While running during football practice, I stepped in a hole while making a cut. My leg remained in a fixed position while my body turned and the resultant torque was enough to tear the ACL and part of the medial meniscus.

• Activity Level Prior to Surgery - Throughout high school, I was active in football, basketball, and track & field. I had no limitations, in terms of my knee, to any physical activity.
  
  
• Operative Report
  
  
• Activity Level After Rehabilitation - I was never able to return to my pre-surgery level of activity. I spent lots of time with weight-training and rehabilitation but any activity that required jumping and lateral cutting movements invariably caused swelling and discomfort. My quadriceps were certainly strong enough but, without the ACL, the knee was simply too unstable. I returned to my original surgeon on at least three different occassions but there was nothing that could be done aside from continuing to strengthen the leg muscles. Eventually, my only physical activity became weight-lifting. I began backpacking in 1992 and had some difficulty but nothing prohibitive.
  
  

• Accident Leading to Surgery - After the backpacking trip mentioned above, I became restless for more activity and attempted running again. As had been the case over the previous ten years, my knee swelled. It was at this time that I decided to return to a surgeon to see if anything could be done. Fortunately, since my original injury ACL reconstruction techniques had been developed.
  
  
• Operative Report
  
  
• Activity Level After Rehabilitation - After rehabilitation, I could do things I hadn't for the previous ten years. I began running and playing some basketball although the cutting/lateral movement demanded in the latter was a bit much and I could't play with total freedom. Still, the knee was absolutely more stable than it had been since the 1982 surgery. In 1994 I spent most of the summer backpacking in many challenging situations and the knee held up fine. In the spring of 1995 I twisted my knee while running and was informed that I had likely stretched the ACL. I gave up running and soon began biking which caused no trouble.
  
  

• Accident Leading to Surgery - A bike accident in May 1998 ruptured the reconstructed ACL. While in a turn, my rear wheel slid out from under me and I jammed my left leg down to break my fall. It locked into place and the rotational momentum I had from being in a turn was enough to tear the ACL.
  
  
• Operative Report
  
  
• Activity Level After Rehabilitation - I returned to biking and weightlifting fairly soon after the surgery. However, a few attempts at running proved to be a bad idea. I maintained a complete weight-training routine with the exception of heavy squatting or leg pressing movements (exercises that result in lots of joint compression). I was biking fairly seriously - with a few 40+ mile rides each week and an occassional 70-mile ride. I could hike fine but backpacking with a 40-50 lb. pack felt unstable.