its all about the physio. the surgery i would say would only be about 30-50% of the work. the other 50% is stretching. icing, exercise. etc. and so forth. playing during his recovery doesnt help... my friend did an ACL recon and he cant play still because his physio was piece of crap, told him cant do this and that. in the end scar tissue built up at the site and so he's a bit messed up. going to do another surgery to remove the scarring and then go to a better physio. poor guy.