anyone have any experience with ACL surgery

[Nymeria]

I'm sure NF frowns upon passing around medical info, and I'm not really seeking that.  I just found out that my climbing accident last Saturday led to two fractured bones, as well as a fully torn MCL and ACL.  So, now I'm more than a bit scared, as well as totally depressed about being so badly injured.  Have any of the rest of you had surgery for a torn ACL, and if so, how bad was the surgery and recovery?   Was it really possible to continue working out, or were you just stuck sitting around a lot for the first few months?   If you comply with the physical therapy, did your knee end up as strong as ever, or do you have lingering weakness or issues?

 

I'd really love any stories or any encouragement.  I'm feeling so depressed right now. 

[insanity]

I have no experience, but you can look up Marcus Lattimore, running back for the 49ers. He messed up his knee, think it was his ACL, playing college football, recovered and completely dislocated his knee in a game the next year and is now setup to take over running back duties for the 49ers next year.

[chairohkey]

I had an ACL reconstruction in the spring of 1999 while in high school. A patellar tendon graft was used. Recovery wasn't all that bad. I was on crutches for maybe a month and was diligent with physical therapy. I was back to what I'd guess to be 85-90% within 6-7 months. I had my surgery mid April and was cleared to wrestle without any restrictions in early November. Keep your head up its now close to 15 years later for me and my knee has never felt stronger.

[Nymeria]

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm having my reconstruction in mid January, and they're using a hamstring tendon graft. As much as I'm nervous about the whole thing, I'm kind of eager to get it over with. Waiting for the surgery is tough. At least afterwards, when I'm doing the physical therapy, I'll feel like I'm actively helping with the recovery, rather than sitting around a lot.

[Beanalicious1]

It's going to take more time than you wish it would, but our bodies are quite awesome at healing (especially if you eat right)  I had dual MCL surgeries, and that took me about 4 months.  Then, a few years ago, my deck collapsed while installing a glass door.  I fell about 12 feet leg first through a glass panel, and landed on my knee.  It took about 40 internal stitches and 30 external (and I discovered a giant shard of glass was still in my knee about 3 months after the accident - still think there is some in there)

 

That didn't hurt my MCL or ACL, but it did take about a year and a half before I felt confident in my knee enough to even start doing squats.  There is no pain now, but I'm still cautious.  It's hard to overcome that caution once you've been injured like that, and trust your various body parts.

[ret]

I tore my PCL in late September last year. If it had been my ACL instead, I would have had surgery, but surgery for the PCL apparently isn't as beneficial. I was told that my PCL will never be 100% better, and that I will probably always want to wear a brace while doing more intense activities (Ultimate, backpacking, etc.), not sure if this is the same with ACL or not. 

 

The exercises they have you do in rehab are probably the same if I had to guess, which for me was a lot of range of motion for both knee and hips, then lots of squats, leg extensions/curls, step ups, and other leg strengthening exercises so that your muscles can overcompensate/fulfill the role that your ACL did.

[Nymeria]

Thanks again for sharing your experiences with knee surgery. I'm 4 days post op, so I guess I'll be pretty well positioned to help the next person who tears an ACL.

For the first week of rehab, I'm just doing some ROM work and isometric quad and hamstring exercises. I'm sure I'll start the squats and other strengthening exercises at some later point.