In April 2012 I tore my ACL. I tried to just let it go (I didn't know) but it persisted. My normal doctor sent me in for an MRI, which came back that the ACL was indeed torn. Off to the Orthpedic folk.
Dr Dungy saw me and I must admit, he was quite personable. He doesn't have that holier than though doctor attitude.
With that said, I wished he was a little more upfront with what my options were. I'm just a laymen and I don't know what I need. Let me explain - my ACL is torn but it generally doesn't buckle or anything. It is generally constantly tight and thus I don't do any bowling, hiking, or running anymore in fear of hurting it. Because it wasn't causing me any bad discomfort he kind of steered me in the way of physical therapy. However, from what I'm reading if I ever want to do any of the above activities my only real chance is surgery as ACLs never heal. Physical therapy is only good to strengthen the muscles and tissues around the ACL to hold it in place for general activities.
So I'm probably looking at surgery.