Just found out that I have a torn ACL from my injury back in 1998. Stupid doctor told me that it was just sprained and I believed him since I didn't know any better. I was 30 then and 44 now. I feel like I lost a lot of my good years. I kind of got the idea to push for this test after watching TUF last year and seeing someone get sent home after his ACL was torn but he was still able to move around. I thought you wouldn't be able to walk at all if ACL is torn. Anyone had the same situation happen? 
I have heard it mentioned that doctors tend to perform surgery too often, but this seems to be the opposite case.
Could you provide more details about your injury, exercise/mobility habits (anything you had to stop doing or do differently?), current pains/aches, prognosis from doctor?
Thanks.
Hines Ward, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver, has played his entire career without an ACL. DeJuan Blair, rebounding specialist for the San Antonio Spurs, plays without both his ACL's. It can be done, but it takes many years for the body to build up a natural defense for a ACL deficient knee. Unless you much older and don't plan on being active it is a very good idea to get your ACL reconstructed. It is a routine operation these days, and recovery is 100%, albeit 6 months.
Dokkalfar - I have heard it mentioned that doctors tend to perform surgery too often, but this seems to be the opposite case.
Could you provide more details about your injury, exercise/mobility habits (anything you had to stop doing or do differently?), current pains/aches, prognosis from doctor?
Thanks.
Family Doctors and general practitioners tend to be very conservative and not very keen on just referring anybody to a specialist. I think the government has something to do with that. You have to basically beg for it or have to be in so much pain before you get referred. Once you are with the specialist, then they do everything with the available technology to see what you have and that's what I had to do to finally get some more in depth test like MRI.
My injury happened well over 10 years ago at a Modified Pankration Tournament. It was my second tournament and my 3rd fight overall and was the 1st fight for that tournament.
The guy slapped on a heel hook on me and I kind of panicked. I rolled with it and he lost his hold but I kept on rolling one more time so I ended up with my leg under both of us and it popped twice. We got stood up because the rule then only allow 30 seconds on the ground and then you stand back up to allow kicks and punches. The referee nor my opponent didnt know what happened because as far as they know, he no longer had the heel hook on me but as soon as we stood up, my knee feels numb and as soon as I threw a kick, my knee buckled and felt like it slipped off the socket. We used to have to wear a Gi so no one can tell what really happened when I went down. They thought I slipped and fall. The guy followed me on the ground and I actually got an armbar on him but 30seconds was just too short and we were stood up again while I had his arm. He took me down immediately and stayed in my guard for the most part till the fight ended. I lost by a close decision and was suppose to fight again.
After the bout, my knee started to swell up and pain started to set in. I told my coach/trainer and withdrew from my next fight.
After a couple of days I got to a doctor and he dismissed it as sprained knee. I was only off work for a week and limp around work for a couple more weeks before I started training again. It was never the same. It always feels a little numb and I would barely jump when playing basketball because it has slipped a few times during training as well as playing basketball.
I was never in really bad pain with it, just a bit of discomfort. When the knee slips, it wasnt a really bad one because I was always taking it easy. I would normally stop playing basketball or take a break from training because it would have some pain and I would end up limping around.
Never really took any meds either, and just accepted it as a loose knee that I had to take it easy on. I competed many more times with it, came first place a few times and lost a few. It was my goal to fight in the ring for at least one fight but got a GF pregnant, had a kid and could not train as often anymore.
I tried snowboarding once that year before my injury and planned on taking it up the year after but that injury prevented me from even thinking about starting up snowboarding. Every once in awhile, my knee would still slip and it was always a scary feeling.
From around 2004, I didnt get any slippage from my knee and in 2009, I finally took on snowboarding with the wife and kids, which is 11 years after the injury. Sometime last summer, we were just shooting around basketball and played a litle 3 on 3 and when I pivot to make a move, the knee slipped again for the first time in a long time.
I just talked to my physiotherapist, who is working on my ankle, which is another injury I got from snowboarding. She said that if I dont want to get a surgery on my knee, since i'm not as active as I used to be when I was younger, I should consider getting a custom knee brace. Not cheap but hopefully with my medical insurance and my wife's, it gets covered. Suppose run around $1000 -$1200.