[quote]BReddy wrote:
[quote]mattis wrote:
Another thing to mention is that ACL reconstructions has become one of the most (if not THE most) common orthopedic surgeries. The surgeons do these reconstructions all the time. I read somewhere that the success rate is as high as 95%. In other words: If you feel that you need the surgery, don’t be afraid to go for it. You will be fine.[/quote]
This is wrong. Really wrong.
ACL surgery has NO WHERE NEAR a 95% success rate. On average, NFL football players come back over 30% LESS productive and only around 60%-70% of them come back at all.
See: http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/38/11/2233.abstract
And: Most NFL Players Return To Competition After ACL Injury, But At A Reduced Performance Level
On average, NFL PLAYERS, GUYS WHO ARE PAID MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO SIMPLY REHAB THEIR LEG, come back no sooner than 9-12 months. The people claiming you can be 100% faster than this, and faster than 6 months, all by having a positive attitude, are out of their fucking minds.
And it’s something like less than 50% of the general population return to their previous level activity.
To the OP, be very careful reading all these case studies from individual people giving you their RAH-RAH speeches. Especially from anyone who hasn’t gone through this specific injury. Or hasn’t made it all the way back.
The fact of the matter is this is an injury that, should you choose surgery, will take you at least a year, and probably more like 18 months, to fully feel normal from. If ever. Very, very few people can relate to this.
And the fact of the matter is that very, very few of these people who have had the surgery, and who are giving you their positive attitudes, are or will ever be normal again. This is not a detriment to them; it is the facts of the surgery.
Sorry to be a downer, but I am tired of people going “Yeah, you know, you’ll be fine! Just keep a good attitude. Oh, I mean, my knee is alright. You know, not great. But you’ll be fine!”
Go with what the research says, what a TRUSTED surgeon says, what a TRUSTED PT says, and your OWN individual case. Do not get wrapped up in one person projecting their own experience on you.
Every single knee is different. Every single tear is different.
You have the one person on here saying how their pain experience was horrendous. I know many people who had similar experiences.
However, after my reconstruction I took one percocet and that was it. I had people scaring the shit out of me for months telling me how much pain I was going to be in and I barely had any pain the entire process.
Ask the people telling you about this surgery and they’ll tell you this is insane. My doctor gave me bottle for 80 pills illustrating how many people normally take. Yet I had none. All that worrying for nothing. That doesn’t mean I’d tell you to expect no pain though. Because on average, people DO experience a lot of pain.
I can tell you this though, the pain part came easy to me…Walking, did not.
Again, everyone is different.
This is my point. One person’s perspective, in a lot of ways, can be useless. You have to have context to go along with it.
If you want a full play by play of the ACL experience in terms of who should have it done, what graft you should use, what to expect results wise, you might be interested in this: Anterior Cruciate Ligament ( ACL ) | b-reddy.org | Page 2
And prolotherapy sucks. Your money would be better spent at a bar. [/quote]
Very good post, except for your last statement where you contradict previous statements made earlier in your post.
I’ve experienced what prolotherapy did for certain joints of mine that had worsened for years, severely impacted my daily life and quality of life in general and couldn’t be operated on. So have others.
Note that I wasn’n treated by a (self-proclaimed) guru claiming prolotherapy is a panacea.
I’m inclined to say that prolotherapy may not be that successful on ACL tears as opposed to joints with simpler biomechanics. Still, based on my past experiences with prolotherapy and my own ACL tear I felt like sharing what I had found on prolotherapy and ACL tears. This reflects my MO regarding injury repair and rehab by going as minimal invasive as possible.
I agree there isn’t enough evidence for ACL prolotherapy in terms of studies. Also, it goes without saying that certain criteria have to be taken into account before prolotherapy can be considered a viable treatment option.
After the diligence you put into shedding more light on ACL reconstructions, the fact that you didn’t provide evidence for your negative claim about prolotherapy appears somewhat strange and isn’t quite helpful for people considering viable treatment options (for joint dysfunction in general, not specifically for ACL cases).