Got it ATW, I posted it for Some in my log when he asked here it is for Old and anyone who is interested, any other questions please feel free, again this was my experience and everyone is different.
My deal was I had it blown out playing football overseas, the docs sucked and said aaaahhh nothings wrong ride the stationary bike and get the sinovial fluids moving. Fuck them they were idiots. I had some buddies that are insane runners one with a hundred plus marathons and the other with a 2:39 Boston, they said come run with us... I was like dude No Way, my leg keeps folding up like a fucking lawn chair whenever I hit something uneven. They finally talked me into it they said LSD brother (Long Slow Distance) we'll run your pace, don't sweat it. I can't really mentally roll like that so I started off slow but I am mentally wrong about pushing myself and I started to up the distance. What I was thinking was strengthen the muscles and the leg will hold up as best it can. I ran my first marathon without the ACL. Meantime the meniscus and ACL are floating around grinding the shit out of the inside of my joint. Three years later I get to a new place and go straight to the Orthopods, the guy manipulates it a little and says yup you don't have an ACL. Now mind you my leg is pretty strong from running 100 mi a week for a couple of years. So I get a surgery date +3 months, I come up with the brilliant idea to make my injured leg GIANT LOL... seriously I lifted any exercise I could to make the quads and hams and calf and stabilizers strong and big. I went into the surgery with an abnormal imbalance. I was awake for the whole thing I read up on it and started immediately taking Glucosamine Sulfate and MSM and the toughest part was the ROM. They said ohhhh don't worry the hammy we harvest won't hurt. REALLY... LIE!!!! I would lay flat on my stomach with a beach towel around my foot and I would pull it up from behind and fucking cry like a little baby... MF'r hurt like hell. Then I started walking slow and scared, but quickly. Then I would do leg flexing clenches with my leg straight about 5,000 a day LOL... see not quite right in the head. Then I got some new running shoes all cushion and started walking faster and doing some weights super light but a ton of reps pushing the ROM daily but making sure to massage the knee and hammy all day. I was off work for a few weeks it helped big time. I used DMSO gel rubbed on the knee and Ibuprofen to try and get rid of the swelling tough thing to do right there. Then I started surfing again right away the ocean was awesome on it but still scary there are some pressures on the knee in directions not too safe. I pushed it allot I have to say and sometimes not smartly but the weights came up quickly and I got 1Rep at 1,000 at the month mark then I backed away from the big weights and focused on flexibility and strength. I have had a couple of scares since mind you it's been 12'ish years, year and a half ago squatting 315 on an uneven surface I felt a little hitch. Put that shit away and did a ton of walking, no problems since and I've really turned up the volume and weights since then. I'm always a little nervous and wrap on heavy weight squats. I watch how deep I go and am mindful at all times. I know everyone is different but this was my experience. If you have any questions fire away.