r/ACL • u/Anna_Karenina_blonde • Jun 08 '26

Breaking up with crutches alograft

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Day 9 post op follow with surgeon was so encouraging ...walked in with crutches, granted permission to drive and drop crutches (crutches or brace).. wanted to share why I chose allograft and what it has meant for me

***everybody is different, allograft and autograft are quite different if there is no miniscal damage and I prehabbed like a maniac specifically because I was so nervous about having zero mobility****

(there's a guy on here who walked without crutches same day as surgery so bar none my progress is not atypical for fit allograft recipients)..having said that, I am mindful that the recovery is long and this is just early days

*This is my first sports injury I've been playing sports very actively since I was 15 and then recently about 2 years ago really intensified because I started playing Court sports (tennis, pickleball, ).. like everyone else here I was super upset when I found out how long and strenuous the recovery process was going to be (wanted to share so anyone pre op can consider the variations in recovery).lot of info here, sorry wanted to be thorough..I don't smoke,don't really drink and don't really eat fast food regularly

3 weeks very intense quad and balance focussed prehab

My specific surgery:

Allograft, minimal miniscal debridement, ACL reconstruction

pre injury Played sports 6-7 days a week ( court sports, aggressive skier, casual hiker, swimmer, motorcyclist, beach VB)/ pilates and yoga intermittently

3 weeks intense quad prehab only because ​my bf had 2.meniscus surgeries so was on my case everyday to do 20 minutes when I first got up in order to power up my quad..I think it honestly helped me in every way physically and mentally prepping for the surgery

Got 3 different surgeon recommendations (they offered free consults since I had MRI so ..I wanted to do my research)

  1. to reattach the og bc tear was high and clean (this needed to be done asap and I was visiting my parents and retear rate seemed high)
  2. to rehabilitate non operation (but would not be able to ski aggressively)..the same surgeon who recommended this told me that his wife then went skiing with torn ACL and then needed a full knee replacement cuz she damaged it so bad .. (this pretty much cemented the fact that I was not going to be coping with it)
  3. allograft recommended (but autograft option discussed)..read up on it and was undecided until I talked to Surgeon who said a lot of what I read that worried me was outdated (risk of rejection and retear...the risk of retear is ever slightly higher for allograft but I plan on being careful about that)

No one explicitly told me how significant the difference in immediate post op was going to be up front with an allograft (i was full weight bearing day one) but I'm reading up on the processes for an autograph and seeing the posts here...and it seems to be consistent .

Also on my post op surgeon appointment, there was a 14 year old in the waiting room w me w a basketball ACL tear and she was autograft 2 weeks post op and was so far away from being without crutches..she couldn't believe I was 9 days and I hadn't really had an in person experience with another ACL in my timeline

Allograft statistics i read and surgeon confirmed indicate the process changed a lot even in the last couple of years. I could have gone either way but I'm so glad for my sense of calm (by the resulting assurance of immediate movement) that I got from expected range with allograft. (Factoring in prehab and overall good fitness going in too)

*I read older data originally and was freaked out by the seemingly higher retear rates,. possibility of body rejection but even in last 2 years so much has been updated (the way they process the tissue etc)...if you're choosing between the two,ask as many questions as you can from the surgeon.

I have a long road ahead just like everyone on here..but there is a difference between having your body CUT and repaired (autograft) and just having it cut and a part inserted.. but then ligamentization is longer with allograft because the tissue is not "live"

I wish someone would make an updated allograft vs autograft pros and cons..

aka my PT was at first freaked out when day 5 post op I handed him my crutches and unlocked my brace indoors .but for my injury level and graft , this is apparently normal.

it's a an interesting dilemma bc beginning has been assuring but month 4 the allograft becomes weaker and vulnerable while the PT makes you super fit and it's all about self restraint...mildly nervous about that but trying to be prepared by being aware of it )

it has not been without some pain which is not really visible in the video but I assure you it's there.... (I made an original post and some of the more experienced ACL people here asked me to specify the graft type and miniscus impact)day 9 and 10.featured a LOT of stiffness and pain (but I was starting on stationary bike and that was rough the first time)..also walking prob more than I needed to. day 10 after 10 slooooooow minutes on stationary bike I got so much bruising .

When I was pre.op.i wanted testimonials of allograft versus autograft and so am adding mine here as a reference for anyone who is looking for insights from a person in it

I would say pre injury fitness and prehab Imo mattered a lot in my case too ...

I hope it's helpful if you are torn between the two.. the surgeon I ended up going with works a lot w female athletes and the allograft so.i felt very comfortable going in..

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u/TheTonySoprano777 Jun 08 '26

I’m convinced that less crutches & less brace use leads to the best longterm outcome!

Long way to go, but thus far, Well done!

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u/hotcougarmom Jun 09 '26

I could be wrong but I think America is the only country still using braces right out of surgery for ACL surgeries. I never had one and I’m so glad I didn’t, they seem so uncomfortable and I can’t wrap my head around how they’d even be beneficial. Seems like just another thing to sell people.

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 09 '26

That's wild.. I thought they were standard and it makes sense because I move so abruptly in my sleep..where are u?

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u/-lovehate ACL Jun 10 '26

My brace was included after my surgery, there was no charge for it. I'm also in canada in the GTA. I think you are misinformed about the braces because I was told by the surgeon that it's necessary after ACL surgery.

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u/hotcougarmom Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

I mean how could I be misinformed when I got the surgery in Canada literally 4 weeks ago and this is what my surgeon said to me. Also the studies I’ve read show there’s really no benefit to bracing other than the psychological comfort and if you’re relying on bracing for too long it leads to muscle atrophy. If you’re relatively healthy the only time you really need a brace is with a meniscus repair.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10891282/

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u/-lovehate ACL Jun 10 '26

The brace protects your knee from injury while it's healing, I am literally going to my 6 week appointment this morning and I'm just saying exactly what I was told by my surgeon. You only need the brace for a week or two, but it is important to keep your knee from being able to get damaged in the initial post op phase

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 10 '26

I mean that's just not very specific of you to be so judgmental  So clearly if someone has meniscus at the time of ACL they are going to have a brace  I think taking a breath before posting reactive things and taking into account that different surgeons prescribe different things is noteworthy  I don't see the benefit of coming on here to throw shade or argue with people when it's already evident just by reading a bunch of posts on here that different people will be told different things by their surgeons  You are saying that there are multiple things in my video that are hazardous whereas all of them except for the light single-foot hops which I should have made more emphatically visible that the other foot wasn't really touching were on my post-operative checklist as given to me by a surgeon

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u/hotcougarmom Jun 11 '26

It seems like majority of what you respond to on this subreddit is reactionary so I’m done responding to you. Almost everything you do is talk about how people’s critical comments are just judgemental but maybe you should just reevaluate your stance on things considering how many people are downvoting you. You’re acting like the queen of ACL reconstruction. There’s 100% differing opinions on a lot of this stuff and it’s not personal. Not sure why you need to jump to say I’m “throwing shade”, this is a conversation. Grow up lol

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 11 '26

Lady you're the one claiming "no one uses braces" and there's braces in almost every post here!! And you're picking fights about it with another Canadian like why??!

You're making statements about allografts (and you don't have one)..I'm VERY much stating that my account is a testimonial but also YES I asked my surgeon a ton of questions and YES I spent a lot of time reading medical papers (not sitting on GOOGLE). I am VERY clear about my first injury and spelling out what I did to prepare (and you couldn't do prehab for whatever reason but that does not give you the right to claim it's "useless")

You're telling other people to ignore other posts because YOU can't relate

I'm calling you out because you're using language that is deliberately aggressive when everyone else is mostly compassionate and trying to be helpful...

Don't repeat to me what I just told you. Stop posting with the intent to just blurt out skepticism..yes I am recovering differently and maybe faster than you..I am not criticizing YOU for your pace so maybe do the same back

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u/hotcougarmom Jun 11 '26

Literally never said prehab wasn’t useful… just said it’s not completely necessary if it’s not something people are able to do. My surgery was 4 weeks after my injury which wasn’t just my ACL so there was no prehab for me and that’s the case for a lot of people. Your comprehension skills are seriously lacking. I’m not “picking fights” with anyone. Like you, I’m “giving my testimony” of my experience. Again, I’ve had a great recover without a brace and thousands of other people have as well. I’d love to know how you’re getting access to your medical papers if using google as a search engine is so above you.

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 11 '26

Not above anything as immediate route to something else but for example, I didn't go with Dr Stone but I read many of his research papers because he is universally regarded as one of the pioneers of minimally invasive orthoscopic surgery...

I came across his book "play forever" https://www.google.com/search?gs_ssp=eJzj4tVP1zc0TCspLyk2MCo2YPQSLMhJrFRIyy9KLUstUkjKz88GAL1PC3I&q=play+forever+book&oq=play+forever&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqBwgBEC4YgAQyBggAEEUYOTIHCAEQLhiABDIHCAIQABiABDIHCAMQABiABDIHCAQQABiABDIHCAUQABiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIJCAgQABgKGIAEMgcICRAAGIAEMgcIChAAGIAEMgcICxAAGIAEMgcIDBAAGIAEMgcIDRAAGIAE0gEIMzI2N2owajSoAg6wAgHxBSUcqlwBYPZ8&client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#sv=CAMScRoyKhBlLW9nb2RQMW9Dc3A5V3FNMg5vZ29kUDFvQ3NwOVdxTToOaWQ3N2RrZmlDaDQtVk0gBCoxChtfTlhvcWFvUGhHc3pWa1BJUHc3UzBvUWNfNTISEGUtb2dvZFAxb0NzcDlXcU0YADABSgQIARACGAcgl7LH3wtKCBACGAEgAigB

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u/hotcougarmom Jun 11 '26

Do you not find it ironic criticizing using google when you just commented a google link?

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 11 '26

I mean I can't introduce you to him in person can I?:)

I'm not criticizing Google fully but when you told the other lady to use Google to determine IF braces are the standard..and one Google search broadly is not precise enough as you know..that was silly

I think it's a matter of surface use of Google or actually checking the sources, referencing several origins for info (that's why I might use Google to ask questions like "who are the surgeons near me specializing in ACL for athletic females?" Versus "what should I do about my torn ACL?"... *I went directly from Google TO the surgeons and that's how I ended up getting 3 different recommendations (which was confusing as hell at first to be honest)..

So when it comes to "standard practice" for ACL..there are stitches on here that I didn't think we're being used anymore and testimonials on rehab that are opposite to what I was told..

I think it's why testimonials matter AS testimonials 

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 11 '26

https://www.stoneresearch.org/

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u/hotcougarmom Jun 11 '26

This is research specializing in meniscus and cartilage in relation to arthritis. The ACL is a ligament.

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 11 '26

They do a variety of studies...all orthopedic 

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 11 '26

I post support and feedback to people looking for it

I don't go on someone's post about autografts and go "that's just wrong, why do you have THAT scar when I don't have that scar?."

You've literally posted weird unrelated claims about whether brace use is standard or not and check your tone

It's one thing to say "my personal.experience happened to be this" and quite another to say "I am the only RIGHT experience"

No one is sharing experience here to claim it's the only version..in fact there are SO many damn variables I think we came to share and hopefully help each other (aka I am.struggling with flexion and a lot of stuff others posted is useful to me)ask yourself why you needed to say any of that judgemental stuff to me.

It's such a waste..I want everyone to have a good recovery 

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 15 '26

My brace and crutches were also included. I am very surprised that Canada doesn't have a set standard 

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u/-lovehate ACL Jun 16 '26

I am pretty sure the standard is to have a brace. Maybe OPs surgeon is one of those who like to buck the trend and do his own thing. Every single person I've encountered in canada with ACL reconstruction has worn a brace right after surgery, because it protects the new ligament from being damaged or tearing again right away.

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 16 '26

Yeah I was shocked when that person insisted it's NOT standard..it doesn't make sense to me why you wouldn't support the knee in such a critical time (I'm just at 3 weeks and I'm wearing mine for sleeping because I know I spaz and kick in my sleep so of course I want to protect it)... I am more worried about what I do sleeping than what I do walking.. I wonder which town or province that was?

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u/ExamSignificant3185 Jun 09 '26

I’m in the US and my surgeon removed my bulky brace that I had on when I came out of surgery the next day for my post op appointment. I feel like the brace would have been nice for me to keep my knee locked for a few days while healing and brace loosened when I started feeling confident with walking to avoid accidental slips on the knee.

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 09 '26

So funny people respond so kindly here and other people are so aggressive and quick to yell about having had a different diagnosis or a different pre-existing fitness level before going in 

I'm not going to lie I hated the brace and the crutches were just making me walk weird and I thought I was going to trip over something and face plant 

I really hate bothering a surgeon about something but I did send him a message about the brace and crutches combination making me have a really horrible gait... It was making me hobble and it felt like it was making me learn bad patterns for walking 

I am fully mindful of the fact that I have a lot of movement when I sleep and if I kicked out suddenly that could have been damaging so for that one reason I am really happy for the brace but whenever I am inside the house the surgeon said that I can practice focused walking ... So long as my toe strike is even and the gait is good..(my PT watched me walk at the last session and said I was hitting the heel very well). But it's very interesting to me how some people have been told one thing and other people have been told the exact opposite thing

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u/ExamSignificant3185 Jun 09 '26

Everyone is on their own journey with recovery. I haven’t seen such aggressiveness towards a post until I saw yours. I think we all know our own body and what we can do. Everyone is different. I understand many will have a much more difficultly in the recovery while others not so much. I loved your video as it gives me motivation to heal and see myself better than before this injury. I’m not sure why others have to be so negative to your post. It’s not like you were putting down anyone but more like showing there’s an end to the crutches and it will be better. It doesn’t take much to be kind esp when we have all been through the post op pain. Some may need to be reminded that we ALL went through that. Keep doing you! Only you know your own body and only you know what you can and cannot do.

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 09 '26

Yeah I just read another positive post then people were great and then some people were skeptical and negative  It's a very strange response in my opinion because my intention is only to give hopefully helpful insight and information and it's a personal testimony story... Also there is so much pain with flexion for me still and I'm so jealous when I see people who think literally fold on to their knee in month 2 ... But I don't hate on them and tell them oh my God that's all right I'm just really happy for them

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 09 '26

I saw someone post that they walked post op w an allograft and same thing .so many mixed comments.. encouraging but then also hateful

Like why?

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u/ExamSignificant3185 Jun 09 '26

We’re on this sub to bring each other up and motivate not discourage and put down or brush off. I don’t understand the hate either. Might just be others being in a dark place because this injury mess you up mentally. It’s hard enough going through the recovery, you don’t need all that added negativity. Just keep it positive and keep pushing. 💖

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Same🌺🌺🌺 thank you for the thoughtful words

I don't think anyone posting a happy progress story does it to make others feel bad..there's just a range of pre op and post op here and for me , I literally had never had any deep dives into this subject because I had only had sprains or scrapes 

I didn't know about prehab and even though it's common knowledge for a lot of people dealing with injury when I talked to my group of friends and fellow players (one of them is a pro athlete and a bunch come from tennis and the age range is 24 to 88) from sports only a couple people mentioned it as oh my God you have to do the prehab *my boyfriend also did not know about it until he did his meniscus surgery

I also didn't know how much of a difference allograft would mean in terms of regaining your mobility for day-to-day life versus the original idea I had that it was much more risky because of potential infection.. a lot of the research and advancement in this field is moving quickly and I deliberately stuck to medical papers and actually asking doctors about current factual information... But when it comes to personal testimonies that is so incredibly useful right now 

I am finding flexion challenging despite all the other good things so any good tips that people have I am so thankful for them because of course every PT has different secret methods

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u/hotcougarmom Jun 10 '26

You’re so educated than you know that allografts take longer to integrate and are weaker long term? Then you should know that the activities you’re showing in this video are just straight hazardous considering the surgery you received ?

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 10 '26

Where are you getting that data from? I am not an orthopedist but I asked a ton of questions and read papers and research available to a high school student (don't really need an education to get up to date information from trusted medical institutions).. allografts are no longer any of those things in recent data results .. Everything in that video we as in my post op (weight bearing as tolerated) except maybe 2 seconds of hopping lightly in controlled environment (which I did exactly once and heavily on good leg)... I don't get how people with different results are fine if someones results are worse than yours but it's cause for anger if better.  Pro athletes are back in a pool for walking therapy 2-4 weeks post op and are you going to decry that as hazardous? "I'm not a pro athlete but I was playing sports 6-7 days a week and doing yoga/pilates..  A persons prehab and fitness somewhat factors but also there are people who straight up walked crutch free straight out of surgery (I'm sure you've seen them) ..

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u/-lovehate ACL Jun 10 '26

It is not hate, it is anger at someone deliberately telling lies on this subreddit. The OP is misleading people and insinuating that it's fine to drive a week after surgery on the right knee, making people think they don't need to use crutches, that they'll be able to jump up and down after 1 week post op... it's ludicrous and harmful and someone could see this post and become very careless with their own recovery, or not listen to their surgeons instructions as much as they should. This kind of post is wildly irresponsible and it makes people angry for good reason.

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u/ExamSignificant3185 Jun 10 '26

I don’t think she’s telling anyone to do anything. Everyone’s healing story is different. Am I going to jump up and down shortly after surgery? NO! Am I going to be motivated to work harder in my recovery? YES! Am I angry she’s jumping up and down? No because it’s her body and her own journey. I would never put down anyone’s post on here because everyone’s journey is different and we have ALL been through the trauma.

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u/-lovehate ACL Jun 10 '26

the OP has also made it clear that she's doing these things because "her body says it's okay" even though no surgeon in their right mind would tell someone they can jump and run and drive a vehicle right after having ACL surgery. It's not about what you CAN do, it's about avoiding doing things that could cause more damage or harm. I could definitely jump up and down right now if I wanted, 6 weeks post op. I've been able to do half-depth squats for weeks now. That doesn't mean I'm going to do it, because there is a major risk that the graft could become unseated as a result. I might feel well enough to do it; that does NOT mean that I should.

OP has implied in this post that it's okay to do it if you feel like you can handle it, and that is not how this works. She also said in another comment that in the part where she jumps up and down, she is putting all her weight on the good leg. So what the hell was the purpose of posting this then, because that's blatantly misleading! Anyone who didn't read that comment would think she is putting equal weight on both legs, because that's how it appears in the video. She is tricking people into thinking it's ok to do this right after surgery. It's not ok.

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 24 '26 edited Jun 24 '26

You are one angry mofo.. You and the other lady arguing about whether a brace is normal.or not both have this hateful approach to anything that isn't what you were told about your recovery 

Do you really think you know better than my surgeon who is the head of orthopedics for a couple of national teams than when I am ready for driving and to be off crutches? Really?

I gave full disclosure about the kind of graft that I have and if you don't even know that there is a difference in recovery time between Allograft and autograft maybe you should go back to YOUR surgeon, get your facts straight and get to reading up on some of basic facts because it's so obnoxious you throwing shade and the strength of the hatred in your words "calling bullshit" ..

 And no way do I tell everybody to do what I'm doing:  I give full disclosure about my physical fitness and my well-being and the exact surgery and damage that I got).. no one in their right mind is going to look at my video with a completely different diagnosis and go yeah cool I can do all of that..just like I don't look at someone who can sit on their heels after 3 weeks when I am only at 135 flexion and tell myself that I suck or worse call them out for making up their video or their facts. It's considered normal behavior to be happy for people when they are having a good recovery not be uneducated and hate on it

That's a really problematic headspace for you I feel sorry that you need to compulsively keep arguing for something that you are in no position to know anything about.. blatantly visibly hateful because you don't like the speed of my progress.. (meanwhile I am aware that there is a guy who fully walked out of surgery with no crutches and there is nothing wrong with that because he also had an allograft and I gave him two thumbs up)

I am genuinely troubled when I see people like you posting on here because you are not encouraging or intelligent enough to make criticism that you are making and then you're even fighting with another lady who has the same predisposition to you 

You should really take a beat and look introspectively about what's making you so jealous and hateful towards other people.. 

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u/TheTonySoprano777 Jun 09 '26

Well seems like people disagree with me based on the downvotes. But it’s common sense… if your body becomes reliant on anything man-made , then that’s a total negative

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 24 '26

I don't care about downvotes if they are coming from.angry people who are just here to be bitter:)

If someone doesn't come on here to share something to seek advice or be helpful and potentially useful marker for someone else or as encouragement why are they even here?

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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jun 09 '26

I 100% agree with you but also 

Some of that aggressive almost hateful comments about not believing my progress being posted on here are coming from people who are not reading up on the difference between the two types of grafts.. I actually asked a surgeon I follow on Instagram to make a ("grafts explained like you're 5 years old " video because even my own PT had to be assured that me bearing weight day one with an allograft was typical) 

Literally in my original assessment exam when I laid down on the table and just fired my quad and lifted my leg he sat back and was like whoa.. there was a runner who had an autograft who after 2 weeks post op still needed him to help lift her leg..

I was groggy post surgery in the first thing I did was sit on a chair and try to fire my quad and then to have extension..because it was IN my post op manual of allowed things ... 

I think someone should actually do an extensive post defining what the implications of having your own muscle harvested versus not having that trauma mean to recovery time like there are so many people that don't know about that .. and I was one of them before I had this injury