Should I get surgery?

[StrykerDM]

Osteoarthritis (aka Degenerative arthritis) is going to be the problem when you get older. I tore my ACL and bruised some cartilage up pretty badly back in high school football, and I had surgery to fix it even though I knew people with the same or worse injuries that didn't. My ortho doc told me to think of my knee as a car that can only go up to so many miles, once you wear it out, you wear it out. Once you beat up the cartilage enough, you're going to get arthritis (I'm probably headed that way too eventually). Eventually, if everybody lives to be old enough, we'd all have osteoarthritis, but injuries like yours and mine speed up the process. The surgery will help, but the other important thing to do is to strengthen the muscles (quads and hamstrings) that stabilize the knee joint. I had one sports medicine doc suggest doing lots of lunges because its a very natural motion that works the necessary leg muscles. Those muscles will keep it stabile during your future activities like football or what have you. I've found that personally, stretching a lot before and after I exercise has helped improve my flexibility and helped me regain a lot of the range of motion I lost due to my injury. Now I can run a good 6+ miles no problem, and play raquetball and ultimate frisbee without worry (although I do wear a knee brace just in case). Just my three cents, but I'd get the surgery if I were you, and just be sure to stick to the rehab regimen afterwards and it'll get you back playing ball in no time.

[Shroomlad]

I relocated my kneecap about 8 years ago the same kind of injury as yours, I didn't have surgery but i can't understand how your out playing football soo soon it took me every bit of 9 months to get back to 90% with pt and braced, but now 8 years later it seems I'll need to brace my knee once a month or just when it hurts, I dislocated while kick boxing and now I'm taking karate and I'm having less and less pain as time goes on, the pt helped me allot and I'm still going through the exercises 3 times a week with both legs and after a shoulder relocation I'm not even worried about my knee even half as much

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by 1lowlife

Join the club Bro, it is part of getting older.

If I was older and my kids were grown I wouldnt have a problem but I'm 26 and my son is 12 (I know thats going to raise some eyebrows ) and hes ready talking crap about how he can school me in basketball.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by Shroomlad

I relocated my kneecap about 8 years ago the same kind of injury as yours, I didn't have surgery but i can't understand how your out playing football soo soon it took me every bit of 9 months to get back to 90% with pt and braced, but now 8 years later it seems I'll need to brace my knee once a month or just when it hurts, I dislocated while kick boxing and now I'm taking karate and I'm having less and less pain as time goes on, the pt helped me allot and I'm still going through the exercises 3 times a week with both legs and after a shoulder relocation I'm not even worried about my knee even half as much

I've been looking at other people getting injured and I cant explain how I was able to atleast start running a little after I got injured. PT did help and I get good flexion and extension but sometimes pain where that meniscus should be. I dont know to what extension I messed up my ligaments though.

I dislocated my shoulder once and since then, about 8-9 years ago, I've dislocated it about 7 times or more. Thats something I'm used to and it doesnt happen spontenously so I dont worry.

[Lazarus]

You guys with similiar injuries, have you been able to run full speed?

[prostate05]

Ok, I have messed up my knee before.... torn PCL, torn MCL, torn Meniscus, and partially torn ACL. Also, one of my dads friend is an orthopedic surgeon and during my senior year in high school I worked with him for the entire year. Here is what I learned and why I think it'd be the best idea for you to get it fixed.

First off, if you have torn your ACL then running straight may be no problem. However, when you try to cut and change direction your leg will give out and tear more of your meniscus. Your MCL will heal by itself, scar tissue will fix the MCL problem. Your PCL is not necessarily needed because your hamstring does 90% (nearly all) of the work and once your hamstring is strong again you won't notice any difference. (I have no PCL and I play soccer competitively) Now, I partially tore my ACL and to be honest it was lucky and it still is holding up. However, the ACL is the one that you want and need to get surgery on as you'll never be able to really play without it. It is a pain because they can't do it Arthroscopy (through a small hole) and yes you will have a scar on the front of your knee. However, if you get it fixed your ACL will be just as strong as before. You will have to do some crutch walking, and some physical therapy but after 6-10 months (depending on how well you do the PT) you'll be normal and ready to kick your kids butt at Bball again.
Oh, and just as a recommendation I'd get a patella tendon piece as your new ACL if you go that rout, it will be the strongest option for a new ACl.

Just my opinion from my experiences. Hope everything goes well.

[prostate05]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

You guys with similiar injuries, have you been able to run full speed?

Yeah I can run full speed, and honestly I'm a good bit faster because during PT i gained some explosiveness that I'd never worked on before.

A younger friend of mine just got finished with his PT and is back to normal after an ACL tear.

Oh and i forgot to mention, while they do your ACL they'll fix your meniscus as well and that is very important because if that is banged up you don't get it fixed then you can have knee lock up problems and later in life you'll have bad knees.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by prostate05

Ok, I have messed up my knee before.... torn PCL, torn MCL, torn Meniscus, and partially torn ACL. Also, one of my dads friend is an orthopedic surgeon and during my senior year in high school I worked with him for the entire year. Here is what I learned and why I think it'd be the best idea for you to get it fixed.

First off, if you have torn your ACL then running straight may be no problem. However, when you try to cut and change direction your leg will give out and tear more of your meniscus. Your MCL will heal by itself, scar tissue will fix the MCL problem. Your PCL is not necessarily needed because your hamstring does 90% (nearly all) of the work and once your hamstring is strong again you won't notice any difference. (I have no PCL and I play soccer competitively) Now, I partially tore my ACL and to be honest it was lucky and it still is holding up. However, the ACL is the one that you want and need to get surgery on as you'll never be able to really play without it. It is a pain because they can't do it Arthroscopy (through a small hole) and yes you will have a scar on the front of your knee. However, if you get it fixed your ACL will be just as strong as before. You will have to do some crutch walking, and some physical therapy but after 6-10 months (depending on how well you do the PT) you'll be normal and ready to kick your kids butt at Bball again.
Oh, and just as a recommendation I'd get a patella tendon piece as your new ACL if you go that rout, it will be the strongest option for a new ACl.

Just my opinion from my experiences. Hope everything goes well.

Yea I think I just need to get this done. Ask your dad's friend if you get a chance, if hes heard of harvesting your opposite injured knee for the graft. I've heard of this being done and that you actually recover faster.

[prostate05]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Yea I think I just need to get this done. Ask your dad's friend if you get a chance, if hes heard of harvesting your opposite injured knee for the graft. I've heard of this being done and that you actually recover faster.

No problem

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by prostate05

Yeah I can run full speed, and honestly I'm a good bit faster because during PT i gained some explosiveness that I'd never worked on before.

A younger friend of mine just got finished with his PT and is back to normal after an ACL tear.

Oh and i forgot to mention, while they do your ACL they'll fix your meniscus as well and that is very important because if that is banged up you don't get it fixed then you can have knee lock up problems and later in life you'll have bad knees.

When you say fix the meniscus you mean just cleaning up the damaged meniscus right? As far as I know once that is gone its gone, no fixing it.