These videos may feel painful even to watch. It shows athletes actually tearing their ACLs on camera- examples of how this typically occurs in a sports.
Tennis ACL Tear
Football ACL Tear
Soccer ACL Tear
Basketball ACL Tear
Wrestling ACL Tear
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My 17 year old son tore his ACL in April of 2008 playing soccer. He had the Patellar graft recon. done. He did the rehab for 6 months was released and went back to playing soccer. Three games in, he tore it again, same knee. Obviously he was devastated. The second recon, the surgeon did the hamstring graft with an additional belt procedure on the MCL to tighten it up more. Apparently the MCL stretched as a result of the first injury. He is still rehabing, so not sure what the outcome will be. My son may not play again because he is afraid of tearing it again. The surgeon says this procedure will be strong than the first one, just a more invasive procedure, that is why the hamstring graft is not done as much. Hope this helps.
Hamstring repairs which used to be popular are receiving a resurgence in popularity in the past couple years. This graft involves harvesting tendons which come down the leg on the inner side of the knee, then once again channeling them through drill holes in the tibia, across the knee, and then fixed into the femur. This source of graft material had lost its popularity for some time due to perceived weakness compared to the patellar tendon repairs. However, newer techniques involving the way the graft is doubled or even quadrupled over itself and then fixed in different ways have its proponents showing biomechanical evidence of suitable strength. With the issue of suitable strength set aside, proponents feel that this repair technique offers advantages related to quicken rehab time since the patella and tendon have not been interfered with to obtain a graft material.
I have had both hamstring and patellar grafts done.
I tore my right ACL while playing high school soccer when i was 16 and had a patellar tendon graft along with medial collateral ligament repair, medial and lateral meniscus repairs. I still have pain in my right knee when i squat and sometimes when im running. The rehad was awful and i was in pain for at least 3 weeks post op.
I am currently now 2 weeks post op from my second ACL reconstruction. I am now 25 and tore my left ACL and lateral meniscus while playing soccer. This time I had a hamstring graft. The post op pain was minimal compared to the last surgery and my rehad is going much smoother. I can almost put full weight on my knee without any pain. I still have to take it easy and slow because the down side to the hamstring is it takes longer to heal and be secure. The patellar graft is secured with bone grafts and screws which are alot more painful but are said to heal faster.
The swelling and bruising from the hamstring was nothing compared to what I experienced with the patellar graft. My first ACL reconstruction my leg swelled to 3 times its size and my entire knee and half my lower leg and upper leg were bruised heavily. This time around i have very little bruising and swelling so that is really helping with my extension and flexion. I had full extension 1 week post op. Im still working on the full flexion. Im at about 120 degrees and my knee was at 130 pre-op.
I have read that the hamstring graft is not as strong, i have not yet been able to test that but im not a competitive soccer player anymore so it doesn’t matter much to me anymore. I can say that after my first surgery i was never able to play soccer as well again. I had scholarships lined up to play in college but after high school i stopped playing competitively.
Scaring- Patellar graft I have about a 5 inch scar down the center of my knee. the scar for the hamstring is about an inch and a half long. My left knee (2 weeks post op) already looks better than my right knee ever did.
If i ever had to do it again (which i pray i don’t because its the most painful surgery i have ever experienced, twice, and i have had my fair share of surgeries) I would do the hamstring graft again hands down!
im 16 and currently play competitive soccer ALL THE TIME. I had made the decision to want to play in college and have already started communicating with college coaches. Just from experience, if you had wanted to continuing playing soccer, would you have gotten the hamstring for your first surgery instead? Mind you our situations may be a tad different because i just tore my acl and nothing else.
It’s so great to see so many contributors to this site!
Well, I partially tore my left ACL on 4/26/10 jumping up and down at a pep rally (I’m a cheerleader). I had surgery a little over a week later with a surgeon who specializes in ACL reconstructions on athletes, which I found extremely comforting, using my hamstring graft. The first couple of days post-op, my hamstring really hurt, especially when applying pressure to it.
Now, at almost five weeks post-op, I have no more hamstring pain! It’s so great, I’m even back to doing the normal sitting static stretches my cheer squad does with no pain. I may not be able to jump or stunt with them for football season, but come November, I’ll be back and ready to go for basketball season and tryouts!
As far as choosing between a patellar or hamstring graft, I’m probably not the best person to give their input. But for me, my hamstring graft seems to be holding up well. I can walk, bike, do mini-squats and other exercises with minimal discomfort.
Regardless of the graft choice, just remember to do your therapy and wear your brace! Those are two things I’m sure all of us can agree that will really get us back to doing what we love.
Keep positive and don’t let yourself get discouraged with this injury! The first couple of weeks are the hardest and most painful, but remember: be patient – things can only go up from here!
Best of luck to all with your ACL injuries/surgeries/rehab!
im 22 yrs old,had acl surgery may 28th.i dislocated my knee,sprain my mcl and had a bone bruse april 4 2010 playn basketball.my 2nd post op in few days and my knee is very numb were he cut me.my thigh muscles are fairly weak and iam still on cructhes. my doc doesnt want me to tear my new acl with any weird movements so im walkn with the don joy brace on but sleeping with it off feels a bit scary at times becuse it feels like my knee is still loose(jus in my mind).i realy dont have any pain after the 3rd day of surgery the only discoovert i have is sittn for a long time then standing up all the blood rushes dwn my leg.i start rehab next week so i guess i will have fun with that.
hiii i m 17…i recently gone for acl surgery(patellar graft),,,i want to knw, how much time does i take to bend the knee till 140 degree(prone bending)…
Unfortunately, I didn’t do any research prior to my ACL reconstructive surgery in Oct/2009. I tore my left ACL in Feb/2009 playing ultimate frisbee and met with a surgeon shortly afterwards. He recommended a patellar graft. I immediately felt comfortable with him so I never questioned his recommendation or considered the hamstring alternative. He assured me I’d be ‘as good as new’ following surgery and I never doubted him.
Following surgery, I was walking without crutches within weeks and had full range of motion within the first month. After three months I was running and after four months I was playing ultimate frisbee again (albeit, at a very diminished pace). Of course, I re-habbed very aggressively so my results won’t apply to everyone. What I did experience that seems to be typical of the patella graft method is moderate anterior knee pain and reduced quadricep strength. Also, fluid tends to build-up in my knee following intense activity but, aside from giving the appearance of swelling, doesn’t cause any pain or pose any problems (my surgeon attributes the fluid to ruptured scar tissue and has offered to remove it arthroscopically at my discretion).
All of the above issues will lessen overtime as my knee continues to heal and regain strength. The bottom lines is you need to find a surgeon that you trust and a method that suits your lifestyle and level of activity. I was an extremely active 28-year-old male when I tore my ACL and now, in June/2010, I’m an extremely active 29-year-old male only 8 months removed from surgery. My patella graft is extrememly strong and has allowed me to return to sports quickly and efficiently.
My daugher is 15 years old. 2 weeks ago completely tore her left ACL and a tear in her meniscus playing basketball. All it took was a jump stop and down she went. We were first told it was a dislocated knee cap, boy were they wrong. She is scheduled for surgery July 2nd and we are also torn between the Patella vs. Hamstring. The information I am researching is telling us we should go with the hamstring. A co-worker of mine had the patella done about 2 years ago and always has pain when kneeling and feels a constant tightness in his knee and still has a slight limp. I have heard that you will regain 90-95% strength back with the hamstring and that no one really uses a 100% anyway, so that loss is not that significant. For recovery time, we were told that between 3-4 months she would be able to jog/run, at 6 months practice and at 8 months play in a game, 10-12 months for full recovery.
Ouch, indeed. I wish I had a video of my ACL tear. It may not have looked like much to anyone else, but it was a weird combination of things, angle, slope of grass, poor fitting shoes, landing on one foot, then snap, tore the ACL. I caught a frisbee then just landed wrong. So random.
I tore my ACL + meniscus in my right knee (right footed) playing soccer in 2003. I had surgery and used a donor tendon as a graft. I’d really recommend it, because it makes recovery a lot less painful (no harvesting from patella or hamstring). I used my crutches for less than a day and was able to put weight on that leg immediately after surgery. I tore the ACL and menisci again 7 years later and am now in my final stage of recovery. Not sure if I will go back to playing though. Again, a donor graft was used during surgery. Second tear pas partly caused (I think) because after a year of not doing anything I went back to playing competitive games in over 100 degree weather without training up the muscles around the knee first (tore it 2nd game). Stupid and my own fault. I guess I got complacent after not having had any trouble or pain in my knee during all those years. Anyway, I think donor graft is the way to go. Good luck all!
Hello, I am 20 years old and currently about 6 months post ACL surgery. I got the allograft and I’m curious to know from anyone with more knowledge than I about the recovery process. I stepped on my skateboard a tad early and my doctor said I have loosened up my allographt. He said it isn’t tore but that it will always be stretched out. With proper exercise and rehab i should still be able to skate right? Does my knee still have a chance to heal? Although the graft may have loosened it doesn’t mean it won’t, heal right? Someone please let me know what you think, time keeps passing way too slow…