To reco or not to reco?

[Maggles]

Hi, I'm in the early stages of recovery from a major knee injury- torn medial and acl, torn miniscus and impact fractures to femur and tibia. At present in a hinged brace and seeing a great physio who is helping me with exercises while the medial heals. At the moment the aim is to allow the medial to heal and hopefully the meniscus.
The physio is recommending what he calls a conservative approach and tells me good stability can be gained without surgical repair of the acl. He says there are professional basketballers who play without an acl! I'm mid 40s and very active with young children, I want to get back to running and be as active as I can. His advice is to see how much stability we can regain in the knee and try to avoid surgery if I'm happy with the function. But I'm worried my knee will always be unstable if I don't have an acl and that if it gives way I'll end up doing more damage. I'd love to hear from anyone on your thoughts or experiences. Thanks
Maggie

[Audice]

FWIW, Maggies. I did some pretty heavy damage to my knee some 13 years ago at the age of 67. I was told at the time that I was "too old" for surgery. Your damage was more severe than mine but for 10 of those years after the injury I rode my horse daily. And now that I have back issues with referred pain into my left leg, my right leg minus its ACL is literally supporting my body. Granted I use a cane but my right leg is as stable as could be. I no longer worry about it giving way under me.
Wishing you well.

[Maggles]

Thanks so much for your reply, it's encouraging to hear you were able to recover to that extent without surgery. As my physio points out, surgery is more trauma to an already badly insulted knee, so if I can avoid it and still have an active lifestyle that would be a brilliant outcome. At present I'm smashing out the physio exercises in my giant brace and hoping for the best! Thanks again, it's good to hear others' experiences.
Maggie

[jackson7]

I agree knee surgery of any kind should be avoided if possible...but the lower stability of not having an acl (and your age...sorry) makes the knee much more susceptible meniscus tears. Guess it all comes down to your genes, what type/how much activity you plan on doing and whether you plan on wearing a brace at all times (although I think even acl recos usually wear a brace).

[Audice]

I have a custom Townsend brace I wore quite religiously that first year after the accident. But over time I honestly found I didn't need it, not for riding my horse or walking all my dogs. It's nice to know it's there but I'm happy not to have to depend on it.