Taking part

There are two surgical options for treating people with a proximal ACL tear.

The most common operation for a torn ACL is reconstruction, which uses tissue from other parts of the body, to act as a replacement (graft). This is usually done by keyhole surgery. The surgeon will create a tunnel through your upper shin bone and lower thigh bone and thread the graft through the tunnel and fix it in place. This operation is well tried and tested.

There is another less commonly used option, which involves direct repair of the torn ligament. Repair involves re-attaching the damaged ligament back from where it has been avulsed (pulled off). This is less invasive than a reconstruction as there is no graft harvest, and smaller tunnels drilled in the bone, and because you keep your ligament, there is the potential for less pain, and a more normal feeling knee.