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Expert list · Last reviewed April 17, 2026

Best Orthopaedic Surgeons for ACL Reconstruction in Indiana

Orthopaedic surgeons in Indiana with proven depth in ACL and ligament reconstruction, sports medicine research, and complex knee surgery.

Indiana has a small but deep bench of orthopaedic surgeons whose published work on ACL and ligament reconstruction places them among the more referenced knee specialists in the Midwest — here is where to start your search.

An ACL tear is one of the most common season-ending knee injuries in sports, and the surgeon you pick shapes what recovery looks like for the next year. The surgeons below share three things: sports medicine training, published research that has shaped how torn ligaments are reconstructed, and privileges at Indiana hospitals that do high volumes of knee surgery. Several also treat the injuries that travel with an ACL tear — meniscus damage, MCL sprains, and cartilage defects — under one operative plan.

Jourdan Cancienne

Jourdan Cancienne, MD

Rush Oak Park Hospital

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Dr. Cancienne practices in Munster and operates across Rush Oak Park, Elmhurst, and Silver Cross Hospitals. His clinical work covers sports medicine knee reconstruction, arthroscopy, and joint preservation for active adults. He has produced a widely cited body of work on how steroid injections before surgery change infection risk [2, 4] and on post-operative pain and opioid use after knee procedures 3, research that shapes how surgeons time ACL reconstruction in patients who have already tried conservative care.

Thomas Klootwyk

Thomas Klootwyk, MD

St Josephs Hospital

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Dr. Klootwyk practices in Carmel and holds privileges at St Josephs, Hancock Regional, and Good Samaritan. He focuses on knee ligament reconstruction, sports injuries, and cartilage work. His 1998 American Journal of Sports Medicine paper on intercondylar notch width 7 is still cited when clinicians discuss why some athletes — especially women with narrow notches — tear an ACL in the first place, and his follow-up work on accelerated rehab after patellar tendon graft reconstruction 9 helped prove that patients could return to motion earlier than old protocols allowed.

Jorge Chahla

Jorge Chahla, MD, PHD

Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery, Rush University Medical Center

South Suburban Surgical Suites

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Dr. Chahla is an Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Rush University Medical Center and sees Indiana patients in Munster through South Suburban Surgical Suites and Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush. His practice centers on complex knee reconstruction — primary and revision ACL, multi-ligament injuries, meniscus transplant, and cartilage restoration. If your knee injury involves more than one ligament or prior surgery that failed, his operative volume in that space is unusual for the region.

Timothy Hamby

Timothy Hamby, M.D.

Wabash General Hospital 1

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Dr. Hamby practices in Evansville and holds privileges at Wabash General, Ascension St. Vincent Indianapolis, and Gibson General. His published work covers autologous chondrocyte implantation for patellofemoral cartilage injuries 11 and sports-related osteochondral damage 12 — the kinds of bone-and-cartilage problems that frequently show up alongside a ligament tear. For southern Indiana patients who need combined ligament and cartilage work close to home, he is a reasonable first call.

Stephen Kollias

Stephen Kollias, MD

Hendricks Regional Health

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Dr. Kollias practices in Fishers and operates at Hendricks Regional Health, Henry Community Health, and Ascension St. Vincent Indianapolis. His clinical interests include knee ligament injuries, meniscal repair, and sports-related foot and ankle problems. His early paper on functional rehabilitation for isolated MCL injuries 13 is often referenced when surgeons decide whether a ligament tear needs an operation at all, and his writing on meniscal repair 15 reflects a bias toward preserving tissue rather than removing it.

Michael Knesek

Michael Knesek, MD

Margaret Mary Health

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Dr. Knesek practices in Crown Point with privileges at Margaret Mary Health and Community Hospital. He treats shoulder and knee sports injuries, including labral tears, patellar instability, and ligament reconstruction. His research on osteochondral injury after patellar dislocation in young patients 18 is directly relevant to adolescent athletes with unstable knees, and his randomized work on non-opioid pain control after hip arthroscopy 20 points to a practice focused on faster, cleaner recoveries.

What to look for in an orthopaedic ligament surgeon

  • Board certification in orthopaedic surgery, ideally with a sports medicine fellowship
  • High annual volume of ACL and multi-ligament reconstructions
  • Privileges at a hospital or surgery center that does same-day discharge safely
  • Clear protocol for physical therapy and return to sport
  • Experience with the graft type you want (patellar tendon, hamstring, quadriceps, or allograft)
  • Accepts your insurance and has a reasonable wait for a first appointment

Questions to ask before your first appointment

  • How many ACL reconstructions do you do each year?
  • What graft do you recommend for a patient my age, and why?
  • If my meniscus is torn, will you repair it or remove the damaged part?
  • What is your re-tear rate, and how does it compare to published benchmarks?
  • How long before I can walk without a brace, drive, and return to sport?
  • Who manages my rehab, and how often will I see them?

The bottom line

Use this list to build a short list of two or three consultations, not to pick a surgeon sight unseen. Ask your primary care doctor or sports medicine physician for a referral, bring your MRI images and report to the visit, and weigh volume, graft philosophy, and rehab support together. If your injury is complex — a revision, a multi-ligament tear, or a combined cartilage problem — prioritize the surgeons on this list whose published work maps to your specific injury.

Sources

  1. 1.
    Ambulatory Total Shoulder Arthroplasty: A Comprehensive Analysis of Current Trends, Complications, Readmissions, and Costs — Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, 2017. DOI
  2. 2.
    Does Timing of Previous Intra-Articular Steroid Injection Affect the Post-Operative Rate of Infection in Total Knee Arthroplasty? — The Journal of Arthroplasty, 2015. DOI
  3. 3.
    Narcotic Use and Total Knee Arthroplasty — The Journal of Arthroplasty, 2017. DOI
  4. 4.
    The Timing of Total Hip Arthroplasty After Intraarticular Hip Injection Affects Postoperative Infection Risk — The Journal of Arthroplasty, 2015. DOI
  5. 5.
    Risk factors for revision surgery following primary adult spinal deformity surgery in patients 65 years and older — Journal of Neurosurgery Spine, 2016. DOI
  6. 6.
    The use of xenogeneic small intestinal submucosa as a biomaterial for Achille's tendon repair in a dog model — Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, 1995. DOI
  7. 7.
    The Relationship Between Intercondylar Notch Width of the Femur and the Incidence of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Tears — The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1998. DOI
  8. 8.
    Cryotherapy and Transcutaneous Electric Neuromuscular Stimulation Decrease Arthrogenic Muscle Inhibition of the Vastus Medialis After Knee Joint Effusion. — PubMed, 2002.
  9. 9.
    Ligament Stability Two to Six Years After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction with Autogenous Patellar Tendon Graft and Participation in Accelerated Rehabilitation Program — The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1995. DOI
  10. 10.
    Correlation of the intercondylar notch width of the femur to the width of the anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments — Knee Surgery Sports Traumatology Arthroscopy, 1999. DOI
  11. 11.
    Treatment of patellofemoralarticular cartilage injuries with autologous chondrocyte implantation — Operative Techniques in Sports Medicine, 2002. DOI
  12. 12.
    Sports-Related Osteochondral Injuries: Clinical Presentation, Diagnosis, and Treatment — Primary Care Clinics in Office Practice, 2005. DOI
  13. 13.
    Treatment of Isolated Medial Collateral Ligament Injuries in Athletes with Early Functional Rehabilitation — The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1994. DOI
  14. 14.
    Fibular Grooving for Recurrent Peroneal Tendon Subluxation — The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 1997. DOI
  15. 15.
    MENISCAL REPAIR — Clinics in Sports Medicine, 1996. DOI
  16. 16.
    IMAGING OF THE SPINE — Andalas University Repository (Andalas University), 2010.
  17. 17.
    Etiology, identification, and treatment of ganglion cysts of the shoulder — Current Opinion in Orthopedics, 1998. DOI
  18. 18.
    Osteochondral Injury After Acute Patellar Dislocation in Children and Adolescents — Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics, 2013. DOI
  19. 19.
    Diagnosis and Management of Superior Labral Anterior Posterior Tears in Throwing Athletes — The American Journal of Sports Medicine, 2012. DOI
  20. 20.
    Efficacy of Celecoxib for Early Postoperative Pain Management in Hip Arthroscopy: A Prospective Randomized Placebo‐Controlled Study — Arthroscopy The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, 2017. DOI
  21. 21.
    New Developments in the Use of Biologics and Other Modalities in the Management of Lateral Epicondylitis — BioMed Research International, 2015. DOI
  22. 22.
    Shoulder Arthroplasty Outcomes in Patients With Multiple Reported Drug Allergies — Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016. DOI

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