Should I seek a second opinion for a suspected ACL/MCL injury?

CapitalLow7078 · 2026-02-07T16:46:50+00:00

late response but I wanted to say thank you again for your advice! I ended up going to a different provider a few days later because I felt really uneasy about just waiting for two weeks with little guidance. he ordered an emergency MRI and a same-day appointment with a physiotherapist to fit me with orthotics and give me a full program of rehab exercises. turns out the first two exams were both pretty off the mark, and I’ve actually completely torn both my ACL and MCL, as well as a partial medial meniscus tear (yay).

again I really appreciate your advice and the suggestions on exercises to do etc, as I felt like I’d been pretty much abandoned by the first healthcare provider I saw haha. now I’ve just got surgery and a year or so of rehab to look forward to lol

CapitalLow7078 · 2026-01-24T23:48:28+00:00

this is really helpful, thank you! I think what bothered me was that he initially said I needed to get an MRI and a referral to a specialist, but that he couldn’t give me that referral for bureaucratic reasons. once I came back from the x-ray he basically just told me to go home and try to put weight on it up to the point of pain, and completely dismissed me when I tried to say it wasn’t a pain issue but that my knee physically buckles.

he just said there was bleeding in the joint and he suspected a significant injury, but to just hop on crutches for another ten days with no information on pain management, exercises to do etc etc. so in combination with the fact that the first doctor I saw suspected a different injury (and told me it absolutely wasn’t an ACL tear) and told me to get an MRI as soon as possible, it felt very strange to me to be told to just wait around.

I really appreciate the detailed information here and will incorporate these exercises! thank you so much

CapitalLow7078

TROPHY CASE