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Message: [QUOTE="JRRRJ, post: 2602115, member: 1303"] "Some athletes" would likely not include elite athletes who put massive stress on the knee when accelerating, decelerating and changing direction (which involves both ;^), who may not take the time to apply the brace correctly [I]every single time[/I] they play or practice, and who face possible loss of pride, fame and/or money if it doesn't work. The brace didn't work for me and I'm far from elite. I am anal enough to have religiously learned the technique for brace application and enamored enough of my tennis to have paid attention putting it on every time I played -- only 3-4 times a week for me vs. what 5-10 times for one of these girls. But I ended up with a torn right lateral meniscus when the knee went out. Thirty percent of it had to be removed. I had a superb surgeon for the ACL replacement and my knee is actually a bit tighter than the undamaged one. But every now and then, I do something that causes the meniscus to flare up and the knee gets tender and swells a bit. Replacing an ACL, whether with a tendon taken from a cadaver or from the patient's patellar tendon, is nowadays a low-risk surgery. Computer guidance of drills and the visualizations of the operation in progress result in very good to excellent joint fits, even if the surgeon isn't superb (my experience was 15 years ago). Depends on the damage that's already been done, but likely the decision would come down to "is not having 3-6 months of rehab worth the risk of doing more damage to the knee?". And I think the risk for most elite athletes would be significant. [/QUOTE]

Verification: First name of men's bb coach