This was the 4th surgery on my left knee. The first two (way back in the late 80's) were to remove cartilage damage. The next one was to replace a torn ACL. The ACL replacement back in 96 was a horrible experience. The Dr. pulled a ligament from the knee cap and used it to reconstruct the ACL. This lasted about 4 years when it tore again. I limped around for 8 years after that, not wanting to go thru the ACL surgery again. Well, over 8 years of limping the damage was so bad that I had to go to several Ortho surgeons. I had the injections and that lasted about a month and was quite painful. Several of the Ortho Docs did not seem that knowledgeable. and they just wanted to jump in and do the replacement. After visiting Dr. Tarlow, he seemed to know what he was doing and took the time to do a real analysis. He did the full replacement and it's great. Best choice I could've made.