on once calving has finished on the farm

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I tore my quad tendon to a point after I slipped on a bluff on LBI at 22. I couldn’t get off the island for 2 months and had to work and then would limp around with a stick for the weekend/during the week. The knee would lock and flex awkwardly most of the time.

When I got off the island, the physio found out what was going on and had to break down the healed scar tissue by hand and use infrared.I got a shitload of exercises to do around strengthening my quads and hips to try keep that knee more stable.

I tried hunting a couple of times while I was recovering and it was not easy and actually set me back a bit. If a doc or physio gives you exercises to do, don’t skimp and carry on doing them after you think you’re healed. Get a good brace as well. My knees are better than before and I attribute that almost entirely to carrying on those exercises.