Second time lucky?

by Ben Day
(Essex, UK)

I underwent ACL reconstruction following a football injury in 2008. I originally had an autograft - a part of my hamstring used for the actual new ligament. I trained hard to get back into shape strengthening the leg and began playing football again after about 10 months. However, the knee kept giving way. I went back to my surgeon who said I would need an arthroscopy to tidy matters up and do away with the constant swelling I was experiencing. 3 months later I went back to football again and again the knee consistently gave way.

My surgeon at this point kept telling me to give up contact sport, take up golf and long walks - quite disappointing for someone as active as me. I got a second and third opinion and the latter surgeon discovered that my knee had no stability at all - I may as well not have had the operation as it hadn't worked at all. I underwent another reconstruction last in 2010 and am two weeks into the recovery which I am hoping will be quicker this time as I had an allograft this time.

I am 34 and still want to play football and ski to a decent level - my original surgeon felt I was "over the hill" in sporting terms which is a very limited view of the world. My advice in this situation is to talk to other surgeons, talk to your physiotherapist and more importantly if it still doesn't feel right then keep going back to your surgeon even if you do feel like a pain in the arse.