Men, please tell me success stories healing ACL w/o surgery

Hey Guys of Mt Project, my boyfriend got a complete ACL tear from bouldering in Joshua Tree last month. The orthopedic doctor he saw recommended 4 months of PT with a sports med doc (who's apparently had a great success rate healing athletes with this injury w/o surgery including climbers.) I'm living out of the country right now and focusing on being positive & supportive but also concerned about him waiting 4 months for surgery if it is indeed necessary. Also, he's suppose to come visit me in 6 weeks **fingers crossed** hoping all goes well so that can still happen. Would love to hear personal success stories about healing a complete ACL tear via PT!! I guess it's also good to hear about those who couldn't heal it and  ended up having surgery, I'm a realist.

For reference, he's in excellent physical condition, early 30s & plans to be very diligent with his PT as the idea of not climbing would drive him to madness.

Thanks for the moral support!!!   
~Jessa

Interesting. I’d rather hear stories from the doc and the PT about their successes without surgery. I’m very skeptical, to say the least. I’m from a small ski town that has produced a disproportionate share of (alpine and XC skiing) Olympians, and know many people who have torn their ACLs, some twice, as early as high school, and none have not needed surgery for a complete tear. But perhaps I am behind the times on current treatment options. But I catch a whiff of bullshit here...

Andrew, personally I'd say the smell of BS can be strong with a lot of doctors, I have dealt with many medical professionals for 15+ years and often received a lot of contradictory information; hence the reason I was asking for personal stories.  Yes, medical technology has absolutely changed over the years. Some doctors say immobilize broken bones and some say keep small careful movement. The problem with medicine is that it is ever-changing and our individual bodies react different to different treatments. That being said if there's anyone who has personally overcome this specific and common injury via PT I'm dying to know!

I know one guy who has overcome it.  That is to say he decided not to get the ACL replacements (both knees) and has lived without (either ACL) since the injury 20+ years ago.
He's got arthritis in both knees now and is at higher risk for dislocation and such.
More or less the same they told me if I didn't get mine fixed, but I decided to get them fixed (one 10 years ago, one 6 years ago) and I'm glad I did.  
I get to enjoy anything I ever used to do and won't be falling apart later.
FWIW, my hand orthopedist (yeah, I get hurt a lot) also does not have an ACL in one leg.  He said he chooses not to engage in high risk activities (field sports, skiing, etc) but is fine.

Why do you specifically ask men? Women have ACLs too don’t they?

Moreover, Women tear ACLs a lot more than men, but that is another story.

I am getting my ACL reconstructed in 3 days. I ski a lot, and hard, so for me it is a no brainer. Generally the consensus is that if you want to do dynamic sports with high impacts and rotations (skiing, basketball etc) then a reconstruction is recommended. Otherwise you could do without, but it critically depends on the knee's stability. Some are just more stable than others.

Although I also wish I could do without surgery, I am not willing to try and risk loosing next years ski season as well if it turns out my knee remains too instable to ski. So for me, the best choice appears to be to take the hit now and make sure I have many more seasons with a stable knee. I know I will be terrified to start bouldering and falling again, but I's much rather do it with an ACL than without. That being said my sister didnt reconstruct her ACL and is also skiing again (albeit with a brace and not as hard). Everything is possible but it depends if you are willing to try with the risk of having to do the surgery later down the line.
Hitting the PT hard is important wether you do surgery or not, so that is something to do regardless.

This is not a success story, but might be helpful.
 
I went about 10 years with a likely ruptured ACL. Though I initially found my own exercises that seemed to make it better, in the end I wished that I had gotten it scanned and taken care of right away. After two very painful incidents (not sticking a landing right), I finally had it scanned. The doctor told me I had likely already had it ruptured in the incident 10 years ago (it was definitely ruptured now) and that I could give PT a try, but surgery would be the better solution. I gave PT a try and it did not help, so I had a new ACL attached.
Thought it took about 2 years for the knee to feel near 100%, surgery was the right thing to do.  

Considering PT in general, I once had success using PT for a tweaky shoulder, but on two other issues (incl. the knee), it didn't work. 

I had a 100% tear in my ACL and had surgery. It is now a lot better than my other knee. It would not have healed without surgery. 

I would be dubious of overcoming a COMPLETE TEAR without surgery. I operated at a very high level for years with a partial tear, before I took a lead fall and finished off. Took me no time to get over the operation as I was super fit and did not stop working out from the time I finished the tear and got it operated on. Good luck

Jessa Lee wrote: Andrew, personally I'd say the smell of BS can be strong with a lot of doctors, I have dealt with many medical professionals for 15+ years and often received a lot of contradictory information; hence the reason I was asking for personal stories.  Yes, medical technology has absolutely changed over the years. Some doctors say immobilize broken bones and some say keep small careful movement. The problem with medicine is that it is ever-changing and our individual bodies react different to different treatments. That being said if there's anyone who has personally overcome this specific and common injury via PT I'm dying to know!

Crowd sourced opinions < expert opinion; I'm curious about your stance on vaccines.

The ACL is an essential component of knee stability. It's not Doctor BS or anyone trying to scam you. Your BF needs to have surgery or he's setting himself up for a future of problems. There will, of course, be exceptions and n=1 stories of those who got by ok without it. There are also stories of people surviving plane crashes, that doesn't mean you should go try to get in one.

Ya I'd echo all the above. Friend had partial tears on both knees and still had problems. He'd keep reinjuring them over and over leading to meniscus tears etc whenever he played sports (Though don't think he actually did pt). Eventually he got surgery.

My understanding is that specifically the ACL (and not other ligaments) doesn't have any blood flow to it so it can't really repair itself. ( Unless this pt has some tricks here?!)

Good luck either way!

Had a partial tear in my left ACL 3 years ago, and was too stubborn to get it fixed.(didn't want to give up a ski season or miss out on climbing and backpacking trips) for those three years it never held me back, except i can now feel BOTH of my knees slowly getting worse. Im now to the point where I've realized i need to take care of it.

I know everyone's recovery is different, but how long will this set me back? What's the average full recovery time? 

Also I've been looking into stem cell treatments. Has anyone heard of good success with that?

I get that you’re asking for dude opinions since our physiology is different, but I just had ACL reconstruction on Monday, and it’s been six months since the injury. My first ortho was convinced it was healing on its own, and while I did gain more strength and normalcy back, I got a second opinion and scheduled surgery right away. I think if it’s only your acl you can get away with a few years if you build stability and strength in the other parts of the knee, but will likely still need surgery or arthritis treatment down the line.

In my case I also tore my MCL and fractured my tibia, and a piece of my tibia was preventing my leg from fully extending, which pretty much makes your life hell. It’s harder than you’d think to never be able to straighten your leg! While I didn’t have a full tear, I did go the PT route for half a year and it got me back to about 60-70%

Hope this helps!

+1 to everything here - your bf should have a detailed conversation with his doc about what "healed" means, especially if he's not seeing a sports medicine doc.  In particular, he should ask if that means "can you do your job," or "can you regain your former level of athletic performance."

If he's highly active, I don't know why he'd even want to avoid the surgery unless it's cost prohibitive. It's low risk, extremely effective, and he'll never be able to do the same things if he doesn't get it fixed.  If he can pay for it, he should absolutely get it done.