7 essential questions to consider when weighing up surgery
Been rehabbing an injury for awhile? It can be tough to know when it’s time to have surgery. Here’s some things to keep in mind when weighing up that important decision.
For regular readers of the blog, you’ll know I have been rehabbing a knee injury since January 2020. What bad luck! First game of the season, second quarter in, and I put too much force through my knee landing from a jump while playing netball. The outcome: a complete tear of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and partial tear of my medial collateral ligament.
After doing some research, speaking with physios, surgeons and others who had suffered the same fate, I opted for the non-operative (ie. no surgery) route. There’s been a shift in mindset over recent years with evidence-based studies showing that surgery may not be required for this injury. It’s an alternative that many now favour, including physicians and rehabilitation specialists.
Knowing the invasiveness of the surgery, I was more than happy to rehab the crap out of my knee. And I was doing well! Until the setbacks started stacking up, and MRIs started showing more damage to my knee joint due to ongoing instability.
After 15 months of dedicated rehab, I made the tough decision to undergo an ACL reconstruction. I am now just over 2 weeks post-op and am in the steady routine of icing and daily rehab exercises to build quad strength. What follows next is more months of the exact same rehab I’ve churned out for the past year.
While I am now at ease with my decision, there was a lot of mental processing that went on to get to this outcome. If you’re currently rehabbing an injury and are unsure of what to do next, this might help.
Here are seven simple questions to start the clarity process about whether surgery is right for you.
- What kind of lifestyle do you want to live?
- Are you living it now, regardless of the injury?
- Is surgery a viable option in terms of cost, wait time, recovery support?
- What activities are you happy to forgo/swap?
- Are there activities which are non-negotiable?
- What does the clinical evidence say about short and long-term outcomes post-surgery?
- How does it stack up against the clinical evidence with opting for no surgery?
These are all questions I asked myself and ultimately it was (1) and (5) that were my deciding factor. My injury is the kind that is limiting my ability to hike, run and dance. All things that in my mind, I should be able to do well into my late 60s if not longer! Cutting it short by 20 years is simply not an option.
Like every decision, it is a personal one that must work for you and your circumstances. If you’d like to swap stories, feel free to send me a direct message via Instagram.
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Stay injury free,
Maryanne K
