In June, my 59 yo boyfriend slid off my horse, bareback at a walk, and full tear of ACL, partial tear of MCL and Menicus. Our barn has a former football player who advised against surgery – he said there are several players who still play football and opted no surgery because sometimes the surgery is too tight or too loose and the knee never feels right. Doc said that unless he did a lot of twisting/turning he didn’t necessarily need surgery, and delaying surgery would not cause further issues, so we opted to delay. PT was critical for him, as they got him balancing and moving the knee right away – things he would have been afraid to do on his own.
He loves motorcycles and does a 120 roundtrip daily commute. At first he worse a brace, as he wouldn’t be able to hold the bike up if it tipped, but he no longer does. Only occasionally does he notice it doesn’t feel quite right, usually after some heavy lifting or household maintenance activity, but those events are fewer and far between and recovery is usually 24 hours.
However, he never felt the pain you are feeling, nor is he playing hockey. He hikes, dog walks, rides motorcycle and leads a pretty normal life without issue.
