The Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), is an important internal stabilizer of the knee joint, restraining hyperextension. Most intriguingly this injury occurs quite regularly within the sport of Football, more so within the professional level due to the physically competitive environment. When the ACL is torn the person is more than likely to undertake surgery depending on their activity level and how severe the injury itself.2 The research provides information from reliable sources, proving that it’s possible to recover quicker than the expected time estimated to recover. It is evident that tearing your ACL need nor be career ending, because rehabilitation methods provided by a Physio can be followed or by researching on the internet in order to help the long term recovery process. Throughout the research, it was apparent that the ACL injury can be paired with not just physical problems but also mental troubles, such as depression & anxiety. These are accompanied alongside the injury due to the fact that the player who tears his ACL cannot do what he used to do making it impossible to do what he loves and trained hard for. This can make the player very restricted in the way that they cannot do all the activities requiring any physical activity at a high level, an if they have just undertaken surgery they cannot do anything physically demanding for months.
What is an ACL injury and is it possible to stop it from ending your profession?
An anterior cruciate ligament injury is the over-stretching or tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee. A tear may be partial or complete. (MedicinePlus, 2016) It is definitely the most common injury within professional football, especially inside of AFL. The injury can be overcome through getting surgery, this is demanding in the price as not everyone can afford to undertake surgery right away. Nevertheless, most athletes that tear their ACL try to get surgery sorted right away and be on the road to recovery, in order to get back to their profession of professional football.
Tearing your ACL is a standout amongst the most annihilating injuries you could receive and in light of the fact that it keeps you from being active temporarily, alongside this it also has life threatening consequences. Studies have also been done to show that athletes involved in basketball, football and soccer have the greatest risk of tearing their ACL. Kieran Parnell undertook a rehabilitation process through ‘Wakefield Sports Clinic’ as shown on the next page, alongside Kyle Crompton undertaking a rehabilitation program instructed by Jonathan, Kieran’s was constructed by Natalie (Physiotherapist at Wakefield Sports Clinic).Best ways in order to best prevent this injury? It all starts off by training hard in the off-season, start off slow and ease yourself into more intense training. It is basically like saying, “good things come to those who wait,” allow your body to build up muscle before you push yourself too hard.
A huge reminder for people trying to best prevent this injury is to make sure to track your workouts because it provides with you the ability to log your workouts as it provides your coach or trainer with the ability to pinpoint any injury concerns before they happen. Using a monitoring system helps you keep track of not only your workout routine, but also your sleeping, eating and hydrating patterns. “All of the dot points above are incredible ways to help prevent this injury, it’s very precise and is exactly what I done, but unfortunately I still tore my ACL due to a clash of knees, which was very unlucky. Nevertheless, these pointers on how to prevent it as best as possible are very good, but there is always still a chance.” (Parnell, 2016).
How does it affect their playing profession? Professional players push themselves in the gym when they train to try and put themselves into a good position where they reduce the risk of injuries. Whether it’s through stretching, exercise techniques, or nutrition, all athletes try and minimize the chances of suffering an injury.An ACL injury is an immense difficulty to an professional footballers playing profession. The infamous ACL tear was once a profession ending injury, however, because of restorative headways in surgery, recuperation and recovery programs the damage is no longer profession ending for most, but instead it is a huge setback for a professional footballers playing profession.
Figure 1 (LocalPhysion, 2016)
What are the psychological effects that arise with the injury?
Players with an ACL injury are confronted with massive mental burdens. They are required to hop these “burdens” on the off chance that they are to in the long run come back to playing football at a similar level that they were before the damage (injury). Upon the players return they’re required to have the same skill, strength etc, alongside being able to still have that aggressiveness towards the ball, this is hard though as the player will be fearful in the way that they might hurt their ACL again. This requires enormous measures of bravery and trust within yourself and the endeavors of the recovery placed in over the timeframe the player was sidelined for the team. However, players who focused on an early return escaped this requirement/problem. Players can obtain depression due to this injury, alongside a decreased sports satisfaction.
Kieran Parnell is a professional footballer in the SANFL, situated at North Adelaide Football Club (NAFC) stated the injury within itself psychologically affected the way that he performed, this was because he was fearful of the injury re-occurring, he also mentioned how his intensity around the ball had dropped significantly. Kieran stated how this happened for the first 3 games but afterwards it did not affect him and he has now mentioned how he is at the point where the injury does not cross his mind, he purely is back to how he used to play. (Parnell, 2016). It would all be a different story if Kieran had torn his ACL twice, this would effect everything so much more because be would just be over anxious and be in constant worry that it will happen again. For example Daniel Menzel has torn his ACL 4 times and he has never once given up (Herald Sun, 2016), which is unbelievable, however, he still manages to maintain his skill and confidence, this is shown through his current selection for the Geelong Cats in 2016 season. The worst part about tearing your ACL is knowing that you wont be able to play the sport you are truly passionate about for at least 12 months, which is unfair in a way but it’s not someone that you can completely preventable. “Injuries, while hopefully infrequent, are often an unavoidable part of sport participation” As referred to earlier are the psychological effects with this injury, student-athletes are highly affected by this, with emotional responses which are a feeling of isolation, irritation, certain lack of motivation, anger paired with frustration, general sadness, sleeping troubles, sudden changes in appetite and disengagement within other activities. (Margot Putukian, 2016)
The way in which student-athletes respond with all of this is not any type of special sequence or pattern, it is solei dependent on the student-athlete and their personality.
ACL Rehabilitation
An ACL ruptures due to the twisting of the knee joints, and football players are most prone to this injury. Alongside tearing your ACL you can also injure your knee in other ways, such as tearing a cartilage or damaging the knee joint. The main focus with rehabilitation is to not rush or push your knee too much whilst following a specific program that your physiotherapist allocates to you. Within this certain schedule that you have to follow you often find yourself ahead of the schedule at certain times. (Dr Ivan Astori, 2016)
In what specific ways does it affect their playing profession?
If an athlete is facing more than one ACL tear repetitively it can be very hard to come back and still be playing at the same professional level that they once used to be at. If an athlete has repetitively torn their ACL it is a minimum of 15 months to return to the sport that they love safely, and in order to meet the physicality levels without worrying too much about their knee. (Natalie, 2016)
In all things aside the ACL injury can not be prevented entirely, however there can be plans and strategies set in order to try avoid it happening and creating a lower risk towards it. It can affect a player’s profession, the injury in itself can be career ending, only if it becomes a repetitive cycle (ie. tearing it more than once). Nevertheless, it still can end your profession as an athlete, unless you have the drive and ambition to keep on moving forward. (Parnell, 2016) (Natalie, 2016)
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