Lisa's ACL Surgery

by Lisa M
(Minster, OH)

I tore my right ACL playing basketball the summer going into my junior year.

I was sprinting after a player on a fast break and then I suddenly had to change direction. So I stopped, planted my foot, and was pushed in the back by another player.

I felt a popping sensation in my knee. My coach was sure that I had torn my ACL so I went to the chiropractor who told me that he didn't think that I had.

I went to the chiropractor for a few weeks and did strengthening exercises. After a few weeks my knee was almost back to normal but I just couldn't get it rehabbed completely, so I decided to get an MRI, and sure enough, I'd torn it.

I went to Dr. Kremcheck out of Cincinnati(Beacon Orthopedics) and had it repaired using a hamstring graft.

I had surgery and rehabbed my knee and i was back playing basketball within 4 months. Its been 2 1/2 years and I have had no problems with that knee. The only problem I experienced was some numbness along the outside of my leg but it doesn't bother me hardly at all.

A year after my first injury I tore my left ACL playing AAU basketball. I jumped for the ball and landed wrong. This injury was definitely worse than the first.

I immediately got an MRI and went back to my surgeon. He said I'd torn my ACL and injured/sprained my MCL. He told me my MCL wouldn't need any repair, just rehab.

He went into surgery planning on preforming a hamstring reconstruction but my hamstrings were too brittle so he decided it would be better to use the patellar tendon.

This graft was a lot harder to rehab than the hamstring graft. I was still back to playing basketball around 4 1/2 months after surgery but it was a rough start.

At the beginning I had a very difficult time regaining my range of motion. I also had a lot of pain. Its been 1 1/2 years since that surgery and I still experience pain in the front of my knee. Its getting better but if i had to choose which graft is better, there'd be no contest.

I love my knee that was reconstructed with the hamstring graft. My surgeon was also AMAZING!!! and I owe a lot of the success of my surgery to him!