There is so much emphasis into the surgical rehabilitation of an ACL with our elite athletes that we see a big cross over into the every day recreational athlete, weekend warrior or social sports enthusiast.
So now when anyone tears or Rupture their ACL, they NEED SURGERY!
It has almost become routine that if we see this ligament torn or ruptured on MRI that we head off to the orthopaedic surgeon and undertake an ACL reconstruction without any consideration to other options.
But new an exciting evidence is beginning to appear that contradicts the need for this in many cases.
- Recent studies have demonstrated healing capacity of the ACL with conservative management, scarily some of these even date back to 2011.
- The risk of osteoarthritis may actually be greater in an ACL reconstructed knee then a non reconstructed knee
- There are many athletes at the top level of their sport playing in the NBA, NRL, NFL, EPL all without ACL’s (well at least last time they checked it may have grown back)
- You can still function at a very high level in sport without an ACL!