Dr. Jeffrey GladdenFounder & CEO of Gladden Longevity

ACL Repair with Collagen Implant 🤯

10 Jul 2026 · 1 min

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1:07

In this segment, the speaker explains the Bridge-Enhanced ACL Restoration (BEAR) procedure pioneered by Dr. Martha Murray. The technique uses a collagen implant soaked in the patient’s own blood, which is sewn between the torn ends of the ACL. The implant remains for about eight weeks, during which time new blood vessels, cells, and nerves grow across the gap, allowing the ligament to heal while preserving the native proprioceptive nerve fibers. The speaker contrasts BEAR with traditional ACL reconstruction, noting that reconstruction patients are equally likely to tear the opposite knee or re‑tear the repaired knee, whereas BEAR maintains proprioception and, according to animal studies and FDA‑reviewed human data, significantly reduces the risk of post‑traumatic arthritis. The FDA has approved the procedure for human use based on these findings.

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So the BEAR surgery, Bridge Enhanced ACL Restoration or Repair, Dr. Martha Murray, I did not, I do not take credit for developing this. Dr. Martha Murray at Boston Children's, she came up with a collagen implant that is soaked in your own blood and sewn in between the two torn ends. And it won't dissolve right away. The body will slowly dissolve it, but it takes 8 weeks. So during that 8 weeks, that's enough time for your new blood vessels and cells and, and and nerves to grow back across and heal that ACL. So now you keep your own parts. And importantly, like you said, you keep the proprioceptive nerve fibers, your position nerve fibers. So I think that's one of the reasons why if you don't have good proprioception, maybe that knee's gonna degenerate or maybe you're gonna put more stress on your other knee. And people who have an ACL reconstruction are just as likely to tear their other knee as they are to retear the knee that they— Yeah. Yeah. Whereas if you do the BEAR, number one, It prevent— the animal studies shows that it prevents arthritis. And now the FDA has come out after the human studies and human— it's out there in humans for long enough that it does lessen the risk of post-traumatic arthritis significantly.