THE DREADED ACL

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Hey gang,

I need a little help . We had our fears confirmed today that My 12 year old daughter had a complete tear of her ACL and will need surgury and 4-6 months to rehab.
I am looking for other young ladies or parents that have had this injury and how good things can turn out.
to say she is discouraged is an understatement. I am looking for stories of hope.
This injury is so devastating to any kid but at 12 she thinks her life is over.
she is very active in soccer and Basketball as well and she is upset those sports are over (at least for this year) but her softball future is really bothering her. I have talked with her and been positive and upbeat but I would love to give her examples. PLease share if you feel lead to do so
thanks Eric Truxal

 

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contact me at asphaltace@yahoo.com

Jack L. Gore
Rattlers Fastpitch 18u

 

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Eric,
I have had an ACL reconstruction and was apprehensive as well. It has been close to 10 years now, and its as good as new. I'm not going to say that it is easy, there is lots of therapy and work that your daughter must do to regain her strength and range of motion.
There are at least 2 types of surgery to replace your ACL. One is to use the ligaments from a donor, and the rehab from this is usually cut in half. The other type (which I had) is where they take the ligament needed from the center of your Patela Tendon (kneecap) and use that for your ACL. The rehab for this type is usually pretty lengthy, but the upside is your using tissue from your own body, so your body is less likely to reject the tissue. Either way has been very successful for patients.
Your daughter is young, so she should heal even better and faster, and with proper therapy and rehab, be back on the field in no time.
Remember, I had the surgery 10 years ago, so I'm sure its even easier now.
Good Luck to your daughter and best wishes. Please keep me informed of her progress.
Shayne Yeater
14U GFOD Thunder

 

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I personally know a young man on Ohio State's hockey team that had this injury last winter but thanks to proper surgery and rehab he's good to go when the season starts in about a month and he'll put much more stress on it than a softball player would. You also have to remember that the youngsters heal at an amazingly fast rate compared to us old people.

 

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thanks Lady Knoght and Hockeybuckeye. I will share these.
The type of surgey she will have is where they will take tendons from her hamstring area and reconstruct the ACL. It does sound promising so we will keep our hopes up

 

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coach,
sorry to hear about your DD's injury. Was it playing the dreaded game of S*****? My DD gave it up this year in her Sophmore year due to seeing how many of these injuries are occuring. Knowing she wants to catch, she decided she needs her knees to do that and she's played since she was 4. (it was a huge relief for us as there are more ACL's blown in that game than one would think). Three girls showed up at summer B-Ball with them all from soccer. She had a girl in Freshman year had a severe one like you state and she is back this year playing right now, so it can be done!

Good Luck in the process and just tell her with each passing day it gets better than the day before.

 

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I have had both of my ACL's done. The 2nd one was 12 years ago and I have no problems at all. rehab is hard work but it is worth every drop of sweat.

 

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she can heal- excellent surgeons and procedures - know several girls on previous teams that came back strong. make sure the surgeon is experienced. Also the recent increase in young female with ACL tears may be related to estrogen at puberty - it does relax ligaments- that in conjunction with the higher level of atheltics these youing girls participate in is one of the theories for the increase of the past few years.

 

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Coachet,
I tore my ACL in 2001 in my surgery they used my patella tendon my doctor and some articles i read said this was stonger then your hamstring.ask your doctor about it before you do it. also tell your DD not to get down,just listen to her doctor and take it slow.
catchers Dad (Buckeye Heat)

 

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Tore mine in '78 (along with a few other ligaments), waited 25 years to have it fixed. Was back at work within 2 weeks, therapy started within 3, back on the wrestling mat working with my "little" one in a little over 5 months (probably shouldn't have been), really started to trust it at about 9 months...

Lesson learned: Ice is your friend! ;D

 

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My daughter tore her 1st ACL freshman year on the socceer field. She was devasted that she would not be ready for her 1st year of HS softball. She is a catcher and has loved and played the game since she was 5yrs old.

Through sweat and hard discipline and determination on her part, she was released to play softball two days after the season started. One week later, she caught a double header. Just a little icing in between the games and after.

Her Junior year, the day after HS softball tournaments were over, she was in gym playing basketball with the boys and tore her other knee. OUt for summer travel ball. Had surgery again last July and by basektball season she was ready to play and has been great since.

She's a great kid and if your daughter wants someone to talk to or email or IM she will be glad to I'm sure. As a parent it is tough to watch your child in so much mental and physcial pain. But they have to have an end in sight, for her it was playing softball.

I've never posted on here, so I hope this works. Good luck!

 

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I also had my ACL reconstructed a few years ago. I would definitely recommend it. I'm in my thirties and really put it to the test. I tore my acl sparring in taekwondo class. I now train in mixed martial arts (Ultimate Fighting stuff), and it is still taking a beating. You just have to make sure you do all the rehab exercises and give it the proper time to heal after the surgery, it was about 10 months until it was 100%. Rehab sucked, but worth it in the long run. I still cringe every time my kids fall on their knees or slide into the bases wrong, etc. I hope everything goes well for your dd.

 

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Have had my players tear it and recover quite quickly at a young age (about 6-8 months). I had my ACL reconstructed 18 months ago with the same procedure (hamstring graft). The ACL with this is actually stronger than it was before but you have to work on the hamstring since you will lose about 10-20% of hamstring strength. Strengthen the hamstring and it takes the pressure and strain off of the knee ligaments. Many people injure knees becasue their hamstring is not as strong and the knee ligaments try to take all the support. Good Luck

 

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thank you all so far for the concern and the hope. we know we have a long road ahead but I'm sure good will come out of this . Who knows maybe I will get myself into better shape by working with her. It was a tough break but I know that God will make good from it .

thanks again

 

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Dear Eric,

My son had torn his ACL at the age of nine. We had a great orthopaedic doctor through university hospital in cleveland. If you need other information about a good orthopaedic doctor, please contact me at mau777@aol.com. Due to his young age and growth plates still being open, they wanted to hold surgery off as off as long as possible and brace him because some surgical procedures can interfere with the growth plates and growth of the rest of the bones. Two procedures they can do, but with your daughters' age , you will want to make sure the procedure they are using will not compromise her growth, if she is not done growing yet. My son had his surgery when he was a freshman in high school at age 14. With the surgery, and rehab and still a custom made brace for about a year post surgery, he was back to pretty much his full capacity. With your daughter's young age, good medical care and rehab, she should be able to do anything she was able to do before. I remember my son at that age, thought it was the end of the world., right in the middle of summer. Things will be fine and she will be back to her self sooner than you think. Mau777

 

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My friend tore her ACL and meniscus playing soccer, but it was only the least amount of time and she recovered Tell your daughter to keep her head up ;D

 

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As hard as it may be at the beginning, she should be fine once rehab is finished and she is more confident in her knee!! Best of luck to you DD!!

 

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thanks all for the encoragement and kind thoughts. I will pass them along and it will definitly give her hope

thanks again
Coachet

 

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Serious knee injuries are every ahletes worst nightmare. Females have a much higher chance of an ACL injury over the boys for alot of factors including as mentioned hormones. Anatomic differences also place women at a mechanical disadvantage especially noted with jumping and landing. Females typically recruit their quadriceps(front thigh muscles) muscles rather than the hamstrings(back thigh muscles) for sport activities and their quadricep/hamstring ratio is greater than 1:1. There are ACL prophylactic training programs out there that can identify and help prevent ACL injuries in female athletes.
With all that in mind...the vast majority of ACL injuries return to full activty after rehab. Find a sports medicine orthopedic doc with lots of ACL experience. The doc will help you decide which graft is best as selection can be patient specific don't pay attention to your brother unless he's a doc. Travel if you have to because some areas may not have the optimal medical situation. Next make sure you send your daughter to a sports medicine rehab clinic that has seen many ACL injuries. Your doc will suggest one I'm sure. Pm me if you have further ?'s
Ed PT