Many athletes’ worst nightmare is a torn ACL. In many cases, the injury requires a year-long athletic break and oftentimes can end promising careers.
Playing a sport puts someone at an over 50% greater risk of tearing their ACL. Dance, girls’ soccer, and lacrosse have noticeably higher ACL tear risk than other sports like football.
An ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is typically torn when quickly switching directions while running. The ligament is located in the middle of the knee and keeps the shin bone from sliding in front of the thigh. The injury is marked by a loud pop, followed by swelling and excruciating pain. The pain eventually decreases, giving the impression that the injury is less serious than it is.
While playing soccer, sophomore Eliza Crowe rammed into her opponent and her knee was the first to hit the ground, tearing her ACL.
“I was carried off the field because the pain was so bad. I remember immediately knowing something was wrong,” Crowe said.
Crowe went to the doctor the next day and was advised to come back in three weeks if the pain continued. “I couldn’t run or jump after that. I got an MRI, and that’s how I learned it was torn,” she said.
The hospital told her that her ACL was torn to the worst degree, and Crowe was out of school for seven days to receive surgery and recover. “There were a lot of floors in Pride Hall I would avoid because my crutches were rubber. The desks were really hard on my legs because they were connected and smushed together,” Crowe said.
The benefits of ACL surgery are highly contested. The recovery period is significantly shorter when individuals choose not to have surgery, but their knees are often less flexible as a result. If an individual wishes only to return to ‘straight-line’ activities like running, cycling, and swimming, surgery can be overkill.
Elizabeth Wellsandt, a director of a clinical movement analysis lab, cited the one-in-three chance of athletes never returning to their sport. The fear and physical inability to return can often override one’s love of the sport. Physical activity beyond a sport is also reduced even post-surgery because activities can be limited.
Junior Jake Carlson tore his ACL during his freshman football season, and having surgery was an easy decision. “A torn ACL is a torn ACL, it’s not going to repair itself. Surgery was basically the only option,” he said.
“The biggest challenge was definitely that first month. You’re not allowed to walk yet because that’s when the pain is the worst,” Carlson said.
Crowe shared similar experiences. “At first, I wasn’t too devastated, I was just numb to what this could mean for my high school experience and my life,” she said. “Those first few days post-surgery were horrible. I was in a lot of pain and passed out multiple times when trying to go to the bathroom because of all the blood in my legs from being elevated for so long.”
Junior Lila Mahadaven also tore her ACL in a contact injury during a soccer game her freshman year. Similar to Crowe, another player had fallen on her knee and she heard the signature ‘pop’, indicating that her injury was more than a bruise. She sped to urgent care, and the tear was confirmed a few hours later. “I didn’t even know what an ACL was before that, let alone that it could be torn or have such a long recovery process. Processing all of that was definitely a lot,” Mahadevan said.
Injuries are an inevitable part of being an athlete, but that concept is hard to remember in the competitive environment of sports. From spending countless hours on the field or court to being bedridden for weeks, the transition from the busy life of a student-athlete to suddenly being sidelined affects mental health immensely.
Anxiety, fear, and other drawbacks of injuries are completely normal. “The fear I experienced was mental, I was so scared I would go back too early and reinjure myself. I especially felt I didn’t have full control because I was hit so unexpectedly with no notion. I was completely vulnerable,” Crowe said.
When a teenager spends their entire life running for a sport, one simple pivot turning into the dreaded knee ‘pop’ is certainly traumatic. It’s immensely difficult to come back onto the pitch knowing how easily a turn can go catastrophically wrong.
However, Crowe remarked on the importance of community in trying times. “Really lean on the people who are there for you, whether it’s your doctors, your friends, your family, or clubs, they can help make a crappy situation so much more manageable. Your life hasn’t been put on pause, but rather is just going in a different direction,” Crowe said.
