ACL

I learned yesterday that my ACL is gone. Several years ago I tore it but never got it looked at until recently because of increasing instability issues. I was wondering what more active people like you fellow TAYers have experienced in way of recovery and, later on, strenuous use. I was told my biggest risk was torn cartilage and arthritus if I don't get it done. <br>

What's "gone" mean? Totally torn, or some percent gone, or a nasty strain, or what? I've had a nasty strain and recovered just fine with PT and a lot of subsequent exercise and ongoing stretching (got to it quickly before it built up a lot of scar tissue - something the PT said was very fortunate, and know folks who have had complete and near-complete tears who got the grafts done who are now back playing various sports (again after intensive PT and longer recovery than mine), but with more limits than I experience (e.g. volleyball but not soccer, no more telemarking for them but alpine turns are OK, sorry Jason...). So "how gone" seems to be a key question in giving you an answer. Sounds like "pretty damn gone" but worth checking...

I have a friend who lives back east and had his ACL completely torn during a basketball incident. He went many years without an ACL, and began coming out here every year for a week long backpack. He&#8217;s a tough dude and did fine the first several years, but the strain finally caught up with him. I think it was the trip where we bushwacked down Wilson Creek to Holden &#8211; we should have taken Copper Creek. Anyway, something &#8220;popped&#8221; and he was hurting the rest of the trip. That fall he had a cadaver tendon replacement for the ACL and 8 months later we&#8217;re hiking in North Cascades NP. Last year we did a pretty big 2 week trip to Banff and he was stronger than ever. He complains about some pain related to the infamous &#8220;pop&#8221; that I think would never have happened had he had the surgery sooner. I say get the cadaver tendon.

My understanding was that I would need a replacement because it is fully tore but I was told that a MRI isn't the best way to know 100 percent what's going on. That only way is to go in and look.<br><br>I've managed without for 6 or more years...teleing and all, jumping big air, stop and go sports but it hasn't always been easy, and took a lot of work to build up strength. It's just these harder trips I've done in the last few years have taken their toll. I'm looking for a long term solution and a surgery may be the only way i'd get that. Continuing as I have could leave me in bad shape when I turn 40 or 50. I don't want that, but I don't want some docter to screw up the remaining years I do have by botching the job.

My brother Carl tore his ACL while lift skiing in Sun Valley in 1987. He had it fixed, which was tough because he didn't have health insurance and had to pay the bills out of his pocket. He was out for a few months, but eventually came back full strength. Based on his experience, I would definitely recommend getting it fixed.<br><br>As I recall (but it was almost 20 years ago), the repair options are different for old versus new injuries. Carl's repair was done by harvesting part of his patella tendon, as I remember.<br><br>My guess is that there are a lot of doctors around these days who do a good job of this.

Do your homework and find a good surgeon and (almost as important) a good PT. I worked in a PT clinic for a couple of years and there's a lot of variation in the field. PM me if you want some names. I might also be able to get in touch with one of the PTs and see if she has an opinion on good knee docs...