Torn ACL-- What to do?

[bigred5434]

Ok well I am a Senior in high school and a few weeks ago I was wrestling my first match of a tournament. I was 8-0 and in the 2nd period and I was riding the guy out when we got in a scuffle on the boundary and we rolled out of bounds. My leg was all twisted up and it popped very loudly. I finished the match and pinned the kid then I went to the trainer and he immediately diagnosed me with a severe ACL injury. After my MRI, sure enough, my ACL is torn. I have/had a good chance of placing high at state this year. I also plan to play college football next year. I can go two ways--get the surgery soon and rehab hard and be able to play football (still not quite 100%) or to finish the wrestling season with a brace (ends late February, early March) then get the surgery. My doctor doesn't want ne to wrestle with a brace in fear that I will do more damage. I have read about it and it seems like if I wrestle on it I am bound to do more damage and make myself real miserable.

What do y'all think?

[stnicka]

dont be stupid, GET DA' SURGERY

[jwest529]

get teh surgery, if its just the acl u could end up tearing the other ligaments which would mean a lot longer recovery

[3Point5SE]

I'm sorry man, your season is probably done. If you're playing college football my advice would be to get the surgery done ASAP. It's a four to six month recovery process. That gives you some time in the summer to get working on your agility and get your leg strength back. You might even get a lower slower.

I had tore my ACL my Junior year for football and it just screwed me over. But my bench numbers sore to the sky.

[PitbullJR]

I'm sorry man, your season is probably done. If you're playing college football my advice would be to get the surgery done ASAP. It's a four to six month recovery process. That gives you some time in the summer to get working on your agility and get your leg strength back. You might even get a lower slower.

I had tore my ACL my Junior year for football and it just screwed me over. But my bench numbers sore to the sky.

4-6 months recovery plus 3-4 additional months. It takes a year+ to fully heal.

[3Point5SE]

4-6 months recovery plus 3-4 additional months. It takes a year+ to fully heal.

That's why I added you could use the summer months to get the leg strength back and agility back.

It's been 2 years and I still feel my knee just feel stiff at times.

[lhshurdl3r]

Get the surgery, and make sure you really give a great effort during all of your physical therapy sessions. If all goes great, you could start LIGHT running and light lifting 2.5/3months after surgery to start getting you back into it. I went through it, and the process sucks... but you learn a lot from it and what you put into the rehab is what you'll get back as long as you aren't stupid. This is what I basically went through as a timetable in 05

Sep 1: Torn ACL
Oct 16: Surgery
Oct 18: First PT session ... thought that was ****ing crazy lol
Nov 18: First leg lift session (extremely light with bands, leg press, etc... no squats/deads/cleans)
Dec 1: First run (one of the best feelings ever.. awfully slow but it was amazing)
Early Feb: First race (55m)
March 17: about 5.5 months post-surgery first full track meet (110HH, 300IH, Pole Vault).

There's cases where recovery and rehab can take a lot longer or it can be a quicker process like mine was. Expect the rehab to hurt but once all of the swelling is gone then the pain is gone.

[DudeDan]

Get the surgery man, and rehab hard bro. I've got no experience in tearing my ACL but I dislocated my knee last year and tore my ligaments around the ACL instead. I didn't need surgery luckily but hobbling on crutches and a brace for 6 weeks is not fun either. After 6 weeks I could walk and after 8-10 weeks I was doing lunges and squats with bodyweight. A year and a half onwards it feels like as if nothing ever happened to it. Try and get some of massage incorporated into your rehab, it helped me out a bit.

[Coty08]

I was faced with a similar choice. I tore my acl a year ago. I had the choice to play football because not to try to sound like I am amazing but my team really needed me. I decided to go ahead and get the surgery and it was probably one of the better choices I have made in my life. Get your knee straight so you will be able to walk correctly later on in life.

[wildcats9]

Tore ACL twice, played at the D1A level although the injuries forced me to move from Safety to Linebacker. Get the surgery, make sure you have a good surgeon who operates on athletes and does alot of ACL's. Most important make sure the surgeon has an aggressive rehab protocol and get a good PT. For some advice from someone who has had it done twice and a soon to be Doctor, use a hamstring tendon graft for the surgery.

[LG155]

ok well i am a senior in high school and a few weeks ago i was wrestling my first match of a tournament. I was 8-0 and in the 2nd period and i was riding the guy out when we got in a scuffle on the boundary and we rolled out of bounds. My leg was all twisted up and it popped very loudly. I finished the match and pinned the kid then i went to the trainer and he immediately diagnosed me with a severe acl injury. After my mri, sure enough, my acl is torn. I have/had a good chance of placing high at state this year. I also plan to play college football next year. I can go two ways--get the surgery soon and rehab hard and be able to play football (still not quite 100%) or to finish the wrestling season with a brace (ends late february, early march) then get the surgery. My doctor doesn't want ne to wrestle with a brace in fear that i will do more damage. I have read about it and it seems like if i wrestle on it i am bound to do more damage and make myself real miserable.

What do y'all think?

surgery

[HellBoyz]

Tore ACL twice, played at the D1A level although the injuries forced me to move from Safety to Linebacker. Get the surgery, make sure you have a good surgeon who operates on athletes and does alot of ACL's. Most important make sure the surgeon has an aggressive rehab protocol and get a good PT. For some advice from someone who has had it done twice and a soon to be Doctor, use a hamstring tendon graft for the surgery.

What is the most important thing about re-hab? Once flexibility is regained can one re-hab himself, in terms of strength training? My step brother dad is a surgeon and he likes the use of a cadaver for people who play sports.

[zenzone]

this is a no-brainer: get the surgery ASAP.

[lhshurdl3r]

Tore ACL twice, played at the D1A level although the injuries forced me to move from Safety to Linebacker. Get the surgery, make sure you have a good surgeon who operates on athletes and does alot of ACL's. Most important make sure the surgeon has an aggressive rehab protocol and get a good PT. For some advice from someone who has had it done twice and a soon to be Doctor, use a hamstring tendon graft for the surgery.

IMO, I'd have to go with a cadaver's graft. Using a hamstring tendon would require another incision that would have to heal along with what they're already doing in your knee. Less scar tissue throughout the whole process as well.

[jdprep42]

Cadaver is what you want to use if you want minimum recovery time. Although it is tested, there is the small small small small minuscule chance of the donor material being infected. Any chance was too much for me and I went with the patella tendon. Hamstring could loose its strength over time playing sports my doc said.

[xxtwistedxx]

get cut open. ure down to 3/4 ligaments that hold ure knee together. try to keep wrestling and its very likely another one will go pop.

[SDOptimist]

i tore my knee my sr year as well and I went with the patella tendon. the guy that did my surgery did and still does many pro athlete surgeries. he told me to go with the patella tendon. its a longer recover..like 8 months. but he told me to look down into the future and the patella is the best way to go..it is a very durable graph. where as the others arent as strong. but the hamstring graph comes in 2nd. and i wouldnt even think about doing the donor graph. not only is there a chance of infection but theres also that chance of your body rejecting it.

[DirtyRedFace]

Sorry to hear about the ACL. I had a complete tear my last few months of high school. I waited to have the surgery till after snowboarding season. I then had the Patella Tendon surgery and the recovery was long and painful. I wish I would have had the surgery soon because by the time I went in for it my leg muscles had trained to compensate for the missing ACL. I pretty much had to rebuild and retrain all my leg muscles so my PT took longer then normal.

I would say go in for it now, pick a good doctor, and do your research. I found a good informational web page from a doctor down in Texas, explaining the different graft choices and about the whole process.
drwaltlowe.com/en/cms/3/

[PitbullJR]

i tore my knee my sr year as well and I went with the patella tendon. the guy that did my surgery did and still does many pro athlete surgeries. he told me to go with the patella tendon. its a longer recover..like 8 months. but he told me to look down into the future and the patella is the best way to go..it is a very durable graph. where as the others arent as strong. but the hamstring graph comes in 2nd. and i wouldnt even think about doing the donor graph. not only is there a chance of infection but theres also that chance of your body rejecting it.

I was with my professional team surgeon and he said the opposite. The cadaver is the best if you are an athlete. The recovery is faster and there would be no need to make another incision in another part of your body. There are risk with all of them. The chance of your body rejecting it is very low.

[csabatka1]

What is the most important thing about re-hab? Once flexibility is regained can one re-hab himself, in terms of strength training? My step brother dad is a surgeon and he likes the use of a cadaver for people who play sports.

Cadaver is the least used graft for young athletes. Rejection of the graft isn't worth the risk. Younger people have two very good graft options in hamstring and patella.

You can rehab on your own, but ask anyone who has gone through the surgery and did the rehab themselves if they'd do it again. A lot of people that I talked to after knee surgery second guessed their decision to rehab themselves and still have issues with strength, muscle development, and flexibility.

Someone has to have extremely high motivation and extremely proactive to try and rehab themselves. Often times the process is frustrating and several bad days can lead to someone just wanting to give up.

After flexibility, balancing types of exercises are biggest priority.

Read my blog here for my recovery/physical therapy from my ACL.
http://csabatka1.blogspot.com/

[csabatka1]

I was with my professional team surgeon and he said the opposite. The cadaver is the best if you are an athlete. The recovery is faster and there would be no need to make another incision in another part of your body. There are risk with all of them. The chance of your body rejecting it is very low.

Information about Cadaver (allograft) vs. own tissue (patellar or hamstring)

Problems with Allograft Tissue
At the Sanders Clinic, we use a rule of thumb regarding ACL graft choices. This rule is based on excellent scientific research done by Drs. Frank Noyes and Sue Barber-Westin. They have shown that the survival rate of an athlete?s own tissue as an ACL is approximately 93 percent and the survival rate of allograft tissue as an ACL approximately 70 percent. Stated another way, an athlete who has an allograft reconstruction is at four-times greater risk of needing a revision. For this reason, Dr. Sanders does not perform allograft reconstructions on any athlete, regardless of age. Nor does he perform them on any patient under the age of forty.

[PitbullJR]

Information about Cadaver (allograft) vs. own tissue (patellar or hamstring)

Well I guess every doctor have their own theories or personal experience with the success of their clients using different grafts.

[SumDumGoi]

It is still debatable which method is best (allograft vs autograft) and the research isn't really clear. If you choose the allograft (cadaver) then you will be back on your feet a little sooner as a second surgery would not have to be done to harvest the petellar tendon. However, the amount of time that it takes for the ACL to regain blood flow and strength is slightly quicker for the autograft since it is your body's own tissue. I believe it is around 6 weeks for the autograft option and around 8 weeks for the allograft. The overall recovery time between the 2 options is relatively the same.

Here is the trade-off. You would most likely be off your feet and on crutches for an extra week or two if you chose the autograft compared to the allograft. However, because you would be back on your feet a little sooner using the autograft you won't lose as much muscle strength in the injured knee compared to the autograft. Therefore you have to pick your poison and in the long run there won't necessarily be much of a difference between the two.

One of the reasons that the autografts fail a lot more could be the fact that people are on their feet sooner. They think they knee is stronger than it actually is so they try to resume activity the ligament fails. Since you won't be on your feet as quickly after the allograft you would give the ligament extra time to revascularize (increase blood flow) and regain strength. You should keep in mind that after the first two months after surgery the ligament becomes progressively weaker until it is able to re-establish its blood supply so you would be at your weakest point.

There is some research indicating that allografts tend to loosen a bit for active individuals under the age of 35. This could be caused by people trying to do too much too soon, or it could be caused by the increased demand on the knee due to the higher level of physical activity. To my knowledge, nothing is very clear here.

I just had my ACL repaired about a month ago and I went with the allograft option. The only reason that I chose this was because about 90% of my activities involved running (in a straight line without any cutting types of movements) and lifting weights. I could do both of these things perfectly fine with my torn ACL. However, if you are very active and plan on playing sports the allograft might be the better option. Your rehab and recovery may be a little slower at first, but it is also the option that fails the least.

[csabatka1]

Well I guess every doctor have their own theories or personal experience with the success of their clients using different grafts.

I can't disagree with you there. Every doctor is specialized and will only recommend the type of surgery they feel most comfortable performing. The doctor's skill set outweighs the actual choice of graft. If the doctor performs 1000 hamstring and 2 cadaver in his career, of course his hamstring graft is going to be a better option with him.

My orthopedic surgeon also is a ortho surgeon for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in which they're only performing hamstring grafts.

[dchou]

Dejuan Blair has two torn ACLs and is in the NBA. You can do it!

[lhshurdl3r]

I can't disagree with you there. Every doctor is specialized and will only recommend the type of surgery they feel most comfortable performing. The doctor's skill set outweighs the actual choice of graft. If the doctor performs 1000 hamstring and 2 cadaver in his career, of course his hamstring graft is going to be a better option with him.

My orthopedic surgeon also is a ortho surgeon for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in which they're only performing hamstring grafts.

^this.

One of my former football coaches tore BOTH of his ACL's not once, but TWICE. Still play's semi-pro football. Crazy.

[wildcats9]

Yeah it is without question a Dr. by Dr. preference with which graft to use. I know of one pretty well known guy who likes to use the patella from the opposite knee to do the operation. IMO looking at it as a patient who had both the patella graft and hamstring graft was the pain was less and recovery, getting back my ROM etc was quicker with the hamstring. I would always advise going with ones own tissue over a cadaver. The trend seems to be the older surgeons are performing patella grafts as that was the "gold standard" when they were training and younger more recently trained surgeons are going toward hamstrings. IMO any athlete should go with an autograph over the cadaver unless there is a reason not to.

[Coty08]

What is the most important thing about re-hab? Once flexibility is regained can one re-hab himself, in terms of strength training? My step brother dad is a surgeon and he likes the use of a cadaver for people who play sports.

I had the cadaver used in my surgery. Different doctors like different things. For me I thought to myself well I am already injured. If I get the cadaver then it will be someone elses body part not mine. I don't see the need to weaken another body part to make one stronger. But that is just me. BTW my knee is to 100% and feels great. But this should be a choice you make on your own. Look at the pros and cons because everyone has a different opinion on things.

[SDOptimist]

I was with my professional team surgeon and he said the opposite. The cadaver is the best if you are an athlete. The recovery is faster and there would be no need to make another incision in another part of your body. There are risk with all of them. The chance of your body rejecting it is very low.

yah the cadaver is the fastest recover. but why rush something this serious? plus its only a couple months difference in recover time. the rest of it lies on what you do and not do. how well you rehab it and how motivated and educated you are about the situation.

i got hurt right before the season started. so it was in the first week of sept. i knew i was done for the season. so why rush it? if i would of got the cadaver..i still would of been done for the season lol.

so i got the patella tendon and i rehabbed it correctly and ran track that spring..ran the 100m and 200m and then played jc ball starting over the summer

[SumDumGoi]

It is still debatable which method is best (allograft vs autograft) and the research isn't really clear. If you choose the allograft (cadaver) then you will be back on your feet a little sooner as a second surgery would not have to be done to harvest the petellar tendon. However, the amount of time that it takes for the ACL to regain blood flow and strength is slightly quicker for the autograft since it is your body's own tissue. I believe it is around 6 weeks for the autograft option and around 8 weeks for the allograft. The overall recovery time between the 2 options is relatively the same.

Here is the trade-off. You would most likely be off your feet and on crutches for an extra week or two if you chose the autograft compared to the allograft. However, because you would be back on your feet a little sooner using the autograft you won't lose as much muscle strength in the injured knee compared to the autograft. Therefore you have to pick your poison and in the long run there won't necessarily be much of a difference between the two.

One of the reasons that the autografts fail a lot more could be the fact that people are on their feet sooner. They think they knee is stronger than it actually is so they try to resume activity the ligament fails. Since you won't be on your feet as quickly after the allograft you would give the ligament extra time to revascularize (increase blood flow) and regain strength. You should keep in mind that after the first two months after surgery the ligament becomes progressively weaker until it is able to re-establish its blood supply so you would be at your weakest point.

There is some research indicating that allografts tend to loosen a bit for active individuals under the age of 35. This could be caused by people trying to do too much too soon, or it could be caused by the increased demand on the knee due to the higher level of physical activity. To my knowledge, nothing is very clear here.

I just had my ACL repaired about a month ago and I went with the allograft option. The only reason that I chose this was because about 90% of my activities involved running (in a straight line without any cutting types of movements) and lifting weights. I could do both of these things perfectly fine with my torn ACL. However, if you are very active and plan on playing sports the autograft might be the better option. Your rehab and recovery may be a little slower at first, but it is also the option that fails the least.

edit: Oops, I meant to say AUTOGRAFT in that last part.