Who here has busted their ACL?

As a sidenote, I ski with full hinged braces on both knees....both knees had ACL tears...one knee two ACL replacements....

I have had three times over 6 years where I can personally say, "Wow, thankfully I had that brace."

I was wearing my Rx $1500 brace when I re-re-tore my ACL the last time- very simple small drop to a balanced but hard landing that I skied away from, but the damage was done. These braces work well for preventing injury due to lateral impact and thus can protect against MCL tears, and they also will prevent injuries due to hyper-extension. But there isn't a brace made that will really protect against the rotational force that can rupture an ACL. It was great for skiing the rest of the season without the ligament as it really helped stabilize and reduce the load on the injured knee.

This athletic brace is different from the post-op brace, which my last doc also did not prescribe. The first few days post-op were a little weird as there was no brace to prevent range of motion or guard against stepping on it wrong but then you get used to it.

I had my ACL repaired in 1995 at the age of 37; with the patella tendon method. Very painful recovery, I have a fairly high pain tolerance and have had 2 back surgeries, but the ACL hurt. Took me a full 2 years to get back 95% mobility. I'm 56 now and still bike, climb, ski, etc... Occasionally gets a little tight with some minor pain on longer multi-day climbs. Other than that it's pretty good.

Best of luck.

So, the final decision is to go with a quadricep tendon, by Dr. Green at UW sports medicine center! Thanks again for all your input!