Hi guys,

I had an MRI to my left knee yesterday, and I got the bad news that my anterior cruciate ligament is broken. That sadly means surgey and a really long rehab, but at least I'm told I should be as good as new at the end of it.

I was wondering if some of you had the same surgery, or know people who had it, and have some advice you can give me. Especially on the surgery itself, e.g. out of what the ligament was rebuilt. And if you can tell me about your (or your aquaintances's) experiences: how long did it take to fully recover? Has the knee really gone back to normal?

 

Thanks a lot in advance.

Hey man.

 

Sorry to hear about your knee - ACL injuries sound like the worst.

 

I have never had this injury, but have seen plenty of them in rugby, so I will tell you what I know.

 

It takes about 6 months for a rugby player to get back to playing. They can start walking and running a lot earlier than this, and using weights as well. In all though, it takes about 6 months for it to fully strengthen back to normal. You will have to work back up to your max weights, and probably do quite a bit of body weight stuff to strengthen the ligament.

 

Once it has had enough time to rest and recover, it should be as strong as it ever was. However, it does potentially mean you have a higher chance of suffering the same injury again. I would say just make sure you do everything your doctor tells you, and don't do anything that might put too much stress on your knee.

 

Jordan

Hi Jordan,

thanks a lot for your advice! I broke my ligament while doing Taekwondo, that is preatty demanding for the knees, therfore I will probably wait some months more to go back to it, lets say about 9 months or something. And anyway I will check it with the doctor first.

 

The problem is, I didn't break it because I was hit on the knee, but just when after running backwards I tryed to quickly invert my running direction. Therefore, there is some problem at the root of it, it's not just bad luck. I need to understand what the problem is and solve it, before going back to Taekwondo or other stressful activities. I think the problem is that I often land too much on my heel, because of the weak muscles I have under the feet (which I've been partially cured for, but not completely). I will discuss it with my doctro and fisiotherapist.

 

Thanks again Jordan, keep up with your really good contributions to this forum and website!

 

Leslie