ACL Injuries

Mile High Dad said:
Thought it might be time for an update. First appointment (early Sept) with the Surgeon after the bad news from the MRI (revealed some ACL damage) and he was quite puzzled. He re-examined the MRI and also re-performed the Lachman test, he also had a visiting Dr take a look. Her ACL is slight loose so he gives us 2 options. Schedule second ACL repair and recover or have intensive PT to target the muscles around the knee and come back in a month to reassess. Of course we opted for the second option. My DD hit the gym and PT really hard, all the while not having any complaints or pain in the knee. She just got cleared to go back to practice-no contact for now. We are proceeding very cautiously and remind her she needs to let us know if there is any instability or pain. She practiced last night, dribbling and passing but no shooting yet but it was a sight to see. More to follow...
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Great to hear. My DD was at the doc a week ago for her 6 month post op. She was really optimistic and thought he would release her for non-contact practice, but she did not get cleared. He said that she is super strong and looks great, but the tissues really do need 9-12 months to heal and assimlate to the body. There are obviously exceptions, but since there really is no rush for my kid, he said she could continue to do any straight plane stuff including jumping and some light lateral movement, but no striking the ball and no real cutting for another 3 months. My kid was crushed, but understood that it's really best to be cautious here. One my DDs teammates just retore hers after coming back from 12 months rehab. Everyone is different, but the longer we wait (from the doc), the more you reduce the risk. All the best to you DD.
 
Simisoccerfan said:
Update on my dd. She has been on the travel team for a while now and has played in 6 games so far. Starting to get more time. Got 46 minutes last night (most so far) and the best news was she felt zero pain after the game. ACL injuries are tough but they don't have to end your career or your dreams of playing at the next level.
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Awesome stuff bro. So happy for your kid and your family.
 
Keeper pops said:
Thanks for starting this since I could not find any threads re. ACL injuries. My 03 DD tore her ACL late January playing for for school's 8th BBall team. At first it was diagnosed as a strained knee so after a few weeks of rest she returned to training without any pains or soreness. She went for keeper training the following weekend. During her warm ups, she planted on her right knee and immediately went down. She consequently tore her meniscus.

After seeing the ortho doc & getting MRI, he confirmed the ACL & meniscus injury. Currently doing her a pre-surgery physical therapy to strengthen her knee as the goal is to have a healthy-strong knee. This will enable her to begin PT after surgery. Her therapist has informed us her knee is as strong as it can be and surgery ready.

With school ending in May, we decided to wait and have surgery when she gets out of school. Rehab process begins right after surgery with a 9-12 month timetable.

Hoping to hear from some parents and share their story. It's been a physical and emotional roller coaster for my DD.
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Such a bummer when this happens. I have two players that tore their ACL...1 who tore ACL/MCL her junior year at a D-1 school and made a full recovery in about 9-10 months (she had some scar tissue complications that delayed her clearance), and the other is currently a D-1 GK and tore her ACL (no other tears) this fall and is undergoing post-op rehab. She is expected to make a full recover in time for Summer.

The good news here is that your kid is young. The big challenge is to keep her eye on the ball and not let this get her down emotionally. In hindsight this will be a blip on the great radar of life :) Just make sure she takes her rehab very seriously and does everything she is asked by her team.
 
That is excellent! Do you think she'll get more minutes as they head into their conference tourney? How is her knee feeling? Has she stopped thinking about it?
 
Dubs said:
That is excellent! Do you think she'll get more minutes as they head into their conference tourney? How is her knee feeling? Has she stopped thinking about it?
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I think she will play in the conference tourney but likely similar minutes. In the Spring will be when she starts getting a lot more minutes with the seniors leaving. Her knee feels great. She get a little bit of patella tendinitis but nothing that is causing any issues and she doesn't think about her injury while she is playing anymore.
 
Dubs said:
Great to hear. My DD was at the doc a week ago for her 6 month post op. She was really optimistic and thought he would release her for non-contact practice, but she did not get cleared. He said that she is super strong and looks great, but the tissues really do need 9-12 months to heal and assimlate to the body. There are obviously exceptions, but since there really is no rush for my kid, he said she could continue to do any straight plane stuff including jumping and some light lateral movement, but no striking the ball and no real cutting for another 3 months. My kid was crushed, but understood that it's really best to be cautious here. One my DDs teammates just retore hers after coming back from 12 months rehab. Everyone is different, but the longer we wait (from the doc), the more you reduce the risk. All the best to you DD.
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My daughter is at about 6 months out and her doctor will not release her for soccer until at least 9 months and she will have to pass specific tests. 6 months, he said, is just too early. She is taking this whole year off to rehab and to make sure her ACL is strong enough for her to return. I can't imagine her going back 100% right now. After all of her rehab, the thought of re-injuring it is not worth the risk. It's tough being out for so long, but the thought of restarting everything would be worse.
 
Sandypk said:
My daughter is at about 6 months out and her doctor will not release her for soccer until at least 9 months and she will have to pass specific tests. 6 months, he said, is just too early. She is taking this whole year off to rehab and to make sure her ACL is strong enough for her to return. I can't imagine her going back 100% right now. After all of her rehab, the thought of re-injuring it is not worth the risk. It's tough being out for so long, but the thought of restarting everything would be worse.
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Both my daughters used the same PT. return time for 1 of my daughters was 10 months for the first acl 12 months her second acl. other daughter is looking to be cleared at 7 months. It all depends on the person.
 
How many years of soccer playing would generally result in first ACL tear experience? Is it more common with certain positions or would bench players or goalies also equally likely?
 
blam said:
How many years of soccer playing would generally result in first ACL tear experience? Is it more common with certain positions or would bench players or goalies also equally likely?
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There are many factors. Position really doesn't have much to do with it IMO. Both defenders and offensive players take contact from each other, in terms of tackles so its 6 in one and half a dozen in the other. What IS the same are the repetitive movements they make during training and games over whatever period of time these girls have been playing. Definitely, wear and tear is a factor, as well as age, but after reading so many studies it's really a combination of all the factors. In addition, most clubs don't mandate proper warm up and cool down exercises that have factual evidence of reducing risk by as much as 80%. My DD has been and will definitely being doing these exercises before/after training and games once back on the field. In meantime it's all about strengthening glutes, hams, calves, quads...but glutes are by far the most important.
 
blam said:
How many years of soccer playing would generally result in first ACL tear experience? Is it more common with certain positions or would bench players or goalies also equally likely?
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I think there are two subsets of acl injuries. Those that happen through contact that can happen to anyone and those that happen without contact which seem to be more genetically driven.
 
gkrent said:
I've heard that certain times during a young woman's cycle can make her more prone to tearing.
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2 out of the 3 for my daughter for sure happened on their cycle. not sure about the other one because at the time i never heard that as a possibility so she doesnt remember
 
Just keeping this thread in the mix...at least two other big name college players went down with ACL tears -- both played in the youth national team system -- overuse?

Sophie Jones at Duke (freshman, in October)

Emily Fox (UNC in College Cup quarterfinals)
 
oh canada said:
Just keeping this thread in the mix...at least two other big name college players went down with ACL tears -- both played in the youth national team system -- overuse?

Sophie Jones at Duke (freshman, in October)

Emily Fox (UNC in College Cup quarterfinals)
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Shit! I was wondering what happened to Sophie. Also when I saw Emily Fox go down, it looked like an ankle... damn. It's an epidemic. My girl is getting close. Probably will be cleared to return to training next month God willing. Prayers for these young women dealing with this F'd up injury.
 
Dubs said:
Shit! I was wondering what happened to Sophie. Also when I saw Emily Fox go down, it looked like an ankle... damn. It's an epidemic. My girl is getting close. Probably will be cleared to return to training next month God willing. Prayers for these young women dealing with this F'd up injury.
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My dd is still not cleared and working hard thru her recovery too. It’s been 7 1/2 months. It’s not just the knee that has to recover, it’s the whole body. Three more girls from her club tore their ACLs recently. I feel terrible for them. That’s at least 10 girls in 2-3 years at her club alone. I don’t know if there are more ACL tears now or if my family just notices every football player, basketball player, and soccer player who tears theirs now. Seems like a new one every week.
 
Sandypk said:
My dd is still not cleared and working hard thru her recovery too. It’s been 7 1/2 months. It’s not just the knee that has to recover, it’s the whole body. Three more girls from her club tore their ACLs recently. I feel terrible for them. That’s at least 10 girls in 2-3 years at her club alone. I don’t know if there are more ACL tears now or if my family just notices every football player, basketball player, and soccer player who tears theirs now. Seems like a new one every week.
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It sure seems like an epidemic. My dd just got cleared for full contact and will be returning to the pitch. She has rehab-ed with such a vengeance and we are proud of how hard she has worked from her re-injury. I hope my heart can take it :)
 
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