As ACL tears pile up !

#2
#2
Wouldn't hurt my feelings if there was a decrease in the number of college games played along with a concomitant decrease in workouts.
 
#3
#3
Articles and news such as this always brings me back to when Neyland Stadium was turf. From what I remember it was the first football field with artificial turf and seemed to bring in recruits. Then, after Chuck Webb went down, we lost some recruits because of the turf field. I'm not saying his injury is why but turf was bad.

Also, I remember several years ago watching a T.V. program on athletes, football players specifically, have lots of ACL and MCL tears. The show seemed to insists it was because athletes were larger and stronger and thus, the ligaments could not with stand the major stresses when cutting and turning.
 
#4
#4
Common sense. Less activity, less injury.

For those parents and kids that are obsessed about succeeding at an individual sport and don't want to let up, perhaps they should consider the art of watching game film. I'm serious. I find it almost comical that news articles often talk about how impressive it is that a young athlete watches game film, like it's some kind of unique/special thing that only the most enlightened players would think of doing or only few people have access to. But with all of our social media outlets, you can watch almost any game in any sport since the advent of network TV. Maybe instead of doing more and more unnecessary reps, parents could sit a kid down as part of their development and show him/her who to emulate, how to prepare for practice and game, nutrition, mental toughness, how to get under an opponent's skin, how to act on and off the court, and perhaps just importantly it will show the kid the history of the game (which most have no clue about these days), etc.
 
#6
#6
Turfed fields of today are light years ahead of what the players had in the early 70s. I recall a receiver went up for a catch in old Veterans Stadium in Phila, came down and blew out both knees. His momentum continued but his legs became "locked" to the turf.
The players of today have played on the improved turf surfaces and should not have an effect on recruiting, IMHO.
On a side note, I have heard that the Vet Stadium field was like playing on a painted parking lot. Vet Stadium is gone and has been replaced.
 
#8
#8
An Olympic ski coach told me there is too much stretching of the quad. I believe him. I'm missing the ACL in my left knee. If I stretch my quad, my knee pivot shifts just getting out of the car. When I let the quad tighten up, the patella tendon holds my knee tighter in place. The big quadriceps and patella tendon are stronger than the thinner acl.
 
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#9
#9
I read a few years ago that women are more prone to ACL injuries than men. Has to do with the width of their hips and angles of the bones going to knees.
Makes sense to me.

My 16 year old daughter tore her ACL last year. It was a non-contact injury during soccer. She turned to change direction and then just dropped to the ground in pain. What you said makes sense and her ortho surgeon also points to a failure of many females to strengthen all of their leg muscles. The quad muscle gets strengthened in soccer, but you really have to work at ensuring the hamstring and other leg muscle are strengthened too. Her rehab went very well and she is back to playing soccer and field hockey.
 
#11
#11
I feel that this approach is treating the symptom rather than the disease.

As a preface, the idea that kids are getting too specialized and playing too much leads to overuse injuries and burnout makes a lot of sense. Athletes need some downtime.

On the specific issue of ACL injuries, more and more of the research is pointing to muscle imbalances and structural flaws in how athletes run and land that creates a cumulative stress. At some point, the stress load gets too high and then you have the situation where an athlete crumples on the field with an ACL after just landing or planting.

So, playing less can reduce the cumulative load and fatigue and overuse can magnify muscle imbalances). However, if the underlying imbalances and structural problems are not addressed, then it is like have a ticking time bomb in your body. At some point, the injury will happen even with a managed load.
 
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#12
#12
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#13
#13
I blew my right knee at 9 in a bike accident and was treated at WOMAC hospital at Ft Bragg. Treatment was a cast for 120 days and no therapy. I blew it out again in a football game my Sophomore year of high school. 60 days in a cast and some therapy. The last time was about 6 years ago stepping off my parents front porch. They scoped it and removed scar tissue and did an immobilizer brace with electrical pulses. It still hurts and ended my regular use of the knee.
 
#14
#14
Articles and news such as this always brings me back to when Neyland Stadium was turf. From what I remember it was the first football field with artificial turf and seemed to bring in recruits. Then, after Chuck Webb went down, we lost some recruits because of the turf field. I'm not saying his injury is why but turf was bad.

Also, I remember several years ago watching a T.V. program on athletes, football players specifically, have lots of ACL and MCL tears. The show seemed to insists it was because athletes were larger and stronger and thus, the ligaments could not with stand the major stresses when cutting and turning.


The turf was good for one thing. When they tore it up my Dad bought 2 pieces of checkerboard and they're in little frames. They're cool to look at.
 
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#15
#15
I read a few years ago that women are more prone to ACL injuries than men. Has to do with the width of their hips and angles of the bones going to knees.
Makes sense to me.
You will have a hard time convincing me that females are not more prone to a.c.l. Injuries,especially woman’s basketball players. Hopefully in the future it can be reduced significantly. Almost every week another lady bb player is in the news for this injury.
 
#17
#17
An Olympic ski coach told me there is too much stretching of the quad. I believe him. I'm missing the ACL in my left knee. If I stretch my quad, my knee pivot shifts just getting out of the car. When I let the quad tighten up, the patella tendon holds my knee tighter in place. The big quadriceps and patella tendon are stronger than the thinner acl.

I blew out my ACL playing softball in 92. Up until that point, I more or less thought I was invincible.

Finally got it repaired in 2002 because I got tired of it slipping, especially when I was drunk. It was a Hamstring graft and it did well for a while but now it is giving out and I am faced with a knee replacement. Yee Haw!
 
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#20
#20
Female Lacrosse players prove your point. My daughter played college lacrosse and I saw numerous injuries to her, her teammates and others during their high school and college years. Most often on turf fields - most often on plays that looked completely innocent - and suddenly someone had a torn ACL. Turf and traction between the shoe and field - coupled with high speed and force - are the cause of the increasing injuries. It's common sense. Grass gives - synthetic turf and high traction shoes do not - so the knee does.
 
#21
#21
It is called the Q Angle...Degrees the hip socket and the Knee differ.

Finally someone that speaks my language!! (I’m a P.T.). The Q angle has a lot to do with it but there are other factors that are causing more female ACL tears than male, it’s actually kind of bizarre when you read all that research and put it to together
 
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#22
#22
I always thought Memorial Stadium in Clarksville was the coolest stadium ever. They had turf waaaaaaay back in the day.
 
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