A research study found that 82% of people make a full recovery to return to sport.
The average ACL injury recovery time of this group is between 9-12 months.
However, for some people it could be less than 9 months and for others, more than 12 months.
There are many factors that influence recovery times that we will discuss later.
A study that looked at Professional Italian Footballers, showed an average recovery time of 7.6 months.
American National Football League players returned to play on average 11.5 months after ACL surgery.
The recovery time is dependent upon the sport played i.e. American Football is more physically demanding than soccer.
Another study analysed 234 athletes after ACL surgery and only 18.5% of them returned to sport within 6.5 months of rehabilitation.
A recent example is the return of professional soccer player Alex Oxlade-Chamberland with Liverpool Football Club. He returned to competitive action 1 year after surgery.
This is with having intense rehabilitation with the best Sports Physiotherapists, Strength and Conditioning Coaches, Doctors and facilities.
What these figures show, is that even with intense sports rehabilitation, an ACL injury recovery time is more realistic to be more than 9 months.