Bob M,
I have had a "long term" torn ACL,
, have had three scopes to clean up the miniscus and wear a Don Joy brace (the latest in a series of braces). It works fine. I never had the recon although one of my office colleagues did and it took him about a yr to "fully" recover. He is an avid tennis player and the reconstructed knee does great. I was never willing to invest the year.