[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by Redliner

Timely thread.
I tore my ACL skiing at the end of January. The ER referred me to the Acute Knee Injury Clinic at the U of C, and I saw them for an initial assessment in early February. They informed me that I had a fully torn ACL and likely had damaged the meniscus, and referred me to a surgeon. I was extremely lucky to get in to see the surgeon very quickly, and he agreed that the ACL was fully torn but did not book me for surgery right away as my knee was still swollen and I had some range of motion issues. He did send me for an MRI, as he was concerned that I had torn cartilage or some other mechanical blockage. Not wanting to wait for up to 6 months for an MRI, I paid to have one done privately and went back to see the surgeon two weeks later. After reviewing the MRI he informed my that my ACL is only partially torn, and referred me for physio. This is where things (to me anyway) became less clear. Apparently with this injury a partial tear is actually worse than a full tear. Not because it is a more severe injury, but because it introduces a lot on uncertainty as to how best to treat it. If left uncorrected, it can create a situation where the joint is strong enough to feel "normal" but not necessarily strong enough to hold up to certain activities. In those cases it may give out suddenly and unexpectedly, often causing more damage to the joint in the process. On the other hand, surgery is not a silver bullet either, as besides the regular risk of complications or potential graft failure, there is a possibility that the "new" ligament may only become as strong as the damaged one the surgeon would have to remove as part of the reconstruction.
At this point I'm not sure what to do. I was leaning towards having the surgery but with the COVID situation cancelling all elective surgeries for the next while, I guess I have time to think about it. I did have the surgeon write me a prescription for a knee brace and will be trying that to get me through the summer and see how things feel.
To be clear, I am very active and enjoy playing tennis as well as climbing and scrambling - pastimes in which sure footing and stability are literally a matter of life and death. I also race DH mountain bikes and am concerned about the risk of having to plant a foot in difficult terrain or having a high speed crash which could damage the joint either through twisting or impact. I would be curious to know what peoples' experiences have been with not having the surgery and just getting by with the brace, and whether they feel that they ever really get back to 100% or if the limitations of the "bad" knee require a major change in lifestyle.

Just a heads up for climbing and scrambling, I had no real issues sport climbing with a torn ACL but bouldering was a full no go. I was still leading 5.11c/d outdoor with a torn ACL. My climbing has come down a bit after the surgery but that's mostly because I'm just not climbing as much to keep skills up. You can always hangboard basically the entire time though haha. i also did multi day backpack trips before surgery and the Rockwall trail around 8 months post-op.