After you tear your ACL you realize that you have a bundle of choices to make. Should I have surgery? If I do have surgery, which surgeon should I choose? Should I wait to have surgery or have it immediately? Who do I do my physical therapy with? And most importantly, do all these questions matter? 

Today we will tackle the WHEN of surgery. Once you and your surgeon have decided that surgery is warranted then it is time to decide when the right time to get the surgery done is. Having been in this situation myself, I know most people (including myself) want to have it right away to get it done and over with. Believe me I get, but is this the right or best option for you? 

After talking to a couple specialists in the field I decided to wait exactly 6 weeks from the day of my injury to have surgery. Why? The most up to date research is now showing that those who do what we PT’s call prehab, which is short for preventative rehabilitation or preoperative rehabilitation, have better results post-operation. 

Taking the time to decrease your swelling prior to surgery will decrease the amount of swelling you will have post-surgically. Think about it this way, your knee is already blown up with fluid before surgery, we know that surgery increases swelling, this means that there will be an additive effect post surgery increasing your overall swelling and decreasing your positive outcomes.
Another major reason to wait is to improve your quad activation. For most people their quad is inhibited or turns off immediately following the ACL tear, due to the trauma and the increase in swelling. This will just make it that much harder to recover your quad post-surgically if you do not work on it pre-surgically. 

Prehab prior to surgery has been proven to improve your outcomes following surgery. Our ACL experts at Alpha Project Phyzio, can help you through this challenging time. Consider this when answering those questions mentioned above and making these difficult decisions. 

If you are interested in having an ACL expert evaluate your squat, identify what the problem is, and give you the tools to solve the problem(s) for the long-term, reach out to us and speak with one of our movement experts today!

To get started reach out to Alpha Project Phyzio - we have three locations in Maryland, including Gaithersburg, Frederick, and Columbia.