knee injury... ACL PLEASE ANSWER....?

[Dea B]

I may be having to have ACL reconstruction in a few weeks(in PT now to regain ROM) and i was wondering which graft would be best for me(i know u really cant choose but)

I am a competitve cheerleader, i am 23...
for cheerleading i am a base... but i also do some tumbling...

I was wondering if i had the patellar tendon graft would that affect me being able to resume being a base(both main and secondary)... also how would this grafting affect my jumps and ability to tumble...

and the same with the hamstring graft... i know that there is some residual strength lost but would it be enough to cause me to be unable to tumble and jump...

If i had to choose between being able to tumble and base i would rather be able to continue basing....

also, I may have a small chondral fracture to my patella(cartilage ripped off from back of patella) would this cause me NOT to be able to use the patellar tendon?

thanks...
knee gave out 4 weeks ago..

immediate swelling, and instability occured... knee still slightly swollen and very unstable

max ROM is 75* (after that knee feels as though it is gonna pop out of place, and kind of locks up)

knee is very tender around patella, and along medial aspect of knee

ive already had the MRI
yes symptoms that occured after injury and still experiencing for the most part... except for the swelling (which had finally come under control)....

thanks to all
very informative so far

[alianna_hodiya]

You listed the symptoms that you experienced after you hurt knee (4 wks ago) those symptoms are classic for an acl tear. I would Go with the hamstring graft onless your dr tells you otherwise.

[emily!]

i had my ACL done last june. i had a patellar tendon graft and it worked great. i think that since you are young your own tendons are still relatively strong, they usually do cadavers in older people because there own tendons aren't as strong anymore. i also think that the hamstring tendon would be worse because then you have to work extra hard to regain the muscle as well as working at getting strength back to the knee. what they do in patellar tendon is take the middle 1/3 of the tendon then attach the two other outside parts back together. also one thing, i really didnt have that much pain with my surgery, i mean, its not like i didnt have any it's a major operation your not just gonna walk out painless, but i dont think it was that bad.