As title my daughter fell of and has ruptured her acl to the left knee. Doesn't want surgery because invasive and I am asking if anyone else has had this injury and successful rehab without surgery
It depends on the severity of the rupture. A minor tear can avoid surgery but complete severing of the ACL will require surgical repair.
This is from various friends, and my own experiences, but a helpful orthopaedic surgeon may have better information for you.
I did my ACL last year, it was a tear but not a full thickness tear.
I had physio for it and am back to normal.
the operation is more successful if you have a strong knee so the specialist i talked to said they would always do physio before the operation anyway
I didnt have the operation and it was 6 months before i was riding again But part of that was a lame pony.
I still occasionally feel that knee is less stable, particularly when i go skiing or put a lot of pressure on it.
i think if i wanted to do serious skiing or take up netball again then I’d need the operation.
I had quite a severe partial rupture when I was 60 as a result of a skiing accident. I did a lot of work with a physio before going in for surgery but tbh at the last minute I bottled it and asked them not to do a full repair with a harvested tendon unless there was no alternative. My surgeon said it was very touch and go but they didn't do the full repair but said I may have to have it done at some point. I continued to have loads of physio to build up the supporting structure of the knee but the bottom line is I can no longer play tennis or ski. The knee isn't stable enough but as I'm now in my 70's I can live with it. I would take the advice of your surgeon, your daughter is young and deserves the best outcome that is possible even if it means a fairly long rehab after invasive surgery.
I completely tore my ACL and MCL with a few fractures at back of knee for good measure in aug 2018. I couldn't weight bare for about weeks and took a while to be able to walk without crutches even with a full leg brace. I rode again in Dec that year but only in walk and TBH even now am not quite back up to normal.
I absolutely religiously stuck to the physio prescribed and did miles of 'swim walking' followed by the gym but once I could ride a bit again (Feb 2019) I gave it all up
I didn't have surgery in the end as knee stabilised its self enough not to need it. I've since had another MRI on it and the two end have stuck them selves back down to bits of bone and are doing a good enough job so am very glad about that.
So yes it is possible but I'm aware am very very lucky, I'd say she need to do everything by the book, rest and ice to start then follow the physio religiously. I actually went private for the whole thing as the accident took place in a different NHS trust and would have taken ages to get re-referred to my local one. It wasn't too bad price wise, MRIs were about 600, 120 per visit to surgeon and 50/60 per physio session
I tore my acl and medial meniscus a few years ago.
I needed an op for the meniscus as I wasn't able to bend my knee without removing the damaged tissue. We discussed an acl replacement but I decided not to go ahead as it would have meant a minimum of 9 months rehab and not riding. By the time I had the op for the meniscus it was nearly 6 months delay during which I had physio. When the surgeon went in, he said the acl had reattached and was healing reasonably well.
There are things it wouldn't stand up to. If I played alot of sports, I would have needed the op but it's fine for horse riding, yoga/pilates, lots of walking and occasionally running for the bus. It wouldn't stand up to sports that include running and jumping and turning. However the op is only 50/50 and it can be a career ending injury for some sports people
I tore my ACL quite badly skiiing. One thing and another (long NHS waiting list, then my surgeon left NHS the week before my surgery was booked, back to the bottom of the waiting list for another surgeon), it was 18 months before I saw the new surgeon. By that time it had repaired itself quite well and my knee was reasonably stable. Scan after 18 months showed scarring but ACL looked good enough not to operate. I'm NOT recommending this, but I did no physio, strapped my knee up, carried on riding from week 2 and looked after my 4 horses mid-winter. Not going to ski again though.
My daughter is covered by private health through her work place so will use it.Currently working on straightening her leg and using the Arc equine unit which can't do any harm a lot of the eventers use it on themselves.
I carried on rding while waiting for the op. I had just had my horses back medicated and had a window to work and build up muscle.
I was NHS but the surgeon was a top sports injury specialist who did a day a week for the NHS. He also knew about horse riding and riders as his wife rode. We negotiated that I would carry on riding but no rising trot, in fact nothing in a 2 point seat and no jumping. After the meniscus op, I followed instructions but got back on board when my timetable of activities said cycling was allowed, obviously horse riding wasn't mentioned.