By sophomore year, three of my friends had injured their ACLs playing high school sports and I come from a small, rural school! Damage to the ACL, or the Anterior Cruciate Ligament, is a common athletic injury. In fact according to one study on the prevalence of ACL injuriesin the general population, approximately 1 out of 3,500 people are affected, which means there are about 200,000 new ACL related injuries per year. So if you or your friends were involved in competitive sports there’s a good chance that you know someone who’s had ACL problems too.
Maybe I was naïve or perhaps I still had too much of that young, invincible attitude, but I must admit before working at the Arthritis Foundation I thought having ACL surgery was “no big deal. I assumed after recovery and physical therapy, people could go back to whatever sport they played as if nothing ever happened. Of course back then I stuff like osteoarthritis never crossed my mind.
In a recent article, For Young Athletes, Knee Surgery Opens Door To Pain, Frank Deford touches on just this. He points out that while surgeons can perform operations to reconstruct ACLs, which helps young athletes to continue to play sports, some doctors have concerns.
“Doctors know that because the surgery allows young athletes to continue to compete aggressively and put stress on that damaged knee, a significant number will, in as few as 10 years, suffer degenerative osteoarthritis. That is so much more debilitating and painful and must be endured for the rest of one’s life. Some may even require knee replacement.
In Deford’s article Dr. Robert Stanton, the president of the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine, said that despite the risk of life long debilitating osteoarthritis, almost all young athletes choose to proceed with the ACL operation. They're young they’re invulnerable. Above all, they just want to keep playing.
The potential problem with “playing through the pain” with an ACL injury is that bone structure and cartilage can be torn with this kind of knee injury and cartilage just doesn’t heal, ever. So when the person grows to middle age, osteoarthritis and pain can develop. And once that damage is done there are no easy fixes.
Now let me make myself clear, I’m not telling you not to get surgery if you injure your ACL. Only you and your doctor can determine what’s right for your specific medical case. I just want young athletes to be aware that ACL injuries (with or without surgery) can lead to osteoarthritis later in life. Be informed, get all the information and think about your future before you make any tough choices. Trust me your middle-aged self will thank you!
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