ACL Injuries

Last Friday my daughter tore her ACL in a high school game. This is her third ACL and first on the right knee. she is a junior and was non contact. I do believe fatigue was part of it along with genetics and i have heard a certain time of the month can play a factor and the last 3 ACLs between my 2 daughters happened in that time. My daughter plays on a really bad high school team and she is the only club player. She plays center back and is the leading scorer and is making full field runs the whole game. she is scheduled for surgery Feb 6 and her older sister meets with the same surgeon Feb 5 to get cleared to go back to soccer after her ACL (7 months). My youngest was out 2 years with back to back ACLs and has been back playing a year and half before doing it again. She is absolutely heart broken as am I. first ACL we did hamstring because growth plates not closed and patella tendon for the second and third. her sister tore her ACL 1 time and we did patella tendon. Sorry for the rambling and jumping around.

I can fully understand the hole you have in your stomach and heart over this. 2019 was a very difficult year for me. In some ways it was harder for me than for my dd who is the one that actually went through this. I think the worrying over your kids is the worst part. The good news is that she is young and I am sure after going through two previous ACL's she is resilient and with your guidance she will make it through it and become even a stronger person for it.
 
Last Friday my daughter tore her ACL in a high school game. This is her third ACL and first on the right knee. she is a junior and was non contact. I do believe fatigue was part of it along with genetics and i have heard a certain time of the month can play a factor and the last 3 ACLs between my 2 daughters happened in that time. My daughter plays on a really bad high school team and she is the only club player. She plays center back and is the leading scorer and is making full field runs the whole game. she is scheduled for surgery Feb 6 and her older sister meets with the same surgeon Feb 5 to get cleared to go back to soccer after her ACL (7 months). My youngest was out 2 years with back to back ACLs and has been back playing a year and half before doing it again. She is absolutely heart broken as am I. first ACL we did hamstring because growth plates not closed and patella tendon for the second and third. her sister tore her ACL 1 time and we did patella tendon. Sorry for the rambling and jumping around.
Ugh. Ramble all you want as we can only hope that doing so provides a tiny amount of therapeutic help. The details you've provided are very interesting, especially the fact that the last 3 were during their periods. I know the USWNT is now tracking when players have their periods and are experimenting with lighter workout loads during that time. Can I ask for the benefit of all readers if your girls spent any significant time doing leg strength training or other? And when you say "fatigue" do you mean that it was a rough game or that she was tired from not getting enough sleep due to early school mornings, etc.

Again, very sorry to learn of this for you and your daughter. It's really an epidemic.
 
Last Friday my daughter tore her ACL in a high school game. This is her third ACL and first on the right knee. she is a junior and was non contact. I do believe fatigue was part of it along with genetics and i have heard a certain time of the month can play a factor and the last 3 ACLs between my 2 daughters happened in that time. My daughter plays on a really bad high school team and she is the only club player. She plays center back and is the leading scorer and is making full field runs the whole game. she is scheduled for surgery Feb 6 and her older sister meets with the same surgeon Feb 5 to get cleared to go back to soccer after her ACL (7 months). My youngest was out 2 years with back to back ACLs and has been back playing a year and half before doing it again. She is absolutely heart broken as am I. first ACL we did hamstring because growth plates not closed and patella tendon for the second and third. her sister tore her ACL 1 time and we did patella tendon. Sorry for the rambling and jumping around.
and one more big picture thought--I am often on college campuses for work and last week I saw a sign practically begging for girls to tryout for a well known college rowing/crew team. your girls sound like they love soccer so they probably wouldn't want to hear this now, but I know several former soccer players who built up big cardio "engines" from the game who transitioned and earned $$ scholarships (more than they would have in soccer) to row/crew for esteemed universities. you're in our thoughts.
 
Ugh. Ramble all you want as we can only hope that doing so provides a tiny amount of therapeutic help. The details you've provided are very interesting, especially the fact that the last 3 were during their periods. I know the USWNT is now tracking when players have their periods and are experimenting with lighter workout loads during that time. Can I ask for the benefit of all readers if your girls spent any significant time doing leg strength training or other? And when you say "fatigue" do you mean that it was a rough game or that she was tired from not getting enough sleep due to early school mornings, etc.

Again, very sorry to learn of this for you and your daughter. It's really an epidemic.
Both my girls work with a strength coach who specializes in body movement. My youngest who just tore her ACL has only gone a few times since high school started (they both go 2-3 times a week normally) because she is just so beat up after every game she uses the off days to recover. when i say her high school team is bad im talking really bad. if she does not carry the ball up from the back line it never makes it past the half way mark. Every time she would take the ball up they would just foul her (what every team does to her) but the injury happened with no contact. she was running up to the player with the ball planted and went down. for Christmas i got her a sports track and the one game she used it she did just over 4.5 miles in 75 min and that was an easier game for her because she didnt have to play the full game and it was raining. not sure if thats alot, average, or below average for a female player. I should also add her high school coach is the type who thinks practice is just running. if I could do it over again i would have stuck with the strength coach and a soccer trainer like we did last year instead of high school soccer
 
Both my girls work with a strength coach who specializes in body movement. My youngest who just tore her ACL has only gone a few times since high school started (they both go 2-3 times a week normally) because she is just so beat up after every game she uses the off days to recover. when i say her high school team is bad im talking really bad. if she does not carry the ball up from the back line it never makes it past the half way mark. Every time she would take the ball up they would just foul her (what every team does to her) but the injury happened with no contact. she was running up to the player with the ball planted and went down. for Christmas i got her a sports track and the one game she used it she did just over 4.5 miles in 75 min and that was an easier game for her because she didnt have to play the full game and it was raining. not sure if thats alot, average, or below average for a female player. I should also add her high school coach is the type who thinks practice is just running. if I could do it over again i would have stuck with the strength coach and a soccer trainer like we did last year instead of high school soccer
Ugh...prayers and hugs for your family. Truly sorry . I can’t imagine how tough this would be to repeat. I am always worried about it. Thank you for being open to sharing your experience. It’s a devastating injury that leaves it’s mark even after recovery. It leaves parents grasping for information, advice, insights, and forever reflecting and worrying. Prayers for a quick and full recovery.
 
Thank You all for all the kind words. As weird as it sounds one of the hardest parts for me is after the surgery when they're coming off of anesthesia. Their sister finds it funny but it makes me sick to my stomach till i see in their eyes and they are back to normal. Simisoccerfan is correct on how hard it is as a parent watching your kids go threw this and even harder watching them play games again.
 
Both my girls work with a strength coach who specializes in body movement. My youngest who just tore her ACL has only gone a few times since high school started (they both go 2-3 times a week normally) because she is just so beat up after every game she uses the off days to recover. when i say her high school team is bad im talking really bad. if she does not carry the ball up from the back line it never makes it past the half way mark. Every time she would take the ball up they would just foul her (what every team does to her) but the injury happened with no contact. she was running up to the player with the ball planted and went down. for Christmas i got her a sports track and the one game she used it she did just over 4.5 miles in 75 min and that was an easier game for her because she didnt have to play the full game and it was raining. not sure if thats alot, average, or below average for a female player. I should also add her high school coach is the type who thinks practice is just running. if I could do it over again i would have stuck with the strength coach and a soccer trainer like we did last year instead of high school soccer
I am so sorry to hear about your dd. It is so hard as a parent because we just want what’s best for our kids. We can’t foresee the future, but I wish we could. My dd and I still revisit decisions made before she tore her ACL...like maybe she shouldn’t have done this or that. But in reality you just never know. I have been thru 3 surgeries with my kids. 2 for my son and 1 for my dd. My dd played 90 minutes every DA game and probably ran 4+ miles a game. She was constantly fouled as a forward. My son did not play full games and ran a less amount, but was hit hard both times he was injured. It’s just so difficult no matter what the reason was for them getting hurt. I don’t know if anyone will ever be able to completely prevent these injuries. I have heard of a few families that have more than one child with ACL injuries or one child with multiple ACL tears.

My dd had her quad used for her ligament (8 months ago) and my son had cadaver for both of his knees (1 and 2 1/2 years ago). I am starting to think there are families who have children with more than one ACL tear, so can there be a genetic reason? However, all of my kids’ injuries were contact. So, who knows. Now I am rambling...

I definitely feel your pain and I am so very sorry this happened to your dd.
 
I firmly believe that none contact ACL injuries involve a degree of genetics. I know of too many girls that have either had multiple non contact ACL injuries or multiple siblings that have had them. It's been close to one year from her injury and though she is back playing and killing it, I still worry about her every single day.
 
Ugh...prayers and hugs for your family. Truly sorry . I can’t imagine how tough this would be to repeat. I am always worried about it. Thank you for being open to sharing your experience. It’s a devastating injury that leaves it’s mark even after recovery. It leaves parents grasping for information, advice, insights, and forever reflecting and worrying. Prayers for a quick and full recovery.
So true, We as parents are part of an unfortunate but tight knit crew. Collectively, what we all have been through can only make us as strong as our DD's. Just last week as a tune up for our trip to TX, our club had some scrimmages. In our game alone, we had one confirmed non contact ACL and another poor girl (03) has probable knee issues (contact). We were able to provide some guidance and thoughts to our teammate and I was also able to pass along the treasure trove of info I have gathered from this site/thread. Thanks to all that can share their unfortunate experiences.
 
Does it seem that most of these occur in games/scrimmages vs. practices? Likely more contact in games, but even the non-contact? Would be interesting to track...wonder if someone has.
 
Does it seem that most of these occur in games/scrimmages vs. practices? Likely more contact in games, but even the non-contact? Would be interesting to track...wonder if someone has.
I have not really tracked per se, but from what I know in our club, I would say it's probably greater than 85% non contact versus contact. The weekend prior to my DD tearing hers, she took a knock in a game. Looked awkward, but got up and was fine. The following Thurs at practice she tore it non contact. Not sure if the knock had anything to do with it or not.
 
Does it seem that most of these occur in games/scrimmages vs. practices? Likely more contact in games, but even the non-contact? Would be interesting to track...wonder if someone has.
Youngest Daughter... first Game, second scrimmage, third game... Oldest Daughter Practice
 
I have not really tracked per se, but from what I know in our club, I would say it's probably greater than 85% non contact versus contact. The weekend prior to my DD tearing hers, she took a knock in a game. Looked awkward, but got up and was fine. The following Thurs at practice she tore it non contact. Not sure if the knock had anything to do with it or not.
I went back and watched the game my daughter just tore her ACL in. at the start of the game she made a run and took a pretty good shot and noticed she was limping after that. she would make runs and seemed fine but every time she stopped she had a limp. I didnt notice it watching live and she said she doesnt remember anything hurting but you can see her limping in the video. makes me wonder if she was changing the way she plants or moves her body and she didnt even realize it.
 
Updates
My youngest had surgery on Thursday and everything went great. they didnt have to scrape any cartilage or what ever they do. he noticed a real small rip/tear in the outer meniscus and put 1 stitch in it.

My Older Daughter was cleared Wednesday to go back to soccer. shes at 7 months.
Prayers up for both your girls. Mine has been training with one of her old coaches in prep for returning to team training which she plans to do next week. Hopefully she'll be ready to play middle next month, but we'll see.
 
I have not really tracked per se, but from what I know in our club, I would say it's probably greater than 85% non contact versus contact. The weekend prior to my DD tearing hers, she took a knock in a game. Looked awkward, but got up and was fine. The following Thurs at practice she tore it non contact. Not sure if the knock had anything to do with it or not.

Similar to my dd but the knock she took was really bad. She was taken out of the game and everyone thought she tore her acl. Dr. said it was a sprain but no mri was done just PT. After about two weeks it was feeling better and then she tore it non contact in practice. She heard it pop. My guess is that it was just a matter of time after that knock she took. The good news is she continues to feel real strong and is killing in in prep for the Spring season.
 
Updates
My youngest had surgery on Thursday and everything went great. they didnt have to scrape any cartilage or what ever they do. he noticed a real small rip/tear in the outer meniscus and put 1 stitch in it.

My Older Daughter was cleared Wednesday to go back to soccer. shes at 7 months.

Congrats on getting one cleared and that the other one's surgery went well. Keep us updated. Expect the older daughters knee to get sore as she continues to recover. Its part of the process.
 
Prayers up for both your girls. Mine has been training with one of her old coaches in prep for returning to team training which she plans to do next week. Hopefully she'll be ready to play middle next month, but we'll see.

Good thing there is no rush. The main thing is that she comes back strong for college.
 
Similar to my dd but the knock she took was really bad. She was taken out of the game and everyone thought she tore her acl. Dr. said it was a sprain but no mri was done just PT. After about two weeks it was feeling better and then she tore it non contact in practice. She heard it pop. My guess is that it was just a matter of time after that knock she took.
I tore my knee "officially" when I was 29. However, I played a little a college ball and felt something after I landed on my left knee going for a dunk.........jk, only in my dreams. I was going up for a layup and landed wrong. I think I got my first slight tear when that happen. It ripped completely on me at 29. I want to say to all those players putting in the extra work of rehab to keep working hard. I hated every minute of rehab and I actually put little effort into it. Because I cut corners, I'm paying a big price today for it. Work hard at rehab is my gr8t advice for today :)
 
My kid just finished her HS season and toward the end, after writing was on the wall, I was actually happy and relieved to see her safe on the bench.
HS play is tough. 14 year old freshmen vs. 18 year old seniors....

When my kid goes down with repeated ankle dings, I cringe every time and can hardly imagine the gut wrenching nurturing-parent pain that comes with serious injury to loved ones.

man o man I can only wish the best for your loved ones.
 
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