What Is the Outlook for This ACL Injury?

Question by celtic girl: What is the outlook for this ACL injury?
Last weekend, a good friend of mine injured her ACL in a soccer game. The ambulance had to come and get her, she had X-rays, a brace, crutches, everything. She hasn’t had an MRI yet, but a doctor checked her out and ran some tests and told her that she tore it. They aren’t sure how bad, but my coach (who has experience, seeing as he has torn his ACL in both knees) and a team sports medicine professional both believe, because of the mechanics of the injury and what she said, that it isn’t a complete knee blowout. Maybe a minor or partial tear.

Already, she is walking without crutches, and it’s been only a week (she hurt it saturday). She can fully extend and straighten her leg when she is sitting on the ground, and bend it to about 45 degrees before it starts it hurt. In two weeks, she will be getting a cadaver graft surgery, and will start rehab immediately after.
She is in excellent shape, with strong quads, hamstrings, and calf muscles. She’s also one of the toughest people I’ve ever met, so if she really works at rehab, is there anyway she can return to play quicker? I know she won’t be at the level she used to be, but the thing she wants more than anything is to be able to compete again before she is done with soccer (she is a senior, and won’t be playing in college, but we play until April.)

Anyone who has had experience with this sort of thing, can you provide any advice? Please and thank you.

Best answer:

Answer by NextRightGuy
Only a few years ago, when an athlete would tear his ACL it was a career ending injury. Then surgeons started repairing ACL damage through surgery. The injury was no long career ending, but just delayed the career 12-18 months.

Now, with the advent of arthroscopic surgery a large number of athletes with knee injuries are able to return to competition within the same season.

Another example is recovery after heart bypass surgery. Back in the 70’s my grandpa had heart bypass surgery and was put on bed rest for 2-3 weeks and then only allowed limited activity for the next 2-3 weeks.

Less than 2 years ago, my father-in-law had quadruple bypass surgery and was encouraged (read that forced) to stand up and walk hours after he came out of recovery.

The medical community has figured out that movement is critical to fast recovery.

So why is it that with the advancement of medicine most people still believe that an ankle sprain should take 2-3 months to heal?

I just read an article in a respected running magazine that stated an ankle sprain would take 2-3 months to heal.

I have personally experienced much faster recovery than that. In fact, with an aggressive physical therapy regimen, I was able to rehab a severe grade 1/mild grade 2 ankle sprain within 5 days. By rehab, I mean that I was able to compete at NCAA division 1 level basketball within 5 days of a severe ankle sprain.

Don’t fall for the wait and it will all work out approach! You are letting life pass you by! Treating a sprained ankle with an extremely conservative approach after the doctor has confirmed there is no structural damage is keeping you from enjoying your life.

There are a lot of good ankle rehab programs on the internet that don’t require you to spend thousands of dollars on equipment, weeks in physical therapy with time off from work…not to mention the cost of gas just driving to the physical therapists office.

If you do a Google search on the internet for “sprained ankle rehab”, you’ll be able to get a program that is proven to rehab ankles quickly and that will strengthen them as well.

Add your own answer in the comments!

Physical Therapy and Sports Rehab –