Can you still play football at same level after ACL surgery

[Jacob Severson]

At first I thought that I had a cartiledge tear in my knee, unfortunatly after seeing a specialist he informed me that I do have that plus a partial tear in my ACL. So I am out for the season, Which is my last year of eligibility for Junior College. I plan on going to a university in LA to play next fall. My question is would my knee be back in time for the season? Will it be as solid and good as it was before? When can I start running on it after surgery? Basically what are my options?

[mechman]

the bad side of this is that i had a torn anterior cruciate ligament in 1985 to date i have had 7 arthroscopies and 1 reconstruction and 1 total removal and have spent the last 7 years in a full leg brace i am now awaiting total knee replacement
times have changed i hope you get better luck than i had
best wishes for the future
 

[Ferris]

I don't know about the football aspect of the question as its not my sport but I do know that you can return to a normal life including sport sfter an acl reconstruction.  InSeptember I am going back to full training for rowing which is 6 days a week, including weight training, running, rowing machine, circuit training and two outings each day at the weekends on the water.  At the moment, I have been doing a reduced version of that as its hard to train to that intensity on my own and also I thought that it was safer (and kinder on my knee) to build it up gradully so that I could see what my knee did and didn't like.  i still get the occasional ache if I overdo things and so I then ease down on the activity (or have a day off training) for a day or two to let things rest and then I resume activity.  You  have to learn to listen to your knee so to speak and if in doubt don't train on a day it is complaining.  Some people do suffer complications like the person above but others including myself don't.

Rachel

[Jacob Severson]

Thanx for your replies. Mechman I think you have had problems becasue it was in 85. Man they hardly knew anything about ACL surgery back then. I am sorry bout your knee though dude I hope that doesnt happen to me. I hope there are some football players out there who have had the surgery, I would like to hear how it went for them when they returned to the game

[momof4]

Yeah--you can still play, but I don't know how soon.  My sister had both ACLs done--1 year apart & is now playing professional football (Go Dallas Diamons!)--she's older than you & just worked really hard through her rehab.

Good luck--you can surely do as well as she has!

Pamela

[cuba]

hey man... i coach football for a high school in v.a and plan to move to virgina tech to coach....... well man let me tell you... you can get back, but work hard. see it has to be your passion and you have to come out working harder then ever before. when you have a problom in the knees you have to look at the position you play. i wish i could tell you more about how hard it is going to be but i don't know what pos. you play. i do have to tell you , you are aways looked down upon because of you acl tear............ you are a big risk for any team even a high school team where you may never get off the bence..... man but you can do it, the way to sucess is hard work and when you do come back, show your ass, play harder then anyone on the team if not look for another hobby.......... if it is not a hobby and your serious... well i may be your coach one day. good luck..... any more q write on this page i'll look you up......

[cuba]

hey man whats up