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| Some patients are satisfied with simply having a stable knee during everyday activities, but most patients with ACL tears want to go back to sports. Activities that put the reconstructed ligament at risk are the same ones that led to the ACL tear in the first place: uncontrolled jumping and twisting. These are therefore the last to be permitted. On the other hand, simple running, jumping in place with both feet, and even side to side jumping are allowed early on. Swimming is also admissible in the early going.
Can the new, surgically reconstructed ACL rupture too?
You bet. A paradox of sports medicine is that we operate on knees so that athletes can go back to the sports they love, yet those very activities can lead to a rupture of the new ACL. Since the new ACL is a relatively crude version of the original, it is easier to tear than the original. And as with all operations, the surgery the second time around is far more complex than the first one. As bitter a pill as it is to swallow, the person who doesn’t earn a living from sports might consider toning down his or her activities after an ACL reconstruction.
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