Hi all, am new around here, but it looks a useful place to come for some advice so here goes. It's quite a long story, but i'll keep is as brief as possible.

Back in April 2007, i turned sharply whilst playing football (Soccer) and damaged my right knee. Eventually, i paid for an Wikipedia reference-linkMRI scan to save about 3 months of waiting time and this showed that i had torn the bucket something or other Wikipedia reference-linkmeniscus and that there was possibly a tear in the ACL but they were not to sure.

At the time i didn't have a huge range of motion in my knee and i could neither straighten or bend my leg fully. Although movement did come back, i was added to the operation waiting list to have the arthroscopy to sort out the cartlidge.

In October last year i had the removal and was told after by the surgeon that there was some damage to my ACl - a partial tear. A month after the operation i went back to see the surgeon to speak about where i went next. I was told that the tear was only partial and that there was a chance that i could do a rehabilitation program at the physio for a number of weeks and then after that I may be able to return to sports.

I went and did 8 weeks of rehabilitation at the physio. At no point throughout those 8 weeks did i feel like i had a particularly weak knee. It's fairly stable (i'd say around 95%) and its relaltivly painless. Throughout the weeks i built up on excercises which included heel raises, squats, single leg squats, jogging, cycling and eventually hopping and figure 8 runs.

After the physio sessions were complete i paid a final visit to my surgeon who had a look around my knee and moved about a bit. He told me that the only way to find out whether my knee would be strong enough to play soccer again would be to build up the muscles and then go out and try it. The worst that could happen would be that it may give way and i'd end up on my face - but at least i'd know that i needed a full reconstruction. He also told me that the tear had reattatched to itself but that didn't make much sense to me. He also said that i wouldn't really need any form of knee brace.

So, i started jogging on the streets - about 1mile to 2 miles per day and everything is fairly comfortable. Last week i decided to start turning and twisting a bit more and kicking a football - so i bought a hinged brace. Although it may not do a great deal as people tell me they've never been proven to work - mentally i feel more confident with the brace on when turning. Occasionally i get a small pain if i stretch too far without the brace but it's not a massive pain.

Having kicked a football for an hour - apart from the odd twinge if i mistimed the kick, my knee fdelt pretty strong. A little sore around the outside at the lower part of the knee the day after - but my left leg was a bit sore too, so i'm guessing that could be down to just lack of excercise.

So here is where i am now - I feel confident in my knee, it feels strong and i feel pretty fit - but actually diving back into football where there turns will be more spontanius and forcefull, along with tackling is nerve wracking for me. All i can hear in my head is that i have a tear and i shouldnt go and play as i will make it worse, but i miss playing.

is going out there and playing really wise - or is a reconstruction more recommended? Does anybody understand the ligament "reattatching" term which my surgeon used?

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