This can be a season ending, (potentially career ending) injury for athletes and all sportspeople alike. The injury also means lots of scans, Doctors, Physiotherapy, Myotherapy appointments, huge amounts of gym and rehab work, and likelihood of surgery. It also most likely means 9- 12months out of your chosen sport.
Now what?
One of your first stops should be an orthopedic opinion the surgeon will have a look at your MRI scan and assess damage. Following this they will discuss the option, YES there are more options than just surgery if you’ve torn your ACL!
This is a big decision to make as there’s lots of factors to take into consideration. Depending on your sport, age and desire to return to similar levels, you may be at the point in your life where high intensity, high impact sports; such at netball or football may becoming less of a priority. At the time of the injury you may have work/family commitments and finances which may not allow you to get the surgery 2-4 weeks following the injury and take the 6 weeks off post surgery.
If this is you and you’ve decided to take the conservative approach the research shows degeneration of the joint doesn’t vary much between non-surgical and surgical later in life.
Along with this the conditioning and rehabilitation work is very similar and you don’t lose the benefit of your hard work and strength gained if you choose surgery down the track.
Depending on your chosen sport the conservative approach may also be much faster way to return to sport taking months rather than the surgical approach which takes a minimum of 9 months for the ligament graft to take.
How can Myotherapy help?
We can provide massage and trigger point work to the knee to reduce the swelling and pain in the acute phase. Then prescribe you stretching and rehabilitation exercises to help with pain and weakness following the injury. As you improve advise you when to get back in the gym, the types of exercises to avoid and how to progress back onto the track avoiding reinjures
Hope this helps
– Tom McLeod
