Question - ACL Repair

by sarah
(san francisco)

I tore the ACL on my left knee years ago and had the patella (not sure the spelling sorry...) tendon surgery.

I recently tore my right ACL and I was wondering what your thoughts are about not going through the surgery and building the muscles around the knee instead.

Unfortunately I am quite active and do sports that require my knee to be strong and stable. Which is why I am leaning towards having the surgery (such as snow boarding, rock climbing and kite surfing.) Do you have any patients who have opted not to have surgery and have had great success?

Also I bruised the bones in my knee when the injury happened and it is very sore, do you have any specific thoughts regarding bone bruises? And what I can do for the pain?

I am a photographer and have to work physically, and besides the shooting days I have been completely resting it and icing and staying off it. Should I keep using crutches and completely rest it? Or is a little activity good each day? I have to wait a few weeks before surgery anyway to let the swelling go down, but I would love to hear your opinions.

Thank you for all of the stretches and information on your site. I am looking forward to hearing from you.
Thanks,
Sarah