Partial ACL tear - no surgery

[physiobob]

The partial ACL cannot heal properly right? but can it still send signals back?

I have felt a difference and slight instability in my knee (i.e no confidence to play football/soccer) so that must mean the partial tear is fairly significant - the Dr wouldn't say how much though.

Any info on arthritis on surgery v no surgery scenario? i am thinking long term effects here. should i give up footy?

Hard to say what fibers are torn and therefore how much that relates to the signals going to the brain. The feeling of laxity often increases with time but in terms of the early onset of arthritis that is more related to intact menisci (knee cartilages). Surgery is likely to involve trimming or removing some of that which if possible is best avoided as we are making steady progress in the medical fields or tissue replacement, growth, repair etc so the longer the joint surfaces are protected the better.

As for "footy", this is something hard to play without an intact ACL due to the pivoting and side to side movements. If the knee is unstable and you continue to play chances are you will progress to a full tear and the likelihood of injuring the menisci at the same time.

[mouk786]

I suppose the essential questions are can I :

a) go back to a near normal knee without surgery but with physio
b) can i get back to some sort of level of playing football without surgery

The Dr/specialist at the hospital seemed confident and kept say that I don't need surgery to get back to what I want.

[physiobob]

I suppose the essential questions are can I :

a) go back to a near normal knee without surgery but with physio
b) can i get back to some sort of level of playing football without surgery

a) Depends on the extent of the tear and which fibers are damaged
b) This is possible although you will always be at more risk of further injury than prior to the recent tear. Surgery will provide perhaps a reduced risk or reinjury but the functionality and dynamic movement "might" be better without.

As I read in another post somewhere a surgeon wrote "The is no condition so bad that cannot be made worse with surgery". This is something worth thinking about.

[physio.smith]

I hope since you last posted that you are making good progress.

One of the key things is regain the strength at your knee before doing anything too dynamic. You really need 80-90% strength in your injured leg (compared to your non injured) before doing anything too dynamic.

You must ensure however that you have full range of motion at your knee before embarking on too much else. If you are lacking full extension (or hyperextension) compared to the other side you are more likely to cause long term damage and not full trust the joint and will struggle to regain strength. Also if you are lacking full range you may still have swelling, this can take a long time to settle and range may change if you over do the exercises and stir up the joint, so do monitor.

You may find that due to NHS constraints that you are not taken as far as you need to in terms of rehab (not sure if this is true...as not worked in NHS for a long time). They should however ensure that you regain full range of movement and start you on a program, with specific goals and targets to meet. You may need further input as you progress.

Please seek the advice of a physio who has assessed you (as these may not be appropriate for you and technique is important), however below are a few tests that you may find useful to help you monitor your progress....

*Single leg press (1 Rep max) assertain limb symmetry
*Star excursion balance test
*Step down test
*Figure of 8 shuttle runs
*Cross over hop tests
(obviously there are much more basic tests and many more others out there)

The Lower Extremity Functional Scale (Brinkley et al. (1999) Physical Therapy. 79: 371-383) may help you monitor how your knee is feeling.

Good luck.

[glog1066]

I suppose the essential questions are can I :

a) go back to a near normal knee without surgery but with physio
b) can i get back to some sort of level of playing football without surgery

The Dr/specialist at the hospital seemed confident and kept say that I don't need surgery to get back to what I want.

hi there im new to this forum and have viewed your post, i know you had the problem a while ago but im wondering how your knee is, the reason im asking is im goining through exactly what you did i have a partial tear to my right acl and dont know weather to push for surgery or try the physio route, i did this playing football and would love to get back playing again, many thanks russ

[mouk786]

hi there im new to this forum and have viewed your post, i know you had the problem a while ago but im wondering how your knee is, the reason im asking is im goining through exactly what you did i have a partial tear to my right acl and dont know weather to push for surgery or try the physio route, i did this playing football and would love to get back playing again, many thanks russ

Hi

Its been ages since that post

Effectivley I rehabbed hard and got the strengh back up in my knee. I amanged to play 5 a side football for about a year - playing upto 2 games a week sometimes with no problems.

The knee itself wasnt bad, no pain and fairly stable but not as rock solid a joint as my normal knee

unfortunatley after about a year of playing i somehow managed to tear the rest of the ACL whilst twisting.

I have since had the ACL reconstruction and the knee feels more solid, although I managed to tear some cartialge as well which has caused me more problems

so my advise is push for the surgery if you want to play footy again.

[glog1066]

hi thanks for the speedy reply, you sound like youve had a tough time, i think after speaking to a few people including you i think surgery will be the best option for me,if they will do it of course, thanks very much for yiur help, cheers russ

[John Ross]

Let us know how you got on. Any kind of future sporting life (contact or non-contact) suggests you should have surgery...