ACL Tear

[Isaac.Ramirez]

BLUF
Tore my ACL, waiting to schedule my ortho appointment. What things should I ask and consider before I get there?

I have fallen for the good ole ACL tear after playing the most dangerous sport known to man, pickleball. Just got off the phone with my PCM two hours ago, and the MRI confirmed it.

Backstory
The first week of January, I was playing pickleball, took a bad step, and hit the ground with horrible knee pain. Went to urgent care, got X-rays, which came back fine, and they gave me a knee sleeve and ibuprofen. The next week, I went to sickcall to see a PCM. They did some standing tests, said it was soft tissue damage, and told me to rest for two weeks.

Three weeks later, I still had pain when moving, but no more swelling. Despite that, I could squat 225 for three sets of five with no issues. Four weeks later, which was three days ago, I went back to play pickleball. Took another bad step, felt the same pain, and dropped to the ground again.

Went to the ER the next day, got another X-ray, a knee brace, and crutches. Yesterday, my PCM referred me for an MRI. Got the results today, and it turns out my ACL is torn. Now I am waiting on ortho to schedule an appointment.

MRI Results
1. High-grade anterior cruciate ligament tear. Low-grade sprains involving the
medial collateral ligament and lateral collateral ligament.
2. Menisci appear intact. Edema involving the peripheral margin of the medial
meniscus and adjacent meniscocapsular junction is suspicious for a low-grade
meniscocapsular injury.
3. Moderate knee joint effusion.

Personal Info
I don’t know if this helps, but I am going to leave it here.
24 years old
~190lbs
5'10"

Question
I have been reading through forums and listening to podcasts, and mainly came here to ask for opinions on what to ask ortho, things I should consider, and if surgery comes up (which I am sure it will after looking through threads), whether it is worth doing depending on the procedure they recommend.

[Griffin727]

Being you are young, they will prob do a primary repair unless you don't have enough ligamentous tissue to put back down to the bone. Mind you I know a guy at 17 who had get
an allograft. You will prob get 2 to 4 anchors put into the joint for the acl and be put in a internal brace. They also most likely do a clean up of the other 3 ligaments in the knee. If the 2 meniscus are not tore they will most likely get a clean up job as well. Just ask the time you will be down and when you can rehab. Try not to stress like I do.

[Isaac.Ramirez]

Gotcha, thank you this put my mind at ease!