Living without an ACL

CHEWY

Eats Squid
Anyone done it? Is it possible?
2 months ago I completely tore my left ACL on the dirtbike. It was a total non event, I caught my foot on something and my knee just popped.
I've eased back into mtb riding, and am now pretty much back to being able to go my normal pace.
My knee feels pretty much fine.
However I've haven't had to put my foot down to save myself or had any stacks (I normally crash a lot).
My theory is my knee is actually pretty strong due to amount of mtb riding I've done over the last 3-4 years.
I'm waiting to go see the surgeon to see what they say.
I really don't want to have to take 6+ months off being active, but don't want to be limited in what activities I do in the future.
What say ye?
 

Mattyp

Cows go boing
Yeah...I tore mine on the moto 10+ years ago... Occasionally I will dislocate my knee slightly, most recently was while reaching out whilst on a ladder painting, that was fun. Have never had an issue on the MTB.
 

rockmoose

his flabber is totally gastered
I don't know, but very interested to hear from anyone with real knowledge.

I snapped two ligaments in my ankle many years ago, and have managed fine without them. Much rehab and strengthening allowed all the other bits to cover for what was gone.
 

ozzybmx

taking a shit with my boobs out
You Moto blokes... I rode dirt bikes for a few years but mostly on sand, it was a soft fall... its not a soft fall in Australia, dry and hard here.

The local news paper in NI reported a rogue dirt bike rider tearing up gravel and dirt paths and named me the 'Green flash'... Kwaker 250 2-stroke.

I swapped to a KTM after that, then sold it to fund a holiday to Ibiza. Never bought another one.
 

fjohn860

Alice in diaperland
I've had a dodgy left knee since my mid teens. Much like @Mattyp occasionally it kind of semi dislocates.

If I ride a pushy regularly (for me 1-2 a week) it is fine. I know when I've been off the bike for a while as the semi dislocations are a bit more frequent.
 

CHEWY

Eats Squid
Yeah...I tore mine on the moto 10+ years ago... Occasionally I will dislocate my knee slightly, most recently was while reaching out whilst on a ladder painting, that was fun. Have never had an issue on the MTB.
Still riding the moto?
 

Mattyp

Cows go boing
Still riding the moto?
Not enough for the last couple of years, but still rode heaps after the injury. Occasionally I'll drag it out if some mates are organizing a ride somewhere..but find it easier just to go out on the MTB these days, moto is always too much of a mission.
Got some pod kneebraces Ive been wearing since, tbh I'm not 100% sure theyd do much if I did the same thing again, but at least it feels like I'm doing something to protect it.
 

caad9

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Don’t have one in my left leg, did an ACL & MCL playing football at 24. Did 8 weeks in a brace for the MCL and then eased back into it. Surgeon suggested surgery was a good idea but mostly if I wanted to get back playing footy or sports where changes of direction were required. I was pretty burnt out by then so I was happy to walk away from that and not do 12 months of recovery.

It also reignited my riding, went pretty keen on XC racing and a bit of enduro after this for a many years - 10-15 hours of riding a week. Was a bit tentative to begin with, mostly because of the instinctive leg out falling.

Kids have slowed me down but I still try to do 3-4 hours a week of riding/running (I’m 37 now)

In hindsight, it probably hasn’t affected me at all, although I probably nursed it subconsciously for the first 18 months or so.
 

nzhumpy

Googlemeister who likes bikes and scandal
I don't know, but very interested to hear from anyone with real knowledge.

I snapped two ligaments in my ankle many years ago, and have managed fine without them. Much rehab and strengthening allowed all the other bits to cover for what was gone.
Not the ACL but same as RM, I also did two ligaments in my ankle the very start of the rugby season many moons ago, Physio said sort it out now or it will go before the season is done...I didn't listen ( young and stupid) as I was selected for higher honours ...sure enough second game of rep it went pop and I ended up with fractured tibia & fibia in a slightly awkward tackle, many plates and screws later all is good and the whole lot was cleaned up by the Ortho. The only positive was it got me out of marking Jonah or Joeli the following week.

TL/DR, take on the advise the the experts give out, they really do have your best interest at heart.
 
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rockmoose

his flabber is totally gastered
Not so much the ACL but to answer your Q, I did two ligaments at the very start of the rugby season many moons ago, Physio said sort it out now or it will go before the season is done...I didn't listen as I was selected for higher honours (and young and stupid) ...sure enough second game of rep it went pop and I ended up with fractured tibia & fibia in a slightly awkward tackle, many plates and screws later all is good and the whole lot was cleaned up by the Ortho. The only positive was it got me out of marking Jonah or Joeli the following week.

TL/DR, take on the advise the the experts give out, they really do have your best interest at heart.
I got to see Jonah trampling quite a few players live. If, for some unknown reason, I was slated to line up in opposition to him, I reckon I would have gladly broken my own leg to miss it.
 

dazz

Downhill Dazz
Also not ACL, but lived with a ruptured PCL and stuffed meniscus for ~10yrs. Was fine if I kept it straight and supporting muscles switched on to keep it in place, but was horribly unstable when relaxed and would just collapse under me the second I tried to turn the wrong way on it.

Eventually had PCL fixed using harvested hamstring but meniscus couldn't be saved.

Knee's now good but slipped during recovery and tore up the hammy pretty bad. It's been maybe 50% ever since.

I say get it fixed. Although, definitely do your research when picking a surgeon.
 

Staunch

Eats Squid
I don't know, but very interested to hear from anyone with real knowledge.
If it's an isolated ACL injury (no major meniscal or MCL involvement), outcomes from surgical vs non-surgical management are the same at the 2 year mark for the general population (non-elite athletes). Multiple studies have been done on this over the past 10 or so years.

Either way, you have to do the same rehab.

If you try non-surgical mangement, and have episodes of true knee instability/buckling, and then get an ACLR later down the track, you still have the same outcomes as someone who had an immediate ACLR at the 2 year mark port-injury. Delayed surgery is not a negative (again, as long as you've been doing the rehab).

Australia, along with most other major Western countries, is very trigger-happy when it comes to surgeries as it's been somewhat engrained in the culture through seeing all the AFL/NRL/various other sporting stars constantly having it done. Also, surgeons generally want to do surgery. No big surprises there.

I have a few colleagues who still compete in social sport (basketball, athletics, footy) with no ACLs and manage completely fine. Cycling is much less stressful on the knee than sports with a lot of change of direct (unless you rag-doll yourself down the side of a mountain) so if that's your primary goal, it's very doable.
 

beezlbub

Likes Dirt
I had a ACL reconstruction almost exactly 2yrs ago, following total rupture of it and near-total rupture of MCL after an I’ll-fated soccer comeback after many years (don’t ask me how many minutes I lasted in the first game, it was barely past single digits..).

I did a shit tonne of research (both legit sources and less so) and agree totally with Staunch’s comments above. For me the decision for surgery came down to the fact I had the MCL involvement (and based on scans was thought I had meniscus tears too, surgeon found they not to the the case once inside) and that while my days of agility-based sports are over, I wanted to be able to run around at the park with the kids, kick the soccer ball, jump off stuff etc without worrying about some sort of blow up. I have a friend who didn’t have surgery and he has problems with all these sorts of little things…

Regardless if you go surgery or not be prepared that the rehab is looooong (12 months+ for us mere mortals), often very tedious/boring and the progress can feel slow - there’s unfortunately no way around that - but at the end you’ll be back doing stuff you enjoy and will have a strong stable knee that you trust. Re you comment about being inactive for 6month, you will find there’s more and more you can do each week (along with rehab). I was back in the trainer few weeks after surgery and doing decent trainer workouts within 6-8 weeks, on the roadie at 3ish months, on the mtb at about 6 months - I reckon it took 12 months before I could ride with the same confidence as pre-injury tho.

I would highly recommend you go find a physio who specializes in ACL rehab - all physio’s know the general rehab protocol, but I found that having someone more switched on will help should things not be going quite to plan. This will be easy if you’re in a big city, harder if you’re regional.

Either way good luck mate, it’s a shit of a thing but the fact your knee is feeling pretty good already (without target rehab it sound?) is certainly a good sign.
 

silentbutdeadly

has some good things to say
Anyone done it? Is it possible?
2 months ago I completely tore my left ACL on the dirtbike. It was a total non event, I caught my foot on something and my knee just popped.
I've eased back into mtb riding, and am now pretty much back to being able to go my normal pace.
My knee feels pretty much fine.
However I've haven't had to put my foot down to save myself or had any stacks (I normally crash a lot).
My theory is my knee is actually pretty strong due to amount of mtb riding I've done over the last 3-4 years.
I'm waiting to go see the surgeon to see what they say.
I really don't want to have to take 6+ months off being active, but don't want to be limited in what activities I do in the future.
What say ye?
Demolished my right ACL a couple of years ago. The ortho surgeon said that given my age and my chosen activities that there wasn't much to be gained from replacing it compared to getting fit again and sending it. Whilst I was sceptical, I did what the physio told me to do and...things are going really well. Despite the odd up and down...
 
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