ACL injuries are catastrophic for our young athletes. An ACL injury impacts not only their physical well being but their emotional well being. Furthermore, an ACL injury could have lifelong implications—despite expert care. The parents of our athletes are searching for the most timely, relevant information out there to assist them in their decision making:
- Who should treat their athlete?
- Is ACL surgery necessary?
- What choices do we need to make?
- Methods to minimize risk of re-injury
- Expectations for when their athletes can return to sports.
These are the questions our #HomeTeam parents (should) ask most often.
A Straightforward Diagnosis ~ Five Professional Opinion series.
Each month we will explore a relatively straightforward diagnosis … and hopefully expose and share with you the complexity of the decision making behind how we decide to treat these injuries. This month we have focused on:
ACL Injuries in a Student Athlete
In our first series of posts we asked 5 expert Sports Medicine Orthopedic Surgeons to discuss:
- Which athletes need to consider ACL surgery.
- Which graft to consider when the surgeon reconstructs your ACL
- How we approach therapy after ACL surgery and what our return to sports criteria are.
This next series of posts on the management of the ACL injured athlete would not be complete without the input from the Physical Therapists and Athletic Trainers who treat the athlete before and after the Orthopedic Surgeons sees them. As others have pointed out, these individuals have a critical role, if not the most critical role in getting the athlete ready to attempt to return to sports. It’s a task/concept that may appear straightforward — but it is not.
I’m very excited that these experts have taken their time to share their knowledge with a global audience looking for some of the best information available about the care and management of the ACL injured athlete.
Let’s meet our experts:
Julie Eibensteiner : @laurusrehab : Website Prior posts on this blog : here
Trent Nessler : @ACL_Prevention : Website Prior posts on this blog : here
Sylvia Czuppon : @czuppons : Website
Anja Goebel : @ACL_not_again
Darin Padua: @DarinPadua : Website
vplasi says
I am 66 year old female with three cartridge tears. One is a flap tear. I am not overweight but scared of surgery and wonder if the surgery would help anyway.
Would appreciate any information from anyone in the same position or can offer advice.
Thanks
Howard J. Luks, MD says
it’s hard for me to determine that from afar :-( Certainly flap tears are generally not well tolerated …. but there are many many variables that go into the decision making … age, gender, complaints, arthritis on Xray (yes or no), failure of PT, etc ; quality of life and more … it’s not a simple deacons making process and it is one that involves a nice long sit down and discussion with your doc.
Good Luck
Florence Bailey says
Hello my name is Florence Bailey my husband Randy Bailey found out that he has tore his ACL fluid on the knee and was told that she has to have surgery what is your recommendation on an ACL tear
Howard J. Luks, MD says
and how old is you husband?