The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) provides stability to prevent the shin bone (tibia) sliding forwards and rotating in relation to the thigh bone (femur).
Patients with a complete ACL tear may find that they are unable to play sports where they need to turn, sidestep or pivot rapidly e.g. soccer, basketball, because their knee keeps ‘giving way’.
Everyone reacts differently to an ACL injury, and your friend may not have had exactly the same injury, activity level and symptoms that you have.
When I meet a patient with a suspected ACL tear I assess them as an individual to determine what effect the injury is having on their lives.
ACL reconstruction may improve the quality of their life and allow them the/ opportunity of returning to sports, but there is a lengthy rehabilitation period of up to a year.
If you are young, your knee is unstable and preventing you from playing the sport(s) you love, then you might benefit from an ACL reconstruction. There is also some evidence that having an ACL reconstruction can reduce (but not completely eliminate) the risk of developing osteoarthritis in later life.
Here is a useful resource for those with an ACL injury: http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=a00297
