The anterior cruciate ligament (or ACL) is one of the four major ligements of the knee.
It connects from a posterio-lateral part of the femur to an anterio-medial part of the tibia. These attachments allow it to resist forces pushing the tibia forward relative to the femur.
More specifically, it is attached to the depression in front of the intercondyloid eminence of the tibia, being blended with the anterior extremity of the lateral meniscus.
It passes up, backward, and laterally, and is fixed into the medial and back part of the lateral condyle of the femur...
and mine is torn!! Crap!!
So yes I had an MRI before leaving town for Lake Hartwell. The following week the diagnosis was confirmed that I did tear my ACL while trying to run 10+ miles in the dark woods, aka DarkSide back in June.
My doctor is torn (no pun intended) between surgery and rehab/physical therapy. On one hand, I do play tennis which in pretty much impossible with a torn ACL, plus I'm pretty active and I could be back to near 100% of where I was before the injury with surgery. The other side of the coin is that my knee is pretty stable, I can walk, run, bike...do most of my normal activity. The only times I am having problems (i.e. walking down stairs, tennis) is when I'm asking my body to the most difficult activities for the knee.
I've spent two weeks going over all the pros and cons, while at the same time trying to deal with the emotional issues surrounding this feeling of helplessness. Right now we are taking a conservative approach of rehab/PT. If/when I have surgery it will have to be next year. I want to get through some races/runs I have planned and the holidays before I'm out of commission for months.
I'll keep you all updated on my progress.
FYI Google spell check does not recognize ACL as a word.
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