First time acl tear, and am exploring graft options.
(Based on my Google research…) I’m concerned about the patellar graft due to the kneeling pain, and I am concerned about the hamstring graft because historically more patients have had a re-tear with it more than the patellar. The quad graft sounds like a nice balance between the two, but it hasn’t been around as long so there’s just a lot less data on it, but its been used for 10+ years and the various studies I read about seemed to show it to be just as strong as the patellar but without the kneeling pain. Anyone have any comments about the quad choice? And experiences from those who have had it?
I haven’t had the quad, but have had patellar tendon on both knees (left knee 13 years ago and right knee 4 weeks ago). I don’t have any kneeling pain on my left knee anymore but it did take some time for it to normalize. I’m still recovering on my right knee, but my recovery has been very quick. But the best thing is to find the surgeon who knows how to do the graft you choose well.
Yes, I have been trying to figure out how to judge a surgeons ability so I asked mine how many quad graft surgeries hes done in the last year.
He said: “We can certainly do the quad tendon graft. It is a bit newer graft so it doesn’t have the long track record like the BTB but I think it is an excellent choice for you. I have confidence in it. I am very comfortable with quad as well. I do about 150-200 ACLs a year using various grafts (quad, hamstring, BTB, allograft). It is difficult to say exactly how many of each I use but I am proficient in all of them.”
I was lucky that I could use the same surgeon for both my grafts…I’d hate to have to start from scratch. It does sound like he does lots though. I hope you can get some feedback from someone on here who has done one so you can get first hand experience.