Getting an ACL injury is very serious.
Most people think that the swelling or pain associate with an ACL tear is just a normal thing for injuring the knee and it will go away with time, but the fact is that the injury will not go away without repair and can cause even more serious damage to the knee.
The surgery to repair a torn ACL is pretty standard and basic, but if you keep going on a knee with a damaged ACL, the damage and surgeries required to fix it could become very extensive.
ACL injury repair surgery is an outpatient procedure that is done in the morning.
The way that the surgeon will repair the ACL is pretty simple: they will get rid of any lingering ligament on your knee and replace it with muscle tissue from another part of your knee.
The doctor will make sure the replacement tissue is stable and then close the incision site. You will usually be home by the afternoon and will start your recovery process pretty soon thereafter.
The time for recovery from an ACL injury will vary depending on your case, but usually runs from four to six months.
ACL Injury Road To Recovery
Recovery can last as long as nine months for athletes or those who do not progress as well as they should have. You will start out with small exercises and goals and work your way up to full activity by the end of your recovery regimen that the physical therapist prescribes for you.
Every case is different though, so you need to be sure to follow the therapist’s instructions to the letter in order to recover from your ACL surgery properly.
After your recovery, it is important to not re-injure the ACL. If you are an athlete, however, this can be easier said than done.
The main way to prevent a recurrent ACL injury is to make sure you are 100% recovered before going back to full activity.
You may think that you are fully recovered just because you no longer feel pain with certain movements, but you need to get the all clear from your doctor and physical therapist before going back to all of the activities that you previously enjoyed – especially if you participate in contact sports.
Not doing so will put you at risk for re-injury or even doing more damage to your knee than you had done previously.