The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently had an article about a kid that had played two seasons of high school football with a torn ACL.
From the article:
“We kept it quiet for obvious reasons,” said Mihalik. “That’s not necessarily something that you want your opponents to know. But, Brendan has been OK with it and the doctors have told him he can’t damage the knee any further and that he could play as long as he could stand the pain. I felt that people needed to know what kind of courage this kid has. It’s a remarkable story.”
…
“The doctor showed me the MRI and there was this big, dark spot where my ACL was supposed to be,” he said. “He told me it was completely torn, gone. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be able to play my senior year that I cried for 15 minutes. I was a mess. I felt like I wanted to throw up. Finally, he told me that I could play as long as I could handle the pain and he gave me a brace to wear.”
Link http://www.cleveland.com/hssports/blog.ssf/2008/11/aurora_qb_brendan_gallagher_gr.html
It seems to me that whenever I hear of a professional athlete tearing an ACL, he is out of action for a substantial amount of time. If there truly is no risk of causing further damage, why not tough it out and continue to play? I realize one would be slowed, but this kid still lead his team to and won the State Championship. Why couldn’t Tom Brady suck it up and keep playing? He was never noted as being mobile anyway. Perhaps his injury was more severe. Maybe I haven’t paid close enough attention and some pros do continue to play with a torn ACL. Has anybody heard of a professional athlete (Tiger Woods aside as he is inhuman) playing through the pain to help his team?
I’m coming of an ACL reconstruction (cadaver), and just got cleared a couple weeks ago to start playing racquetball again. I’m not allowed full contact until 8 months out (I’m at about 6 now). My doc has coauthored journal articles recently, so is on the cutting edge of sports medicine. He is also the ortho doc for the U.S. Ski team.
He has told me that the research shows that coming back six months out can lead to stretching* of the ACL, and has found that those people have a higher rate of reinjury than those that wait a full eight months.
I don’t understand how there’s no risk of further damage, though; it’s my understanding that lack of an ACL puts more stress on the meniscus and cartilage in the knee, not to mention the unpleasantness of the knee popping out of place.
That being said, the ACL isn’t essential to daily activities. It holds the knee in place during pivoting more than anything. My dad went 13 years without an ACL before he finally went to a doc that ordered an MRI. If the muscles are strong enough around the knee, they can to the work of the ACL, but it’s still very risky. Heck, I wasn’t even allowed to jog for four months after my surgery, and I was on a cane between my injury and my surgery. Fortunately for me, I didn’t have any peripheral damage.
The part of the article that hit home the most for me, personally, was when he described the doc pointing to a big dark spot where his ACL used to be. I knew exactly what was wrong, but having it confirmed really sucked.
A University of Colorado quarterback, Koy Detmer, tried to do this in the Mid 90’s. He was assured he could not injure it worse, and he decided to try it. In his first game after tearing the ACL, he went back to pass, tried to spin to avoid a tackler, and collapsed in a heap. I don’t think the braces back then are what they are today.
He had the surgery, recovered, played again the next season and had a ten year career in the NFL as a backup QB and holder.
Generally, if there’s no other damage, the immediate recovery from the actual tearing of an ACL is pretty short; a week or three for swelling to go down (at the end of that the knee is OK, just without an ACL). The eight months recovery is after the surgery to replace the ACL.
Now, the ACL is generally active only during twisting and turning movements. Some exceptional people have strong enough muscles and knees shaped just right so they can plant and twist without using the ACL to keep their knee in joint (I think my doctor mentioned that there are some pro athletes in this situation). Sounds like this kid was one of them.
But it’s strange to hear that the doctor thinks there was no risk. If his knee did pop out, there’s a chance of tearing up the cartilage in the knee, which could end up being something that couldn’t ever be fixed perfectly.
And certainly for most people, trying to play without an ACL will lead to falling down every time you tried to corner or turn with weight on that leg, with the risk of tearing up more of the knee. OK for a head coach to stand on the sideline without one, but for most players, not a real option.
Bengals safety Marvin White tore his ACL and his MCL in the loss against the Ravens yesterday during the game, continued to play on it and only found out afterwards what happened.
I did both my knees and then had them reconstructed then ruptured them both on separate occasions within two years of having them done when I was 24. At 32 I now play indoor soccer, Aussie rules football, basketball and cricket and don’t have a problem, although one turn wrong and it could give way anytime… Having six years of no sport which requires sharp turning and pivoting I think was key to me playing with two ruptured ACLs now and still being competitive. The first year after ruptures knees would nearly give way anywhere but then it slowly disappeared. I enjoy every minute I play now because I know it could be my last…
I doubt they were complete tears then; having had a complete MCL tear before, I can say that there’s no doubt that it’s torn- you can stand on it, as long as there’s no pressure making your knee want to buckle inward (medial?). If there is, it buckles, and no amount of muscle strength helps with that.
I found it really hard to stand and pee when my MCL was torn- putting my feet shoulder width apart put enough pressure on that part of my knee joint to make it buckle without a MCL, and then I’d end up peeing the wall as I stumbled.