Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear - General Questions

[BillyB]

Can someone provide some thoughts on this subject please. Looking for advice on ACL tears, recovery timelines, pro's & cons of surgery and recommendations of good physio's here in SG. Would like to hear your personal stories and thoughts.

My girlfriend has just tore her ACL playing volleyball and the specialist has recommended no reconstruction operation at this stage - its a partial tear (which means it could be graded 10-90% as it was difficult to deduce from the MRI scan, although the Doctor believes it to be quite a bad tear). However, this means no more volleyball or impact sports EVER. She will be restricted to low impact sports/exercise such as running, cycling etc. The alternative is surgery where she will have the opportunity to return to the same if not slightly lower level of activity but still be able to play volleyball etc.

Anyone been through the rehab process with or without surgery?

Thanks in advance

[psychy]

Hi BillyB,

ACL tears are horrible. I did mine around 3-4 years ago and did not get it properly looked at until 2yrs back. Makes you realise you need to take care of yourself and one is no longer a teenager anymore - im 28!!

Anyhow, as said, i ruptured mine. MRI showed substantial tear but docs advised exploratory surgery - keyhole to assess damage. They did this two years after i tore it at football - mainly because i never went docs until it kept getting swollen and i felt wobbly at football/badminton.

The surgery went well. 3 small holes in the knee. Docs said no full reconstruction needed...they cleaned up the area but did not do anything else. I went to rehab (was in crutches/cast for 6 weeks) for 4-6 weeks. After I did a lot of cycling to build stronger muscles around thighs and hamstrings and resistance legwork in the gym. This would take the stress away from the knees.
Doing this helped so much as within 6 months i was able to do ALL sports with no problems what so ever. The feeling of losing balance was gone and no side effects. Since the operation, i started running more and generally being very healthy. I run 3-4 times a week and play badminton for 4hrs nonstop.

HOWEVER, i went on holiday in Nov, did no exercise for 2 months and got a bit fat. Then went back to badminton one day and kinda pulled my knee again. Swelled up for week and since then not been that great. I can run etc but too much and the knee swells. Think i need to start the cycling etc again and slowly build it back up.

I know that i cant be 100% anymore...i'll settle for 85-90%. Full reconstruction is the only way to get much better but my friend who did it took over 1-2yrs to fully recover. No thanks and he's still has pain.

Tell your gf to do low impact cardio (cross trainer), take up cycling, resistance leg training and generally become fitter. That is the only way (i beleive) to try to get back on track.

HTH

[BillyB]

Thanks for the reply - appreciate your feedback.

We have gathered information and views from a couple of different surgeons and physios etc and came to a similar conclusion that you outlined.

My girlfriend is in good shape as she usually hits the gym, swims, jogs and plays volleyball regularly and at a high level - national and state level. The issue that she has is does she do rehab work and strengthen it only for it to go again in 9 months time because there simply isn't enough strength in the remaining ACL plus next time there could be more serious damage. Or is it worth having surgery to reconstruct as its quite a bad partial tear. The extra 3 months rehab after surgery isn't really an issue if it gives her better quality of sport but more importantly the psychological feeling of knowing it isn't likely to go again.

Our knee specialist advised her never to play volleyball again either way - op or no op - but thats not what she wants and you've gotta keep the Mrs happy!!

[nfelix]

Hi BillyB

I have a couple of friends who had ACL tears & had their ACL repair surgically.

They've all recovered well enough to even play sports at National level. Not all are full tears.

Looking at my friends I think the key to recovery from ACL injury & reconstruction is to have good recovery program and a good sports physiotherapist.

They all went back to play after 6-9 months of physiotherapy & rehabilitation work.

If you need the contact of the physio who had helped them, I can help you find out.

[sundaymorningstaple]

tic....toc....tic....toc.....

moderator

[Run Sabah Run]

Tore mine. Got it repaired a year later. Took a full year to fully trust it...bout 4 months initially to recover. Now it's a bionic knee. Better than it was before. Best thing I ever did. Now I can run, play ultimate...no problem.

sorry mate, got it done overseas.

Good luck to your sheila.

[BillyB]

Tore mine. Got it repaired a year later. Took a full year to fully trust it...bout 4 months initially to recover. Now it's a bionic knee. Better than it was before. Best thing I ever did. Now I can run, play ultimate...no problem.

sorry mate, got it done overseas.

Good luck to your sheila.

Cheers, she is recovering fantastically well. I'm amazed that she is able to jog on it after 6 weeks and up to running again now.

Just curious, why would you say get it done overseas? We found 1 doctor in Singapore who has a fantastic reputation and track record.

[vozzie]

Singapore is overseas, isn't it

I think he was trying to say that , because he got it done elsewhere, he(or she) couldn't help you with recommendations or prices. I don't think he was suggesting that you hop the first plane outta here.

In fact, my wife is about to go under the knife here ... with a torn shoulder tendon. I don't think she really understands what lies ahead of her ... rehabilitation wise.

[rtseah]

Hi Psychy/HBH,

would like to check with you what u meant by exploratory surgery? someone i couldnt write you a private msg. just want to find out more and your contacts cos i recently injured my acl, believed is a partial torn, extent unknown yet

thanks thanks!

cheers,
ting

[taxico]

would like to check with you what u meant by exploratory surgery?

the doctor will make a hole (or two) and stick in a tube (or two) and have a look around inside (explore).

then he'll tell you what he thinks is the next best step forward...