It always seems like the same old story.
An athlete who is in perfect condition and has probably never suffered any sort of injury before jumps, turns or steps wrong, hears a pop in their knee and then hits the ground.
Within a few minutes, a trainer will run onto the field/court/arena and (usually) determine that the athlete has torn his or her anterior cruciate ligament, better known as ACL.
It takes one second to tear a 32 millimeter ligament in your knee, but it takes almost a year to come back from the injury.
This was my story only a little over a year ago.
I suffered my own personal tragedy on Sept. 18, 2018 during a fairly average tennis practice.
Before this, I had never been injured. It just took one poor landing at the net to put me out of sports for the next year.
I was on crutches for about two weeks, and it took several doctors visits, an MRI and three full weeks for us determine that my ACL was in fact fully torn.
So, what’s the point in all of this?
Well, ACL injuries are extremely common, especially in women. Around 100,000 to 200,000 people tear their ACL every year in the United States.
And yet, there are still a ton of misconceptions around what this actually means.
I am no medical professional, but I did live through the experience. I think there are a few things that can be cleared up surrounding this topic.
Misconception #1: Focusing on quad strengthening will ultimately prevent me from tearing my ACL.
I wish it were that simple.
Tearing your ACL typically has more to do with your body structure and poor mechanics. A lot of ACL injuries occur simply because an athlete made an awkward step, causing their knee to turn in just the right way to make the tear.
For me, it was just a matter of jumping up and not sticking the landing. My knee turned in and then gave way, simple as that.
Can quad strengthening help your prospects of preventing an ACL tear? Maybe. But beware of avoiding any sort of cross training, because that will definitely put you at a higher risk.
Misconception #2: Only athletes tear their ACLs.
While ACL tears do tend to be highly common in athletes (it is considered one of the most common sports-related injuries), no one is immune.
I know an older man who tore his ACL simply from tripping in a hole in the ground.
All it takes is a simple misstep.
Misconception #3: Surgery is the only option for recovery after an ACL tear.
This is a big one.
If a young athlete experiences an ACL tear, they will most likely be encouraged to get surgery as soon as they can.
That was what I did.
Some people, however, are able to walk off such an injury without ever needing a beat to recover.
My surgeon’s PA is an example of someone who tore his ACL while playing sports, got up, walked it off and never had a problem again.
It’s rare, but it happens.
Really, it all comes down to what’s best for that particular person. If they are active and want to continue being active without having to worry about any further injuries, surgery is usually the best option.
Misconception #4: ACL recovery takes a long time.
This isn’t a misconception, so much as a negative mindset.
It was one of my major reasons for not wanting to get surgery when I initially found out I had torn my ACL. My surgery was scheduled for the end of December, and if it took the full nine months to get back into sports (which my surgeon had told me it might), I would still have had to sit out the first month of my senior year of tennis.
As it happens, my recovery took slightly less than eight months, and I was able to come back at full force (I sprained my ankle during my first match back on the court, but that’s a story for another time).
It’s really based on the person (have you noticed a theme emerging here?). If you push yourself in physical therapy and do exactly what your surgeon tells you, it’s not unheard of for people to return to sports in six months, maybe even less.
It may be a pain to think about committing yourself to so much extra work just to get one of your body parts working again, but, looking back, I wouldn’t have changed my recovery process.
If anything, it really made me value the moments I had playing tennis. It can be so easy to take for granted when you have two working knees.