Anyone here torn their ACL with braces on?

You can still tear with them on, but the damage could be a lot worse without them.

Yes… I have… I wore braces for the last 15 year, after my first ACL tear while not wearing braces. Tore up  my other knee up with braces on…they may have helped me in some instances but mostly psychological to wear them… I stopped wearing them this summer and just wear the Pastrana pads. It’s sometimes hard to do but, the best way to  save your knees is to keep feet on pegs at all times….both times I tore mine up, I was crashing and stuck my leg out, the weight & force of the crash snapped my Acl”s ”s like twigs, no brace would have saved that…its basic instinct to stick leg out fir balance if you are about to fall, you have to retrain yourself to Not do that..I have since destroyed the knee I had repaired 15 years ago and now need TKR…. Dirt bikes are fun 👍

My kid did. I was riding up one hill when I saw someone cartwheeling on the down hill, my kid. The braces were on the old side and broke in the crash so all I can say is things may have been worse had he not been wearing them????

Timely thread, getting my 20 year old ACL tear fixed on Friday. Been wearing braces since the tear, on the fence about still using them this coming season. Also curious about general things like going back to work that isn't a desk job and integrating that with recovery. Been put off all these years because of that and the comfort that braces have brought.

I was very thankful for my Pods, I high sided while flat tracking a TTR125 during a race and my leg got caught between the ground and bars. My momentum sent me forward, and while I still had some damage done, the brace broke and absorbed the impact. Now if that had happened in moto, my knee would've been done, but cool to know it did good for me.

With that said, I'd rather break a femur than rebuild an acl all day everyday. 

I don't think carbon braces are the move, you want flex. So the poly K4's or the Axis Sport EVS is the move.

Yep. Tore mine in two years ago in a set of aluminum 661 braces. After the crash you could not get a healthy knee back into the brace the way it was bent. Damaged my tib/fib/femur and meniscus in the crash too. I stopped wearing braces after that and these days I wear the TP199 EVS pads. 

Left knee TKR, right knee no ACL, No braces would result in swelling and a few days of hard walking down stairs. With CTI braces I can ride a couple days in a row with no swelling. In my situation they provide support. In work on leg strength.  61, slow and hit "some" jumps

Let me ask this...I have no arthritis, yet. The doc didn't push for surgery, I have no pain on the daily. Still do all the same crap I always have. Is the recovery and risks worth the downtime and invasive nature of this surgery? Seems like I am looking for an excuse to bail on surgery

4 times....I stopped getting them fixed. I've also spent a ton of time in the gym making my legs strong and working on strength through full range of motion (Knees Over Toes Guy is the best thing to happen to me). 

Yep.

Don’t wear braces anymore either. 

Tore mine playing soccer and didn’t wear a brace after the fact for the next 2 years while racing and I don't think I’ll start. Plenty of foot dabs and still holding up fine,  Ultimately, they don’t protect you in one of the most dangerous motions…twisting. 

Thanks Marty. Cutting and dicing is something we talked about, I am very aware of those movements, not to say something couldn't happen though. I have had my knee go out a couple times, slipped on ice and so on, no consequences to this point after 20 years. You know if it is a direct landing/jumping straight, it is no big deal, but if there is any lateral movement, could be trouble. I should have gotten it done back in 04! I have maybe a day left to waffle on my surgery, will probably just do it...if the doctor acted like it was super important, I would be more enthusiastic i think.

Tore mine while wearing CTIs . Also tore meniscus in both knees while wearing them. 

I ended up just wearing the TP knee supports after that as my knees felt no more stable / solid with or without my braces vs the support sleeves and it seemed I had a better feel for the bike without them. 

Tore both mine with custom cti’s on!! They help but don’t prevent!

As my Ortho said when I asked him about braces after tearing my ACL/MCL, if braces did anything every Basketball and Football player would wear them. I got back up to 80% so have yet to have to get it repaired but I wear a POD on my bad knee. At worst it protects against hyper extension.

The time to get the surgery is when you can.  Think yes man.  There is going to be a time in life when you are not going to have the time, resources, convivence or any number of things that don't line up for you to have the procedure.  The cards of life constantly flip. If you have the time and means to get it fixed, in my opinion, from experience, that is the time to get it fixed.  Going ACL deficient sucks.  Not everyday but it catches up with you.  Your knee pops out and swells, there is a few days or even a week of suck.  Then you favor it, then your back hurts, then your walk changes, then your feet compensate.  Its a total domino effect that doesn't stop. Then when you finally give in after years of doing more and more damage to the knee, the surgery is not as successful and the recovery is not as great and your still programmed to favor the knee.  Because you have to.  And you think to yourself, Man, I wish I would have gotten this fixed when I had the chance.  Or so I've heard.  

I guess I'm the only one who had the brace break their lower leg and preserve the knee? I was wearing some older EVS braces with a thick metal bar on either side of the leg and a hinge at the knee. Good luck tearing anything in the knee with those things on. Yes they suck to wear and it's hard to move around in them, but I've still got good knees after 25 years of riding. 

I don't understand what people think those plastic/carbon ones or the thin aluminum ones are going to do lol. 

There is not many things more fun then preloading your suspension on the face of a big jump and springing up as hard as you can to clear it and have your knee pop out of place inside of a knee brace.  It hurts like hell because just like a knee brace helps to hold your knee in place, it will keep it from popping back in place.  You have to land with one foot on the peg, slam into the seat and try not to crash, dump your bike on the side of the track, peal your pants and boots in front of God knows who and rip the brace off as fast as you can to pop it back in.  Its happened to me a handful of times.  

I would say a lot of people have. Braces largely don't prevent the twisting motion that is often responsible for an ACL rupture. The only company even attempting to prevent this is Asterisk with the tether they provide to attach to your boot. With the tether attached, rotation of your boot (from dabbing your foot) would result in your entire leg rotating at the hip joint, which is far more durable and and able to rotate in ways your knee can't.

That being said, I ruptured the first 50% of my ACL without a brace, then finished it off at another race 4 months later while wearing braces. 

I wear the carbon PODs these days, but more importantly I workout my legs extensively week after week. Squats, RDLs, leg press, various hip adductor/abductor exercises, calf raises, etc. in the gym. A few core exercises too. Arms maybe once a week just to maintain. Mountain biking and running outside the gym.

Get your legs big, especially hamstrings. Hamstrings help protect the ACL.

No torn ACL here but torn meniscus many years ago that I ignored.  It would randomly cause instability and give out from time to time, plus my knees made all kinds of popping noises.  I also had problems after riding with swelling and my knees feeling fatigued.  I gave the knees-over-toes guy workouts a try and my knees are much better now, so I agree with the other recommendations to strengthen the legs.  No need to buy any special equipment, just try some of the range of motion exercises.

Going on about 15 years with no ACL in my right. Doesn’t bother me at all , knocks on wood, and Doc said you’ll know when it’s time. Said it’ll probably start slipping out of joint when sleeping at some point and that’ll be time. Said keep your quad and your hammy strong and you’ll be fine for now. 

People usually don't die from tearing their knee, femurs you can easily die from. They can tear your artery, or the bone marrow getting in your blood can make your organs shut down... We had a guy fall through a skylight onto a drill mill, snapped his femur. Ended up in ICU for 2 months, kidneys shut down twice. They were able to bring him back, but it was a year of hell, and 8 years later still not great. 

Yep, appreciate the pep talk. Pretty much the conclusion I had come to when scheduling, lucky enough to have a few months off before/after, probably won't happen again for quite some time. Just gonna do it. 

That has been my experience the last 20 years, been in great shape and it has saved me. Everything is aligned to just get it done(somewhat reluctantly), not stoked, but one less thing to swear subconsciously. Glad the OP started this thread, has made a real difference for me. Thanks for convo fellas.

I broke a Aserisk brace on my rt knee that was reconstructed. No knee damage but it fractured my femur, a little.  No biggy i just let it heal.  I didn’t go to the dr for 4 days . It kept swelling up real huge so then I went.  Big crash high speed sideways  3 times aprox the 4th maybe . A big hit then sideways flips with the bike. The bike broke the brace. 

I think you're making the right call on getting it done. I was in a similar boat and decided to get mine done about a year ago. I actually didn't know my ACL was torn when I was getting it checked out but it feels as good now as it has in a very long time. 

Good luck with recovery and work your ass off at PT. 

I have tore both knees up while wearing knee braces.

It's a very interesting topic, and i can see many guy torned their knee while wearing a brace.

My question would be, did any one of you torn his knees with the asterisk tether attached to your boots ? The tether attached to the boots is the only option i would take into consideration going with braces, but is it really effective on a twisting knee ?

Any experience out there ?

Thx