Deciding If Knee Surgery Is Right For You

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Surgeon

When you have torn your anterior cruciate ligament (or ACL), you may be wondering what the best option is for you when it comes to healing and recovery. You can tear your ACL in many situations, including playing sports or even getting into a personal injury accident, like slipping and falling, being injured by a car, or getting into a bicycle accident. It is important to weigh your options for recovery, especially if you plan to file a claim against the person who caused you to tear your ACL. Sure, there are many choices to make and you may be deciding between more natural, holistic healing or a more serious option, like surgery. While holistic healing is often a good first choice, you may quickly find out that it will not permanently heal your injury. When this is the case, you may be looking into getting surgery for your ACL tear to give you the best chance at recovery possible.

How do I know surgery is the best option for me? 

It’s true that not every case of a torn ACL will require a person to go through surgery. So, you may be asking yourself this: am I the right candidate for ACL surgery? To help you come to this decision, you may want to consider these points:

• You have had ACL injuries in the past and you continue to damage it leading to chronic, long-term pain.
• You have the time and ability to go to rehabilitation and therapy to help with your recovery.
• You also get injured in other areas of your knee often or have broken bones in your knee before.
• You have a job that is demanding and requires a great deal of physical labor or you are very active in sports and need to run, bend, or jump a lot. 

These are just a few things to consider before determining whether you should get surgery. It is also extremely beneficial to speak with a doctor, like an anterior cruciate ligament injury surgeon from an office like Premier Osteoarthritis Centers of Pennsylvania.

How do I know that the ACL surgery will be successful? 

This is a reasonable question and many people want to know if they will be investing time and money into a surgery that is not going to be helpful for them in the long run. The truth is, while the results are often very good, it can depend on the person. For example, if you have caught your ACL injury early and you have not had years of damage to your knee, surgery may be highly successful and you may have no more pain after recovering from surgery. On the other hand, if you have had chronic pain for years and have not gotten help from a doctor, your doctor may need to prepare you for the possibility of some tenderness and swelling after recovery. If you are hoping to file a personal injury claim against someone who caused you to tear your ACL, it is important to speak with your doctor quickly to get treatment in a timely fashion.

It is imperative to get all of the information you can before heading into surgery, so do not hesitate any longer. Reach out to a local doctor to see how they can help you with your ACL pain and provide you with any necessary medical records for a future claim.