Surgery

In my first ACL reconstruction, we used piece of the hamstring, the muscle on the back of the thigh for the new ligament. As this muscle cannot be used again, I chose to take a third of the patellar ligament on the front of the knee this time (see pic). What happens is that part of the patellar ligament is taken, together with small part of the bone as well, and put in as new ACL. Because bone grows into bone, as opposed to tendon to bone as is the case with hamstring, the recovery with the patellar ligament supposedly is quicker.

Of course this means that pain after the surgery is located in the front rather than at the back (I can confirm this fact) and that any sitting on knee can prove difficult in the future. The procedure is simple. The surgeon drills two holes in the femoral and tibia and attaches the new ligament with screws. Because my tibial tunnel from the first ACL was so misplaced, there was no problem in drilling a new one. The femoral tunnel was alright placed, but my surgeon could still make use of it for the new reconstruction.

According to the doctors, it takes 6-8 weeks before the new ligament has healed completely and the patellar bone has grown fully into the femoral/tibial bones. Better start munching that calcium!

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