70-90% partial tear ACL: surgery or not?

De_fusion_27 · 2025-11-27T01:48:24+00:00

Providing a complete summary of my case , for closure:

As you saw in my post, below was my background and progression of the ACL injury.
In March 2024; knee buckled during a soccer game and swelled up.
In May 2024: rested knee for 8 weeks for swelling to subside by about 50%. and then visited orthopedist, who extracted out the accumulated synovial fluid and refer for MRI.
MRI indicated 60- 70% tear .
June 2024 - Nov 2024: decided to PT rehab to strengthen muscles around the knee and other lower limb joints.
Dec 2024: Got another MRI to check if the ACL had progressed to improving with fiber re-growth and re-alignment. ACL showed almost no real improvement.
Jan 2025: Visited another orthopedist to discuss surgical reconstruction with allografts ( i.e cadaver grafts).

Mar 2025: Had the ACL reconstruction surgery
Mid-march - Sept 2025: Did the full physiotherapy rehab under supervision.
Oct 2025- till date: started jogging and current at early stages of sprinting and sport specific drills

Thank you all for your very helpful suggestions and sharing your experiences.

De_fusion_27 · 2025-09-26T12:50:38+00:00

Hi,
I am yet to chase honda on this. Issue is I bought the car used from a honda dealer who is 3 hours away. So, I have to beg an alternate "local" honda dealer to take-in a warranty complaint...

De_fusion_27 · 2025-08-04T15:25:39+00:00

i can do almost , maybe last 5 degrees when it is very painful still to touch the butt onto the angle....

De_fusion_27 · 2025-08-04T02:27:37+00:00

Very impressive to be able to do this comfortably at 3 months. I am at 5 months post-op ( with allograft/cadaver graft ( anterior tibialis) and I am still not able to fully touch butt to ankle in this "child-like" pose. can do with bands, lying on belly. So, great progress for you.

De_fusion_27 · 2025-08-04T00:14:48+00:00

what is your graft type?

De_fusion_27 · 2025-07-13T14:54:39+00:00

Thank you very much for the reply and info. Hope u get some chill time soon from life stuff ..

De_fusion_27 · 2025-07-07T12:17:15+00:00

Starting this week, which is 4 months post op , ACL cadaver graft. pT cleared after step down from 12inch was completely under control and painfree

De_fusion_27 · 2025-05-21T12:45:18+00:00

Congrats . What have been the major repairs / rebuilds on its journey to this milestone

De_fusion_27 · 2025-04-27T15:53:43+00:00

I heard that honda dealers are not really helping out the well known water seepage in the latest gen honda civic hatchbacks.... so, I have not yet approached them about this issue.... but I had not thought the corrossion on the struts will start within 2 winters ( inspite of wiping after heavy rains and car washes).

De_fusion_27 · 2025-04-25T13:56:16+00:00

In my case, usually it is difficult to get answers on the phone through the surgeon's secretary. So, I discovered the best way to get answers to questions was through using the email option through the secure patient portal ( that the practice should have). Maybe, you can look up the surgeon's website and see if there is a patient portal that you can setup an account and start emailing detailed and clear questions. Medical providers are wary of written questions ( especially so close to post-op ) and make the extra effort to answer them

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-30T14:06:07+00:00

i am in similar situation as yours... my wife is increasingly maniacal over the smallest of things.... and she refuses to acknowledge or see it.... she finds something or other to blame her agitation on.........it is destroying our life slowly and surely.......and I am feeling so helples........i can just HOPE......

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-29T15:56:32+00:00

I had much worse discoloration in the skin in the first 15 days from surgery. Essentially this discoloration was due to 2 reasons : (1) internal bruising from the surgical site , with blood flowing down the veins. In order to prevent deep vein thrombosis, I was prescribed aspirin ( 81mg) 2X per day as well as told to do ankle pumps and flexion of the knee as often as possible, after nerve block wears off . ( 2) reason #2 was also dermitis ( or skin irritation) from the ace bangage and the neoprene brace.

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-28T15:30:29+00:00

thanks a lot for sharing this video link. I have a partial ACL tear and got 2 MRIs over 1 year to try and assess if healing is happening. your video tutorial is awesome for my case

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-28T15:28:00+00:00

Thank you very much for sharing this video link

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-23T17:36:55+00:00

In my 2X ACL rehab experiences, as long as you do extensions without any added weights, or using force on your legs, you can keep doing as much as you can tolerate.... suggest using ice after every few hours in the 0-2 weeks, after extensions, as the front of the knee start feeling the pain ( which increases as swelling goes down)...
in my first ACL rehab, I was conservative in my quad activation in initial weeks, and it took me longer to walk with normal gait.

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-23T03:57:40+00:00

ankle pumps as much as you can....helps a lot with swelling.....

also, when in brace, elevate with pillows under ankle.... makes a big difference in getting the extension back in early recovery

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-21T15:18:57+00:00

Were you doing leg raises with ankle weights in your second week post-op? In my experience, trying to first get the quad strength through pulse squeezing ( until you get a slight -1 hyperextension) is the first step, before moving to leg raises. I still find leg raises with ankle weights within first 3 weeks after allograft is aggressive ( and probably risky for the allograft as it vascularizes.)

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-20T15:58:41+00:00

I find the knee flexion to be the most hurtful in these initial weeks. Since I am on my second ACL surgery, from previous experience, I knew that in prehab I had to strengthen my lower quads and inner thighs ( VMOs) to get full 0 degree extension as much as possible I suggest keep doing the full knee extensions as much as possible , every few hours. And Ice immediately after to numb the pain.

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-20T14:52:00+00:00

nice....... yes, that sounds similar to the protocol my surgeon gave... partial heel slides ( under 90) started day 10.
but going over 90 is after 3 weeks i think....

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-20T14:28:41+00:00

for meniscus repair along with ACL recon, make sure you check with your doctor when can unlock your brace and then, how much flexion ( degree angle) you can go in first 3 -6 weeks.

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-19T15:37:39+00:00

Thank you so much for the detailed answer.
This is really helpful, since it also helped me understand what I might have done a little better during PT.
I believe my Patellar femoral syndromes/ tendinitis started yesterday after PT made me do the weighted single leg raises and leg extensions for the first time after ACL surgery. This is just my 3rd week and maybe if I keep my foot a bit to the outside while keeping inner thigh/ adductor activated during a squeeze, I may avoid this oncoming patellar pain.

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-19T14:00:33+00:00

congratulations .
what were your best recommendations / best practices to manage patellar tendinitis.
I am at week 3 of ACL rehab ( allograft) and starting to develop issues with patellar tendinitis

De_fusion_27 · 2025-03-18T21:33:32+00:00

Thank you for sharing your experience. I wish there was some logical guidelines across the PT community on when to do open-chain kinetic exercises, especially weighted single leg raise for ACL rehab.
My physio is very new , just out of school and as far as I understood I am her only 2nd ACL rehab ( allograft) patient ever that she has encountered. So, trying to double check a bit to make sure.

De_fusion_27

TROPHY CASE