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AJ: I am AJ from Dubai. If I obtain my ACL, will I have to get surgery?
Dr. John Xerogeanes: AJ, it all depends on who you are and what you do. The reason you need an ACL is for stability of the knee, and that stability usually comes when you change direction.
So if you are a person in life who just walks forward and backwards and doesn't do any change in direction at least at any rate of speed, you could get by without an ACL.
However, if you are someone who do plays any sort of cutting sports, or when you are walking around after an ACL injury and you notice that your knee is sliding out of place, end of story, you need it fixed and why is that, because we want to prevent damage to the other structures in the knee.
What we see 20 years after an ACL injury of someone that had an injury, did not get it reconstructed and did not modify their activity is arthritis. Why is that or degeneration of the knee joint, because without an ACL, you end up tearing your cartilage which are the pieces of gristle between your bone are damaging the articular cartilage which is the Teflon like coating on the outside of your bone.
So without an ACL, your chances of having early arthritic change are high. So if you are athletic or you have any instability of your knee, you should get it reconstructed.
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