Anything beats the surgery if you can avoid it. My doctor had me wear a brace on my knee for 8 months when I tore all the cartilage away from the back of it to let it attach itself back to the bone naturally as he said if I had surgery on it, the knee would never be a strong and would possibly tear again. That was a long time ago when I played racket ball and was in the upper rankings. And even after it was completely healed it took me another six to eight months to not take it easy on that leg.
Ron
