Researchers at Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Sports Medicine Research Center believe ACL injuries need a full two years to heal, according to CBS Minnesota.
Here are four things to know:
1. Physicians traditionally advise ACL patients wait six to 12 months post-surgery before returning to their sport.
2. Researchers at Mayo believe the body needs two years to fully recover from reconstructive surgery on the ACL.
3. Athletes returning to their sport in under two years risk not having regained knee and hip balance and may have a higher risk of re-injury.
4. The physicians acknowledge every patients recovers on his or her own timeline.
Mayo Clinic Sports Medicine Research Center Director Timothy Hewett, MD, said, "If you look at the recovery of things like proprioception, sensation of your knee joint, they don't return until about two years after the injury…So you don't sense the joint as well. You don't control your body as well."
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