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Re: is brace really necessary?

Posted By: OLarryR
Date: Wednesday, 16 April 2008, at 11:14 p.m.

In Response To: Re: is brace really necessary? (mitch)

Sometimes, it happens that when so many recommend not playing competitive sports, the recent ACL victim winds up going out and doing their thing and then low and behold, the knee holds up okay. So....no problem for me and probably for a whole bunch of others reading these postings - go do your thing and things may just work out for you okay.

However, what goes thru my mind when someone asks for opinions regarding taking risks.....it just does not seem worth it to me to go out and risk the injury. I had two good knees and with them, I managed to wreck one in a basketball game. If a good knee did not stand up to the abuse, my thought is that with the vegetable muscle in the leg after the injury and the fact that it lost a major ligament that functions for stability, what chance does the leg have even if trying to be careful, surviving game after game during even one season. Maybe my chances would be 40% nothing will happen but is it really worth the risk of addl cartilage that will have to be scrapped or possibly another ligament getting the axe taken to it. While some get cartilage repaired, many have a tear that the OS just trims away the torn matl and the more that tears, the more that is trimmed. The more cartilage that is removed, the less chance there is for a completely irritation free cartilage future.

The other thing is when you say you know the injury can cause problems in the long run...actually it is in the short run that many reinjuries occur if the time is not taken to rehab the muscles to full strength and then regain ACL fnctionality for stability. The leg without full muscle strength is a sitting duck for another injury. A brace does not ensure you will be injury free because a brace is best for assisting with stability against side to side forces and hyperextension forces but not against twisting movements which oftentimes occur in competitive sports like soccer, football and basketball. So what happens even with wearing a brace is that many lay off the twist movements...until the day comes when they forget to lay off those movements. Without an ACL, the long time effects may be more increased slop in the knee especially if participating in sports and that could cause premature wear of the cartilage surfaces. But the real problem is that when the stability is not there, it is a split second thing that happens ...and your knee goes out......so, it is not necessarily the accumulated times of not using a brace or not having the ACL reconstructed. It is the risk percentage each and every time you go out, that a knee event will occur...and there are no take backs ...when it happens it happens.

Maybe I should have taken a chance and gone out without a brace or a reconstructed ACL and continued playing ? But then I hear that Clint Eastwood voice go off in my head - "Do you feel lucky ?" Nope ! Yes...there are some that it turns out that their specific knee configuration may do okay for many things without a functioning ACL. But how do I know that would have been me ...I was not willing to take that risk. But maybe you are and maybe you will be fine. Usually when everyone speaks of gloom and doom...it does not happen. So...maybe that will be true for you ! Each person has to evaluate what they know of their injury and what they have read in journals, form others, from the internet, from their medical professionals and then....decide !

Meanwhile...I took the time off from sports...watched a bunch of tv shows, etc. Then 6 months after the reconstruction...went back to sports. I am now over 9 years post-op and knee is great. Just as good as the other one. Isn't that the way it should be for everyone. It could be that way for you...but how do you give yourself the best percentage risk...that your knee will once again be in great shape ? You decide.

My website has info for the newbie. Also tells my whole story.

Larry
http://www.olarryrknees.homestead.com/acl.html

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