Acl reconstruction and meniscus repair?

Hi everyone, it is me again. Just hoping to here a few stories from a few people who have went through this surgery. I know that both surgeries have different approches to physical therapy. Acl is more vigourous in the begining and repair of the meniscus is a lttle more gentle. So if anyone has any advise for what to expect days after surgery and recovery time Id love to hear them. Thanks for everyone's help.

Actually, if both of them are torn, then they can be repaired at the same time. ACL repair is more demanding for sure. Repair is definitely needed if you play sports that require quick lateral movement, or especially stopping and starting, as well as jumping. A torn meniscus by itself is nowhere near as serious. You can potentially still play whatever with it so long as it doesn't hurt (but don't quote me on that). At least, I have a friend who simply tore his meniscus recently and he was told just that.

I had both my left ACL and my left meniscus torn at the same time. I opted to have a new ACL harvested from a donor, as opposed to grafting from a tendon from my own body. Yes, there is a very miniscule chance you'll get infected and so on, but it is definitely easier to recover from. By harvesting tissue from your hamstrings or your Achilles or wherever they may get it from your own body, you weaken those vital tendons and they become more prone to tearing later on if you continue to do sporting activities.

Right after surgery, you will feel that you have lost range of motion in your affected leg and that your knee feels tight. You may also have some lingering pain post-operatively that may last a few days (the orthopedist should give you a pain medication to hold you over). You will probably not be able to flex your leg much at all.

However, soon you will be asked to do exercises to "stretch" that new ACL out to get your full range of motion back. You will most likely be assigned to see a physical therapist several times, more frequently at first, until you have made good recovery. The physical therapist will teach you exercises to get your strength in your leg back as well as your range of motion. You will probably also be doing some different things (like balancing balls, treadmills and stuff) at the physical therapy office also. You will also see your orthopedist at least once post-operatively to see how things are going.

The full recovery is generally said to be 6 months for the average person. I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fast healer but I was back into sports fully at about 5 months. I've read someone else on Yahoo! Answers who said he/she had recovered fully in 3 months.

Good luck!