Athletes overcome ACL injuries

 “Some might say a minor setback expects a major comeback,” Hailie Edwards, sophomore multi-sport athlete, quoted after her ACL tear. ACL tears could range from a grade one, where the ligament has only been stretched, to a grade three, where the ligament is fully torn into two pieces, which then depends on how long the recovery will take. Hailie Edwards had one of the worst injuries with a fully torn ACL and a meniscus tear, which will result in a 12 month recovery time that is rare because normal recovery time is 9-12 months.

      Many ACL injuries can result from sports such as football, soccer, basketball, and volleyball, with a lot of sudden stops when running. Most people tend to only think about the physical aspect of an injury and forget about the mental part of not being able to play sports and how that can affect someone’s mental health. For a whole year Hailie Edwards stated that she had to “watch game after game, people play the sports I have loved and watch other people succeed when you know you can not snap your fingers and play again.” This affects athletes’ mental health by not being able to play the one sport that means the absolute world, thus causing athletes to lose motivation in school, since they feel there is no point anymore. Hailie said, “I was losing motivation in my school work, because to me there was no point in school if I could not play sports,” therefore showing just one major injury can completely damage an athlete’s physical and mental health all at once. 

     ACL injuries are not to be taken lightly, but athletes have determination, and no matter what it takes, they are going to step out on that field again. 

     The process of healing an ACL is not as simple as other injuries and requires a lot of time and effort to be back to 100 percent. After the athlete gets the surgery where the ACL is completely reconstructed, with excruciating amounts of pain afterwards, the recovery and physical therapy comes in. But only doing physical therapy is not a guaranteed path back to sports right away, as Hailie Edwards did agility and strength training with a specific coach all throughout the summer along with physical therapy, because she had to regain back all the muscle and strength. “You have to relearn how to walk, run, jump, and cut again,” Hailie Edwards stated after talking about her agility and strength training, along with all of the extra hard work she had done everyday to get back as soon as possible, going to the gym, running, and basketball conditioning. Although it seems that the athlete is cleared and 100% right away, it takes a few months to ease back into the sport and be able to take full athletic contact without having to worry about reinjuring or retearing the ACL. The recovery process after a torn ACL is underrated on how difficult it is, but no matter what, athletes figure out a way to get back on to the place that they belong and feel safe. We are looking forward to Hailie Edwards major comeback season in basketball this year! 

     For more information on ACL injuries and how to recover visit my.clevelandclinic.org.