Tore my ACL snowboarding, a few months later finished it off skating in the rain.
The doctor (who also did sports surgery for NFL players) gave me 3 choices,
A- get surgery, and not skate/snowboard for a year.
B- get a brace, and skull do sports, but have the small muscles in my knee atrophy from depending on the brace, and
C- work out on my knee and build up the muscles around it. The knee is only weak when it’s hyper-extended, when it’s bent and muscles are flexed it’s pretty stable.
I went with option 3 for about 6-7 years, then finally decided to get surgery.
The recovery sucked, but it can be lessened by building up muscle beforehand. I had ligament from my kneecap inserted (the other main way is attaching the hamstring to the back of the knee, but apparently that cuts down on flexibility).
I skate roughly the same as before (shitty), but at the beginning of snowboard season my knee tends to swell up due to the pressures put on it).
Other than that, it’s been fine.
Oh, and free, as I am Canadian.