i am 15 years old and play shortstop and pitcher for my high school's JV team. recently, i tore my ACL ending my season this year. however, i wont be getting surgery till summer 08. my surgeon said that baseball is a sport where there's a very low chance of injury to the knee and that i people do play baseball without ACL's. i have a brace which protects my knee while playing baseball, but my parents are telling me that i should not play baseball until i do get the surgery. i need some advice. should i play baseball next season before surgery, or should i wait until after i get surgery?...im determined to play next season however if i do wait, then i wont be able to play until i am a senior and i have been plagued with injuries these past two seasons. so my main point is, do u think it is a good idea to play baseball before surgery with my brace on based on what my surgeon told me?...advice is greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

Talk to your doctor about what you can do to improve motion? Or if it is unfixable until after surgery. Being a SS, mobility is important (obviously) so you might want to get the surgery now and play as a senior.

right now, i am doing physical therapy and my therapists and doctor say that my motion are pretty good and for mobility, i can run and pivot without any problems. although, i do have my brace on playing sports. i think i will play baseball next season than wait until my senior year because i have never actually had a knee injury due to baseball, but thanks for the advice.

man, you must not have fully torn it or you'd be on crutches. I partially tore my acl, and did some cartilage damage, and I couldn't even walk on my knee hardly, much less run on it. I did physical therapy for a couple months, and no improvement, and then one day it popped out of place and went right back in, and I said I'm getting surgery, I don't care. I had arthroscopic surgery last septmeber to remove all the pieces of tendond and ligament floating aorund as well as smooth out the cartilage, and he said it would be about 6 months to fully heal, and about in march or april, like he said, it was about 95%. its at 100% now, and I can catch with no problems at all.

If you can play on it, I wouldn't get the surgery right now because theres always a chance of reinjuring it, and you don't want to have 2 surgeries becaues you came back to fast, but if its hindering your abiliites, I would recommend getting it fixed.

Why do people pay good money to doctors if they are going to question his advice ?--- if you are in doubt get a second and third medical opinion not a bunch of opinions from a website

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Why do people pay good money to doctors if they are going to question his advice ?--- if you are in doubt get a second and third medical opinion not a bunch of opinions from a website

Well put TR, best way to actually know is to consult Doctors, they know better then anyone else, all people here can do is tell you their own personal experiences, and since everyone is different, you'll get different opinions

my doctor said i fully tore my ACL. if u have a partial tear, it will heal in about 3 months without surgery. i've had both my knees operated on until i messed up my knee again. i think i will go with my doctor's advice and play next season. i didnt get to play high school baseball until this year, however i tore my ACL again and im tryin to have a future in baseball and i cant do that if i wait until my senior year in high school. the brace that i have right now protects my knee pretty well from twisting, etc..so it should be fine for one season before surgery.

you must have one of those braces that pretty much acts as a replacement joint,because I only partially tore some tendons and ligaments, and I was in excruciating pain when I walked on it, much less played baseball on it.

yea..so u havent had to deal with any setbacks with ur knee?...i already know how it is tho because i've gone through it twice.

Not doubting what you are saying, but I am having a hard time understanding why you havent already had the surgery...if it is a complete tear of the ACL, there is no benefit to waiting until next year to do the surgery.......

I would get another consult ASAP!........preferably with a doctor who is concerned if you will be able to walk in 20 years ......

the reason i am not getting surgery this year is because insurance wont pay for that machine that bends my knee after surgery. so i have to get the surgery next year, preferably in the off-season.

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Originally posted by somervilleboy617:
the reason i am not getting surgery this year is because insurance wont pay for that machine that bends my knee after surgery. so i have to get the surgery next year, preferably in the off-season.

WhaT? Machine? Get the darn thing fixed asap and get into a good PT. They will start with passive ROM stuff, not sure where any machine comes in.

Waiting is going to increase the chances of degeration of the joint later in life (due to the instability now). Not sure how you can do any cutting activity on a blown acl. Get the second opinion like others already stated.

see, after my previous two surgeries, my surgeon right after finishing the pocedure put my whole leg into this passive motion machine and i had to keep my knee in that machine every night for about two weeks. each night, add about 5 or 10 more degrees which the machine will bend my knee up to until i regain better motion of my knee. about three weeks after surgery, i start physical therapy. and that machine which is very essential, i need it after every surgery. however, my parents dont have the money to pay for this expensive machine, so i have to wait until next year. my surgeon did say that my motion was excellent due to my injury and the custom made brace i have now, sort of acts like a replacement ACL and stabilizes my knee while playing baseball.