@logan.lakos: For anyone new here, I’m 29 years old, live in Denver, Colorado, and completely obliterated my ACL and meniscus playing soccer this summer 😭🥴 I played soccer collegiately, but that was years ago now, and I really probably should have hung up the cleats by this point. But I refused 😂 Instead, I’ve continued playing competitively with a Sunday men’s league team for most of my twenties The league is fast, competitive and full of good players. The problem is that when I’m not training enough or maintaining a certain level of fitness year-round, I’ll occasionally get caught up in the moment during a game and my brain will start thinking I’m still 19 years old and in the best shape of my life. Then it tries to do something my body is absolutely not prepared to do 😂 Welp, that training deficit finally caught up to me during a game this summer. I tried to hit a high-speed juke while dribbling against a defender. My body went one way, my left leg went another, and that was all she wrote 🏹 Long story short, I completely tore my ACL and damaged my medial meniscus along with it There’s a lot of debate around whether or not to get surgery after an ACL tear, and there isn’t one decision that’s right for everyone. Once you tear up your knee, there’s also never a guarantee that you’ll return to your pre-injury self, with or without surgery For me, the choice was either to pursue rehabilitation without surgery and potentially accept that I might never return to soccer or some of the other activities I love in quite the same way, or undergo surgery and give myself the best possible chance of returning to the life I want I still want to run marathons and ultramarathons. I want to hike mountains and volcanoes, ski, snowboard, travel the world, play sports and just be an overall “yes” man That might sound slightly unreasonable to the “normal” person, but there was no way I was going to spend the rest of my life wondering what could have been So I chose a full ACL reconstruction using a bone-patellar tendon-bone autograft, along with a medial meniscus repair. I’m accepting the short-term pain for the potential long-term gain, knowing that nothing is guaranteed and that this is going to require a ridiculous amount of work This entire experience has been a massive reality check. You only get one body, and if I want to keep living the life I’m planning, I need to take care of it and build legs that feel bulletproof for the decades ahead And one of the hardest parts mentally has been cardio and not being able to run around, work up a sweat or stay active in the ways that normally make me feel like myself The rowing machine has become one of the most helpful tools in my recovery. It’s not a replacement for running or more intense cardio, but it gives me a slow and controlled way to get my heart rate up and break a sweat I keep my surgical leg in its brace with my foot resting on a small gliding disc on the floor instead of strapping it into the rower. That allows my leg to slide gently without forcing it into the rowing movement If you are one of the 5% of people who actually made it to the end of this caption, you’re a real one 🫶 Follow me and follow along for the comeback because I’m sharing the entire journey, including the setbacks, wins and everything I’m learning along the way And if you’re going through something similar or trying to decide whether surgery is the right path for you, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I can’t make that decision for anyone else, but I’m always happy to share my experience and what the process has been like for me. Other people’s experiences have helped me tremendously, and hopefully mine can help someone else too ❤️ -Logan #acl #aclsurgery #aclrecovery #meniscusrepair #comeback

Logan Lakos

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Region: US

Friday 28 August 2026 23:15:51 GMT