Should I get ACL reconstruction surgery?

I went to the orthopedic surgeon yesterday to get the results of my MRI and he said I had completely torn my ACL (from a skiing accident in February). He said it was up to me if I wanted to get the reconstructive surgery and that some people are able to build up enough muscle to fully mitigate the problem.

I will be 25 years old in a few months, healthy and active. I have a lot of fun plans this summer that the surgery might conflict with, but also need to make sure I have a 100% recovery b/c I have a few goals that require a pretty stable knee (running marathons, etc).

I have been doing physical therapy for about a month and a half, and I haven't noticed any improvements. My knee still bothers me everyday, often while walking and going up stairs, etc. but the range of motion has improved a lot since the initial injury. My personal worst case scenario would be to try to rehabilitate it through PT and have that fail and THEN need surgery, not fully recovering for a year.

As far as lateral movements, I am not competitvely involved in any sports currently, but I do like to go skiing in the winter, and I would also like to start practicing tumbling again (was a competitive gymnast for 10 years) so I could maybe try out to be a professional cheerleader.

This is a very personal decision and you should definetely involve your surgeon.

It is true that many people can live without their ACL relatively painfree...especially if they are rather sedentary. Yes, building up quads and hamstrings can help compensate for a torn ACL.

Yet, for someone who is 25 years old, let's remember that you are in a different situation that someone who has torn it at the age of 60. You have a lot more living to do...some of which may require physical agility. Failure to have surgery could limit your ability to ski or run marathons...do you have children yet? Consider the possibility that you might not be able to play in the yard with them, or crouch down to pick them up. God willing, you need to put at least another 50 years on that knee...the more you try to do without your ACL, the higher risk of further injury and degneration you face in the future.

Either way, it's good you are in PT...if you decide to have surgery, a course of PT preoperatively is usually inidcated anyway...but it sounds like you've got to discuss some things with your surgeon.

Yes you should get ACL reconstruction surgery.
You are still very young, with a new knee you will be able to participate in the outdoor activities you like when you get older. However after the surgery, remember to continue your rehab. This helps to strengthen the muscles around the knee and helps protect your knee from injury in future. Also, you may like to purchase a knee brace if you ae participating in intense outdoor activities. Better to be safe than sorry.

This advice comes from the experiences of my friends who play competitive national-level sports and had sustained ACL injuries. They had the surgery and were back to playing competitive sports 1 year after the injury. This of course entails alot of perseverance, self discipline in attending rehab and the belief and confidence that their knees will become better and stronger.

Hope your knee gets better soon!

Absolutley have the surgery. You're young & have your whole life ahead of you

Have you talked to your therapist about this yet? He or she would have a good iea whats going on in your case and will be able to give you better advice than you'll get on here.

As a physical therapist myself, I'd say that if you aren't involved in any type of contact sports that require quick change of direction, or lateral movements, then you most likely don't need to have the surgery. I have had many patients that have been in your shoes and have recovered completely and were able to function just fine without an ACL. You won't need an ACL to run marathons.

I would be completely surprised if you knee was a lot better at this point in your therapy, unles you were able to stay completely off of it. It's going to take some time to heal up, and until then it's going to continue to swell and hurt.

My best advice to you is to work real hard in therapy to strengthen the knee,so the knee can support itself. Be sure to focus a lot on hamstring strength, since the hamstring can lay apart in stabilizing the knee similiar to the ACL. Latly, ask your PT to show you stability exercises which will help as well. Good luck!

I honestly feel that you will only be happy if you get the surgery. I was 40 when I had my skiing accident and totally tore the ACL. I chose NOT to have the surgery in spite of the fact that I was very physically active- skiing, tennis, rollerblading, jogging. I worked hard to rehab and was actually able to ski the following season with a brace, and without a brace 2 seasons later, although I did have to give up tennis. Ten years and 1 fall later I have frequent buckling of my knee, particularly going down steps or when running. I know I will have to get the surgery so that I will not be a "frequent faller". You have so many years ahead of you to be physically active. It will never feel like a good time to get surgery, but if I had it to do again I would give up 6 months in order to have a lifetime of activity without knee instability. Good luck!

I advice you go for the surgery then rehabilitation this will accelerate yor return to your activities

My friend tore her acl and she got the surgery and in about 6 5 months she was fine i think its better to just get the surgery done and over with so that then you can live your life and not worry about it not getting better and just getting over wit it