ACL Tear - Quick Surgery, or Phys. Therapy, Wait & Evaluate

[boarderboy]

AUGUST 4, 2010, 12:01 AM

Phys Ed: How Much Does Knee Surgery Really Help?

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/phys-ed-how-much-does-knee-surgery-really-help/?scp=1&sq=ACL&st=cse

I haven't had to make this decision, but overweight, out-of-shape, and still board sporting, I'm probably a good candidate.

The above NYT article may indicate that the decision could hinge on what specific sports you want to undertake after healing. If you're going to "plant and/or rotate", you might be better off getting early surgery??

BB

[skatha]

When I tore my ACL again in '89, my orthopod recommended a 3 month trial of PT. During this time, I tried to interview for neurosurgical residency spots-literally dragging my bad leg behind me. Weight bearing of any kind resulted in massive swelling and forget about trying to run-it was if I was balancing on a very unsteady platform whenever I was standing on my right leg. I had the ACL repair with a medial menisectomy in Dec of that year and opted to try to interview for a neurosurgical spot again the following year. Needless to say, the USAF intervened and I'm a $150K a year internist rather than a $1M a year neurosurgeon. Just as well...as a neurosurgeon, I wouldn't have had time to have kids, let alone try snowboarding and destroy my ankle and shoulder:ices_ange

I looked at the story-I think the big difference for me was that my med. meniscus was trashed. My orthopod told me that up to 25% of the population has ACL deficient knees and most don't miss them. That was the rationale he gave me for waiting for the surgery.

In any case, if you are doing well with PT, stick with that....