Have A Low Grade Partial Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tear On Knee. Should I Get Surgery?

Posted on Fri, 24 May 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 24 May 2013 Answered on

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi. I just found out I have a low grade partial acl tear on my left knee. I injured myknee last year while playing soccer. At first it took me a couple of months to be able to walk normal but now am at the point where I run 3 miles everyday. But am scare to play soccer again. Should I get surgery on my knee since I really want to be able to play soccer againg?

Answered by Dr. Ganesh Sanap (18 hours later)

Hi, welcome and thanks for writing in.
I would like to know whether you had done MRI of knee joint last year? It is very welcome sign that you can run 3 miles now. It is suggestive that injury is healed. However it will be better to have repeat MRI examination of the knee joint to check healing of previous injury.
Then after proper advice of orthopaedician and physiotherapists you can start playing soccer. Still then you have to wait.

Please let me know the previous investigations.

Looking forward for your response.
Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ganesh Sanap (1 hour later)

I had the Mri done two weeks ago. So I bearly found found out I have this partial tear on my acl. My concern is will.the tear always be there and is it just bettter to get surgery and fix it? Or is it possible to play soccer with the partial acl tear? I am willing to get surgery if that gets me back to playing againg. Initially my complaint is that behind my knee I if you press is it hurts.or when I try to sit on my knee it hurts as well. Previously a dr told me that I had sprained my popliteus muscle. So initially that was my complaint and that's why I got the mri done two weeks ago. Also I want to know if the knee mri would had shown any abnormalites as well on my popliteus muscle since is behind my knee. Or do I need a different MRI for my popliteus muscle?

Answered by Dr. Ganesh Sanap (17 hours later)

Hi, welcome back and thanks for your response.
Regarding popliteus muscle, there is no need of another MRI for it. Popliteus muscle is well seen in knee study. If it was damaged then radiologist was keen to mention it. As it was not mentioned then it means it is normal.

Partial tear does not requires surgery. It will get healed gradually. You need to consult your orthopaedician for clinical evaluation before doing heavy excecise like playing soccer. If clinically you are fit then you can continue your activity.

Hope i have answered your query.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Ganesh Sanap (2 days later)

So what would explain why my popliteus muscle hurts? When I try to sit on my knee after a couple of seconds it starts to hurt. It feels like a ball behind my knee that whenever you press it it hurts. Since the MRI didn't show any abnormalities there what could be the reason for it to be hurting on those circumstances?

Answered by Dr. Ganesh Sanap (3 days later)

Hi, welcome back.
There are 3 types of injury to muscles , sprain , spasm and tear. If there is only severe sprain or tear then only changes can be seen on MRI. In muscle spasm or mild sprain it will not show any specific changes. In such cases clinical examination is very important.
You need to consult your physiotherapist or chiropractor for further examination. Then only possible cause can be found.

Hope I have answered your query.

Regards.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar