Should i do acl surgery

The ACL is one of the ligaments that attaches your femur thigh bone to your tibia shin bone at your knee. Its job is to keep the knee stable, limiting how much the tibia glides forward on the femur as you move your knee. It also helps to control rotation. Injuring it can sometimes cause the knee to give way, particularly when pivoting on it or turning quickly. The ACL is usually injured by a non-contact twist of the knee. Likewise, occasionally a knee injury can sometimes have all the hallmarks of an ACL tear, but it will turn out to be something else, like a tibial plateau injury.

That said, if you fall into the category of somebody who would do well without surgery, then an MRI scan might not change how you manage the injury. Anyway, back to the topic. Should you have surgery or not? There are obvious risks associated with having surgery — e. The rehabilitation period without surgery is quicker — usually about 3 months to return to sport.

The rehabilitation period after surgery is also longer, usually months. This is because running is not recommended before 12 weeks post-op as it often takes this long for the graft to be strong enough to tolerate running loads. There is also the donor site — if it is a hamstring graft, you will be sacrificing a hamstring tendon for it to be used for the ACL graft.

Longitudinal tears became bucket handle tears and more people who started out with no tears now had bucket handle tears.

Once the authors confirmed that medial meniscal tears were made worse by an unrepaired and deficient ACL, they started analyzing other factors that might make a difference in the outcomes. First, they looked at age. Maybe the older the patient, the more likely it is that the meniscus will tear over time. The patients in this study were fairly young between 18 and 47 years old. It turned out that there was no relationship between patient age and whether or not a meniscal tear occurred over time.

Then they looked at activity level. Maybe more active patients are more likely to tear the meniscus with an unrepaired and deficient ACL. Nope -- patients who were more active didn't have more meniscal damage or greater severity of meniscal tears.

In fact, even those people who had repeated knee injuries didn't have more meniscal tears than those individuals who didn't reinjure the knee. What they really found was that medial meniscal tears occur more often the longer the patient delayed ACL reconstructive surgery. That begs the question: when it comes to protecting the status of the medial meniscus, is there an ideal time to have ACL surgery?

Other researchers who have looked at this issue have concluded from their studies that reconstruction should take place between three and 12 months after the injury. And the results of this study not only confirm that conclusion, but also offer the knowledge that the earlier the better. Delaying reconstruction surgery puts the medial meniscus at increased risk for tears. There was one other finding from this study that is important to note. MRIs don't always show meniscal tears or places where the meniscus separates from the joint capsule.

That means it's possible to have a meniscal tear and not know it. Your surgeon will drill sockets or tunnels into your thighbone and shinbone to accurately position the graft, which is then secured to your bones with screws or other devices.

The graft will serve as scaffolding on which new ligament tissue can grow. Once you recover from the anesthesia, you can go home the same day. Before you go home, you'll practice walking with crutches, and your surgeon may ask you to wear a knee brace or splint to help protect the graft. Your doctor will give you specific instructions on how to control swelling and pain after surgery. In general, it's important to keep your leg elevated, apply a cold wrap or ice to your knee, and rest as much as possible.

Medications to help with pain relief include over-the-counter drugs such as acetaminophen Tylenol , ibuprofen Advil, Motrin IB, others or naproxen sodium Aleve. If opioids are prescribed, they should be taken only for breakthrough pain as they have many side effects and a significant risk of addiction. Follow your surgeon's advice on when to ice your knee, how long to use crutches and when it's safe to bear weight on your knee.

You'll also be told when you can shower or bathe, when you should change dressings on the wound, and how to manage post-surgery care. Progressive physical therapy after ACL surgery helps to strengthen the muscles around your knee and improve flexibility. A physical therapist will teach you how to do exercises that you will perform either with continued supervision or at home. Following the rehabilitation plan is important for proper healing and achieving the best possible outcomes. Successful ACL reconstruction paired with focused rehabilitation can usually restore stability and function to your knee.

Within the first few weeks after surgery, you should strive to regain a range of motion equal to that of your opposite knee. Recovery generally takes about nine months. Explore Mayo Clinic studies of tests and procedures to help prevent, detect, treat or manage conditions. Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they've never experienced.

See the stories of satisfied Mayo Clinic patients. Jesse Stewart with Bruce DeGrote Jesse Stewart couldn't understand why the seven orthopedic surgeries he'd had for pain in one knee and both hips hadn't done anything to improve his quality of life. After coming to Mayo Clinic, however, Jesse found the answer to that question, and he finally received surgery that fixed the problems.

Katie Stone never had an injury in all her years as a competitive athlete. Then she tore her ACL during an alumni basketball game. But now, thanks to reconstructive surgery and physical therapy, Katie's healthy and active once again. In all her years as a competitive athlete, Katie Stone never had an injury. Not during [ Mayo Clinic does not endorse companies or products.

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