Personal Narrative: My First ACL Tear

The doctor walked in. I quickly ask him, “What is wrong with my knee?” He replied, “Well it is not the worst thing that could have happened, but you did tear your meniscus.” This did not come as much of a surprise because I have had people telling me for the past two weeks that something probably had torn, most likely was my meniscus.

I have played soccer continuously from age 3 to 18. Four years ago, I tore my right ACL. I endured surgery and 6 months of physical therapy, then almost 2 years later to the day, I was told the same fate again. I had torn the ACL in my left knee this time. Why did this awful injury have to strike me twice? Once again, I endured the months of rehabilitation and soon returned to the field. Having to go through this twice as a teen taught me that perseverance and determination will help you achieve what you want in life. Even though I spent almost 2 years away from the field, I still made every effort to be there for my teammates. Some days I didn’t want to get out of bed because of the pain, I didn’t want to go to therapy, and I wanted to quit.

After tearing up my knee for a second time, I made many trips in and out of

In November of 2010, I was playing basketball in the fifth game of my senior season. It was just like any other game. However, I would soon find out otherwise. It was late in the game; I drove into the lane and got fouled hard. I was knocked so off-balance that I speared the floor with my knee. As soon as my knee hit the floor I heard a “snap” that I will never forget for the rest of my life. Little did I know at the time, that would be the last shot of my high school basketball career. Not long after my injury, I consulted a doctor. After getting an x-ray and an MRI, the doctor informed me that I had completely torn my ACL and would need to have surgery. An ACL tear can be a very devastating injury. The anterior cruciate

ACLs are one of the easiest injuries to get for athletes and average people alike, and a lot of people don't know what the ACL is or how to treat it until they tear it.

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

An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is the overstretching or tearing of the in the knee. This muscle is located just below the knee bone and the tear that occurs may be partial or complete. When you hear your ACL pop that’s a clear sign of a tear. Lots of people have surgery to get it repaired. It is about a year recovery of rehab. Many times when you tear your ACL, there’s no

These boots move the forces caused by a fall to the knee rather than the ankle or lower leg. The ACL injury usually occurs when the knee is forcefully twisted, or hyper-extended. Many patients recall hearing a loud pop when the ligament tears, and feel the knee give way. This injury has received a great deal of attention from orthopedic surgeons over the past 15 years and very successful operations to reconstruct the torn anterior cruciate ligament have been performed.

As many know, I had surgery this past week. Surgery is extremely rough, especially for those who have been constantly battling their problem. My knee has been a mystery for my doctor for over two years and I can not fathom why this crazy mishap happened to me of all people.These last two years have been the worst years of my life due to unexpected illnesses and surgeries.

It is time to speak about my injury that happened about two years ago. A lot of people nowadays ask me almost every day “Deshaun why don’t you play football for the M state Fergus Falls Spartans? “ and I tell them I didn’t get all of my football equipment in time, so the coach didn’t let me play, but in reality, I can’t play because I have a very bad back injury. So now for the people that are curious about what happened to my back here is my story from the beginning to the end.

In many cases, the symptoms that the patient feels after the trauma has occurred can help the doctor make his or her diagnosis. Many times a doctor will ask the patient to recall what happened after the injury was sustained. Usually with an ACL injury, the patient will describe a so-called pop or snap that he or she heard during the impact. Pain, which is not terribly excruciating, will immediately follow, and if the individual tries to stand, he or she will be faced with an overwhelming feeling of instability, the leg will buckle under, and the individual will ultimately fall down onto the ground. Although the patient is experiencing pain, he or she cannot point out exactly where the injury has occurred. Garrick states, “some people say that their knee shifts in position – which it actually does” (118). Other symptoms that may arise are stiffness and swelling which may continue for a long

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)

As I sat there and let the doctor examine my knee and diagnosis me with a “left knee sprain”. I started to cry. I already knew the outcome that I had a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). I tried to continue to play on it until one time I was playing in a tournament, and I went up to block a girls shot and landed on my

When an ACL tears it can be one of the most painful injuries and experiences an athlete can have in their sports career and is one of the worst muscles to be torn. ACL injuries most often occur during sporting events that involve sudden stops, jumping, awkward landings, “out of control play”, and sharp cuts- such as basketball, soccer, football, tennis, downhill skiing, volleyball, lacrosse, and gymnastics. When an injury to the ACL occurs, most people hear or feel a popping sensation in the knee.”I landed with my left knee locked, only to hear something akin to the popping of a paper bag filled with air or the snapping of a large rubber band, a sound so weirdly powerful that I couldn’t believe it was coming from inside my body”, said Mike Swift in his article about ACL tears in the Hartford Courant newspaper, as he describes how it felt when he tore his ACL playing basketball. Along with the popping sensation the knee may also swell, and feel unstable and become too painful to bear weight on it. When an ACL tears it can bring an extreme amount of pain to the person. “Still, even after the swelling subsided, my knee didn’t feel right”, also said by Mike Swift in his article. When an ACL tears it can either be really painful right then and there or you won’t even feel pain at all. “I had felt the bones separate inside the joint in a way they never had before. But I wasn’t

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,