Well, that's not great.

MRI results are back. As suspected, the actual outcome was not great, essentially one of the "worst cases" I was hoping not to hear. 

ACL shows signs of complete tear ("less likely partial severe"). PCL intact. MCL unremarkable. LCL shows mild signs of chronic sprain mainly involving the proximal third of the ligament, but is well attached.

My medial meniscus has not one but two tears - bucket handle type tear with a meniscal flap subluxated medially and then a flp-type tear involving the meniscal body and anterior horn. My laterial meniscus is fine.

And then a 12x5x5mm intra-articular loose body is hanging out in my knee. 

The summary version was "extensive medial meniscal tear as discussed with a bucket-handle type component and tricompartmental osteoarthritis. Chronic complete (less likely partial severe) ACL tear".

Given the sports that I do, it's highly unlikely I will get away without ACL surgery, which is unfortunate given that it carries a 6-12 month recovery with it. I had been hoping for a relatively minor meniscal problem that would require arthroscopic surgery and 4-6 weeks of recovery. 

My physio says it's fairly remarkable that I've been able to play football given my injuries and says that if I'm able, I might as well keep doing it until I get surgery. I have a referral to the UofAs sports medicine clinic (it was set up before my MRI), so we'll see what happens with that now that I have my MRI results. My physio is also trying to help with setting me up with a surgical consult as quickly as possible. 

So between now and surgery, whenever it may happen, I will just keep trying to strengthen my quads and hamstrings as much as possible to go into surgery as strong as possible. And you know, accept the reality that I am trying to regain my strength in the present for no actual short term pay-off. I won't be competing in either strongman or powerlifting this year. I am looking at competing bench-only in the fall, as I could likely take the record provincially. And by likely I mean "I bench the current record for multiple reps" but I'd like to be able to take it into the 200s. We'll see. I'm working on putting together a program where I bench 2x a week instead of just once, since it's the only lift I have not really hampered by injury.