ACL: The Injury That Changed My Life

Growing up in a house with all boys in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, I was taught to be tough and injuries were very common but easily shaken off. When it came to sports, I would put all my time and effort into one thing: soccer. Soccer was always a true passion of mine; as a matter of fact, it was more of a lifestyle than just a sport. I would spend weekends traveling around my local area playing the game I loved with people I enjoyed being with. My teammates became like my second family after countless seasons and we did almost everything together off the soccer field. The idea of putting on my jersey and lacing up my cleats was a moment I would not trade for the world and something I would never take for granted.

Up until two years ago I had no idea what I was going to study in college let alone where I wanted to go. All I knew was that wherever I ended up I wanted to pursue playing the sport I love at a very competitive level. Tearing my ACL has allowed me to realise that I do not need to play soccer in college but that, I can seek a career in the sport by educating kids on how to prevent a major injury such as a ACL tear.

There are different techniques that repair a torn ACL. The popular method for surgeons is the patellar tendon graft procedure. This type of ACL replacement uses the middle third of the person’s own patellar tendon and replacing the damage tendon with it. The advantages are that the fixation is very strong and the patellar tendon replacing

Have you ever felt pain so bad, but you push through it and ignore it ? Have ever wanted to help out your team but couldn’t ? Well I have experienced both it’s a terrible feeling and in my eyes it’s considered a failure to let down your team. How, I let down my team and myself is quite simple and here is how I hurt my knee, but first i'm going to tell you a little about soccer, why I played it, and then i'm going to explain how I hurt it and how it’s a failure to me and how did it affect me.

Breaking News! Breaking News! During the second preseason game Green Bay Packers WR Jordy Nelson tore his anterior cruciate ligament ACL. While he was actively running his routes during the game the ball was thrown his way as he planted his foot - the pop was heard like a gunshot as his knee pulled one way and the rest of his leg the other. We got more Packers injuries as we now hear that Sam Shields Packers CB has a bad concussion and is likely out for the season. Sam was tackling a player and instead of hitting the ground normally he hit his head on the ground and that caused his brain to shake inside his skull.

Each year, approximately a quarter of a million physically active young people experience an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, and seventy percent of these ACL injuries will be sustained while engaging in non-contact activities such as sudden deceleration while landing (Begalle et al., 2012). This type of injury is grossly detrimental not only on the occasion in which it occurs but also for the subsequent years to come. The majority of individuals who injure their ACL also go on to either, re-injure that same ACL, or injure the opposite knee. Furthermore, our bodies are put in tremendously vulnerable planes of motion during sporting events, especially during activities such as, basketball, football, or soccer. In this day

Hearing the pop of my knee was the last sound I wanted to hear while kicking a soccer ball during tryouts junior year. I fell straight to the ground, and knew instantly something was terribly wrong. To this day, I recall how heartbroken I was when I heard the news that I tore my ACL, and I never thought it could happen to me. Just the thought of not playing sports that year was emotionally difficult because sports have always been a part of my life. I could not imagine a year without participating in athletics, however at the time I did not know it could have a positive impact on me.

Growing up, sports never seemed to be my expertise. Dancing my youth away, I never imagined to show passion for such an intrusive contact sport. My friends continued to nag at me saying “You have to try out for the soccer team.” My first year of middle school I stepped out onto the field. Occasionally forgetting to breathe,I focused right on the ball. I started to think to myself that I could get used to this. I mean how bad could it be? What I didn’t realize was I did not have much soccer skills under my belt, but making the team already was an accomplishment. I respected the captains when they talked, and I tried, day after day, to pick up the skills they possessed.

Growing up I had focused on competitive soccer. Soccer challenged me both physically and mentally and I learned to love these demands on the field. These challenges helped me foster a self-confidence in myself when it came to athletics. When I fractured my tibia playing against my rival high school, sending my knee cap into my thigh, I was faced with a new test. The sport that I loved was taken away from me for an extended period of time and it took away part of my identity. Who was I without soccer?

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament also known as the ACL is deemed the most commonly torn ligament in the knee and can result from both contact and noncontact injuries. Most Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries result from an extreme force on the lateral side of the person’s knee causing a valgus force which pushes the knee inward (Kisner & Colby, 2012, pp. 802-803). This injury to the side of the knee can also cause a “Terrible Triad” injury which also injures both the medial meniscus and the medial collateral ligament (Kisner & Colby, 2012, p. 803). Our textbook further states that “the most common noncontact mechanism is a rotational mechanism in which the tibia is externally rotated on the planted foot….this mechanism can account for as many as 78% of all ACL injuries” (Kisner & Colby, 2012, p. 803). If the person does not seek medical help with this injury they are susceptible to also injuring the remaining support ligaments as well. Patients usually present with joint effusion; possibly 25 degrees of flexion, joint swelling if blood vessels are involved, limited ROM, stress pain and instability along with quads avoidance gait patterns (Kisner & Colby, 2011, p. 208)

In this paper I will be researching ACL injuries in sports. Along with what causes these injuries to happen, how they can be prevent and if the footwear we use as athletes can make these injuries more or less likely to happen to us. I will also be looking closely into the reoccurring ACL injury in which Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls has been suffering from for the past few years.

Grade 1 ACL sprain is the slightest extreme of all the ACL sprains the muscle is harmed yet just a bit. It has been marginally extended, however the ACL is still ready to keep the knee stable and can work without a support. Grade 2 ACL sprain is the point at which the muscle is extended to the point where it turns out to be free. This is alluded to as a fractional tear of the ligament. Grade 3 ACL sprains is a finished tear of the ACL and is the most serious of the considerable number of sprains. The muscle has been part into two pieces and the knee joint is not ready to work without a support. Incomplete tears of the foremost cruciate ligament are not regular most ACL wounds are finished or practically finish tears. (American Foundation of Orthopedic Specialists)

Page Description: ACL surgery is one of the best treatment options for ACL tear. There may be other injuries in the knee like torn meniscus along with ACL tear. Reconstruction surgery can be helpful as suggested by the orthopedic surgeon.

This essay deals with the current treatments, rehabilitation procedures and onsets following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Within this essay, there will be information including the causes, characteristics, and symptoms of ACL injuries. Throughout the United States, there are estimated to be 200,000 ACL injuries per year with 100,000 of those injuries being treated through ACL reconstruction (Evans, Shaginaw, & Bartolozz, 2014). With a satisfactory ACL reconstruction outcome between 75%-97%. From the 10%-15% failure rate of ACL reconstruction, the primary fault is due to technical mistakes at 70% (Samitier, Marcano, Alentorn-Geli, Cugot, Former, & Moser,

Prior to considering graft and hardware removal at least 2 arthroscopic procedures are reasonable for management of an infected ACL reconstruction.