Torn ACL's

12skipafew99100

I'm going to be 50 this year and my knees hold me back from being as active as I want to be.
I suffered complete tears of my ACL's back in my early 20's in two separarte events.
My question to you all is, did you have the reconstructive surgery? I did not.
I feel like I got bad advise back then and now I wish I had done it.
I'm thinking about doing it but I don't know if its worth it at my age. I see other older people who are so active and I want to be that way too. I was in a lot of sports when I was younger now I can only walk.
I do think it will help me be more active but I know the recovery is long.
Any advise from been there done its?

Emmyleww

I tore my ACL and Meniscus about three years ago. I was 39. They were unable to repair my meniscus so they removed it, which guarantees I'll have arthritis when I get older. As for my ACL, I had them repair it. I don't know what you mean exactly by reconstructive but they had to take parts from a cadaver to repair mine. The other option is to take it from your own leg somewhere, but that didn't sound fun at all. Anyway, I did physical therapy for about 6 months. I wore a knee brace for about two years after that for playing sports, although I could have ditched that after a year. It was mentally hard for me to part with it. I played a lot of soccer up until I was like 31. I started playing other sports and still am very active with those. Because of that, I needed the reparation. The physical therapy is painful but if you are dedicated to the process, it will get easier. I can't tell you what to do but if you want to be active and are willing to work hard at recovery, I would suggest doing it. You are still young enough to enjoy being active. Even if you end up having to get a total knee replacement, it would be worth it to be able to stay active. Only you can decide that. If you do decide to go through with it, the only advice I have is to be serious about rehab and recovery. Do everything the PT tells you and you will succeed. And, supposedly, your ACL will be stronger than it was before and less likely to tear again...supposedly.

MorgueBabe

I tore my ACL in college (I have NO idea how. I was a double science major and in concert band so I spent most of my day sitting and not being "active"). I have my tear surgery over summer of the tear, and did Physical Therapy and now almost 10 years later my knee still hurts and feels like it did before I got the surgery.

jbruhn

I tore my ACL, MCL, LCL, and meniscus in my right knee 6 years ago, and I am now 41. I did not get my ACL repaired but did get my meniscus repaired. I did not do the surgery due to the long recovery time. I opted for PT for a couple of months and was told by both my PT and my orthopedic surgeon that the key to keeping the knee pain-free is to keep it strong.

I need to do leg exercises, such as squats and other strength training and my knee does really good. I find that if I don't keep that up, my knee gets really painful.

Also, my orthopedic surgeon created a custom made knee brace to use when I do other cardio exercises (such as body combat or kickboxing). That brace keeps my knee stable and helps greatly.

linusr

I'm 50 now. I tore my ACL in 2001 and had a reconstruction that summer; my leg would bend the wrong way after the tear; without the ACL there was nothing to prevent that so I had to have the surgery. One of my friends has a torn ACL that he never repaired, but he doesn't have this problem.

I didn't rehab well enough afterwards; if you have the surgery, you need to make sure you do all your rehab from the beginning.

I run now, but my knee isn't as stable as I'd like. Are you having continuing problems with your knee like I did? If so, then I think it makes sense to have the surgery. I couldn't run without the surgery. I don't think 50 is too old to get this done, if your doctor thinks it's okay. I would hate to not be able to run, and I figure I should have at least ten more years to do it, hopefully more. If it's preventing you from doing what you want to do, then I think it's worth it.

I get what you're saying about wishing you did it when you were younger. I tore half of it in '96, but the doctor didn't know that until he went in on what he thought was a meniscus repair. I wish I'd done the reconstruction then, when I was a little younger. I was also in school, so I would have had an easier time doing the rehab than when I was working.

I should also say the week after the surgery was hard, and starting rehab was hard. Like Emmyleww said, you must work hard on rehab if you have the surgery. Good luck.

Daisy471

My husband tore his ACL a little more than 12 years ago. He chose the patellar graft (uses part of the patellar tendon to replace the ACL), I think now they also do some type of a hamstring graft. My husband was told that his knee would not be as stable as it was before the tear (tendons do not have the same elasticity as ligaments) so he was encouraged to start running to help strengthen the muscles around his knee. He was not a runner at all before the surgery. Two years post surgery, he ran a marathon. Today he is training for his 35th marathon (he is probably not be the typical ACL patient). His advice to anyone considering the surgery: the physical therapy is the most important part of the recovery. Without it, you will not regain strength or range of motion. Good luck!

12skipafew99100

Thank you everyone for posting your experiences.

Both of my knees have complete tears and it makes for very unstabile knees. It limits what I can do. I can only walk with my nose and toes going the same direction. I cannot jump, run or pivot at all. I know this has contributed to my weight gain as I am not active like I used to be.
I am scared of the surgeries. I know the pain will be great. I want more stable knees but I don't know if it will help reduce pain in the future as I had tears of the meniscuse in both knees as well. The surgeries may actually keep me from damaging my knees furthure in the future.
I know losing weight will help with my knees so I really need to get going on that. Maybe after the weight loss I will see if any improvement is happening. It can't hurt anyway.
Thanks again.