Quad tendon ACL graft

[BadGalSkiier]

I just posted another thread but I have another question. I am having my right ACL reconstructed with my quad tendon in a few weeks. Anyone else have a quad tendon graft? I hope I am making the right choice. The doc does not want to disrupt my hamstrings and in my case is worried about patella fracture if I use my patellar tendon. Just wondering what rehab is like after a quad tendon harvest. Thankfully I have nice big quads and a bone block can be harvested on one end.

Thanks

[drmark]

I have had excellent results with the quad graft, but the patella tendon grafts allows a faster and less painful rehab. The quad graft is never my first choice, but always my second choice. Typically, I harvest the opposite sided quad graft when it is available. There is little reason to take bone with it, because bone on one side is really no stronger or durable a construct than bone on no side. A chain, remember, is no stronger than the weakest link.

In a female athlete, the hamstrings are typically puny compared to the quads and I never harvest them because they are the natural ally of the ACL and on that basis, they are are best left where they are.