I am scheduled to have ACL reconstruction surgery quite soon and have been reading a lot of blogs (mostly from North America) about post-op and rehab. My surgeon practiced in the US for 15 years and was the CEO of the hospital for some time so I think he knows his stuff but I am still a little worried.
Has anyone had ACL reconstruction surgery in Taiwan? If so, what was your experience in terms of post-op pain management, and the ongoing rehab/physiotherapy? How long were you in the hospital after surgery? In N.A. you go home the day of surgery or the day after. Do they give you rehab program, book you in at a physio clinic, etc? Do they provide you with a cryo-cuff and constant motion device?
Since nobody else has chimed in I’ll post what little i know about major bone surgery in Taiwan. About a year ago i had a total knee replacement, so spent a week in hospital with pain killers if I needed them. Post op physio was non-existent, I was given some advice on which exercises to do and but nothing in terms of going to a physiotherapist. I then back several weeks later where I was advised that I could be doing more. So I did.
Despite this lack of physio it doesn’t seem to have any harm.
I moved to Taiwan three weeks after an ACL in Australia.
there was zero rehab assistance to be had then, and there are still essentially zero western trained physios in Taiwan… nor any concept that graded, targeted rehab may be necessary. I WAS offered twice weekly rub down of the joint with rice wine by the ‘physio’ for one of the major baseball teams (I kid you not).
I took up cycling again and did the exercises that had been recommended on my own for the first two months or so.
Bringing this topic back up as I’m in need of ACL replacement surgery. I live in the South and am looking for any recommendations for a knee specialist in either Kaohsiung or Tainan. If anybody has any suggestions, or has had the same surgery, maybe tell of your experience.
Nothing directly re: ACL, but same response as some of the old posts. Mom had knee surgery on both knees, post-op rehab and follow (even for locals like her) are HORRENDOUS.
Bump. Any feedback or suggestions for dealing in Taiwan with what’s presumed to be an ACL injury? In particular at the moment, anything to avoid or to do in the first few days following injury?
I’ll of course spend several depressing hours with Dr. Google tonight for general knowledge.
And no I’m not in least bit furious with 20-year-old me for ditching physio and recovery far too early when I first twisted this knee. Maybe that’s connected to this injury, maybe not, but the knee’s been a bit weak ever since then.
How can we know? We don’t know what the surgeries will be. ACL reconstruction? NTD200,000 just for the surgery and hospital I guess. But you need MRI and all sorts of other stuff.
Perhaps not just ACL, but knees in general (and ankles), any recommended doctors that are actually good? I was in bed for 3 months this winter with torn ligaments in ankle, doctor kept saying gout and ignoring despite excruciating pain and my telling him it was tears. only after mri (after healing by itself 3 months later…) did he believe me. his meds (deflam-k) cause me to piss blood and crystals knee day, he denied that too… that leg has decent atrophy now, and currently laying in bed for almost a week with a messed up quadriceps tendon. probably due to the weaker muscle on the side. not worth the immense pain to taxi a couple hours to a city to be told its gout and given ibuprofen and uric acid reducers again and not have the doc actually listen and check. This has happened at multiple hospitals over the years. truly frustrating, and painful/costly.
Any suggestions on doctors would be great. by the looks of it, many people have the same experiences. the surgeons seem alright at surgery, but otherwise the care quality is poor. Nationwide is fine. it is worth travelling for proper service!
Yes, will definitely be pricey without health insurance. I’ve been lucky enough to have 4 knee surgeries in Taiwan, two of them due to a car/scooter accident, and all four surgeries were covered under health insurance, so didn’t set me back a whole lot. Just had surgery on a torn bicep tendon a couple months ago, if I recall correctly it was approx 6000nt for all fees (including 3 nights in the hospital). Would’ve been close to 50000nt without the NHI. So yeah, a couple points of reference for you.
