Riding without an ACL

I just tore my ACL for the second time in less than a year. I just had it reconstructed last July. I haven’t been to the doctor yet, but I’m 99.9% sure it’s re-torn. Hopefully there is no additional damage. I go to the Doctor on Wednesday.

Does anyone out there ride without an ACL? I don’t know if I want to go through the surgery again. I’m definitely not going to do it this summer because I don’t want to be out of commission in the middle of summer. I think I’m going to pick up a wakesurfer and give that a shot.

I rode without or with half of a ACL for about a year, Till I hurt it again (football). I end up with no ACL and a hole in my knee cap! NOT FUN!! If you do ride without a ACL be careful!! You can tear a lot more in your knee. Good Luck!

Danny Way the pro skateboarder
hasn't had an acl for sometime. he's still going big.

John Elway from the Denver Broncos played without one for most of his career.

Myself I have been riding with a torn reconstructed ACL for about 3 years and it is starting to get to the point painwise that I might need to go under the knife again. My surgically repaired ACL only lasted about a year and a half before I "stretched it out" as the Dr. put it. Both times were from wakeboarding.

Is there any other John Elway?????????

I unknowingly rode without an ACL for about 3 years, and every year I would hurt my knee and go to the Doc. and he would poke around at it, take some x-rays and say that I bruised this or sprained that and would tell me to take it easy for a while. After 3 years of this I told him that I wanted an MRI and to his surprise my ACL was gone and he said it looked like it had been gone for quite some time as my body had absorbed all the loose stuff and there was no sign of an ACL at all. I would say as long as you take it easy this summer then you can put off getting the surgery, but if you really want to hit it hard, good luck. I now always ride with a knee brace and it's been about 4 years since the surgery and all is good...Knock on wood!!!

Later,
jjakober

I found out recently that my ACL is torn. (the 2nd time). As my boat was on order and hadn't arrived, I wasn't willing to get the surgery and forgo my wakeboarding season. Dr. gave me a tricked out Don Joy and told me good luck. I've been out riding 6-8 times this year with no problems.

The Dr. did tell me I was at much greater risk of wearing down the cartilage in my knee over time w/o the surgery. This would result in some long term issues and maybe a replacement knee when I'm even too old to wakesurf. .

I plan on getting it fixed in Nov.

Yea I tore mine wakeboarding a while back, before I had my surgery and while I was just recovering, I stuck with the wakeskate and surfer. Personally I would master the wakeskate and surfer over the summer and get the surgery later on. As you know hitting one bad chop wave on the way down without having an acl could tear just about everything else you have.

Thanks for all the responses. J Jakober, I was wearing a off the shelf Breg Fusion when I tore it the second time (this past weekend) because my insurance wouldn't cover a custom. The worst part about it is that I had a Donjoy Defiance fitted and ordered before I realized my insurance wouldn't cover it. If I would have been wearing that brace I would have been covered under their "Knee Guarantee" which covers up to $1000 in deductables/copays for a re-torn ACL surgery. $1000 is about what I spent out of pocket last year. S**t happens!

I'm going to try to get them to cover a CTI2 this time since I will be riding without surgery.

I tried riding without my ACL once. I blew it in August, rehabbed for 6 weeks for strength, and tried to ride again, and it just didn't work. Had the surgery Feb. 15th and I'm feeling good. The surgery really wasn't that bad at all, and I think it's worth it to take one season off, instead of risk the integrity of the whole joint.

I am in the exact same boat as jjakober. My doctor was convinced the pain was because I was growing. Finally took an MRI after many xrays and the ACL had withered away. That happened when I was 13 or 14 (motox crash) and now I am 19. I used to wear a knee brace but now I just make sure that i keep my quads and hamstrings strong to support my knee. Also stretching helps a lot too. Once in a while my knee will feel weak and start to hurt so I take it easy and make sure I hit the gym for a few weeks. I think I am going to wait until I absolutely need the surgery and have time to do nothing for the rehab time( maybe in 40 or so years haha).