Scott 5Knee reconstructions? Here's why!
August 22nd 2006 02:41
After a one-day absence Sport Talk returns to discuss the personal side of a knee reconstruction.
The yet to be completed series dives into the depths on an injury that requires many months of rehabilitation, and then some.
A couple of readers have asked 'why a series on knee reconstructions' - the answer is simple. In Australian contact sports (particuarly in the post-puberty age groups) ruptured knee ligaments and structural damage to the joint is perhaps one of the most common injuries suffered.
I can personally vouch for this. The catalyst for this Sport Talk series came from my own personal experiences with an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) knee reconsruction. It may surprise you to learn that my injury did not come as a result of a sporting injury, no - I got hit by a car.
Crossing the road at the wrong moment, a car driving too fast down the wrong side of the road - a recipe for disaster. The emergency trauma doctor said I was lucky to not break a bone; let alone be alive.
After two months of pre-op phsyio, I am now three weeks post-reconstruction. Life is hard, but the knee is a surprisingly resiliant joint. I am slowly 'teaching myself to walk again' after being stuck in a full-leg brace for the first fortnight after surgery.
An ACLR (anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction) is not major surgery in the grand scheme of life, but those who endure such a procedure don't have it easy.
All too often we see professional footballers (AFL and otherwise) go down with a knee injury, watch them stretchered from the field, read the newspapers the next day and forget about them for the next 12 months. No-one realises or reports on the actual struggle of an ACLR recovery, despite it's everyday occurance.
In the next few days, Sport Talk will post videos of actual ACL reconstructions, through the lens of the arthroscope that probes the knee during the surgery. We'll also look at the type of grafts used in ACLR procedures in this day and age.
Here's hoping Sport Talk reveals the human perspective of the athletes we pay and love to watch
The yet to be completed series dives into the depths on an injury that requires many months of rehabilitation, and then some.
A couple of readers have asked 'why a series on knee reconstructions' - the answer is simple. In Australian contact sports (particuarly in the post-puberty age groups) ruptured knee ligaments and structural damage to the joint is perhaps one of the most common injuries suffered.
I can personally vouch for this. The catalyst for this Sport Talk series came from my own personal experiences with an ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) knee reconsruction. It may surprise you to learn that my injury did not come as a result of a sporting injury, no - I got hit by a car.
Crossing the road at the wrong moment, a car driving too fast down the wrong side of the road - a recipe for disaster. The emergency trauma doctor said I was lucky to not break a bone; let alone be alive.
After two months of pre-op phsyio, I am now three weeks post-reconstruction. Life is hard, but the knee is a surprisingly resiliant joint. I am slowly 'teaching myself to walk again' after being stuck in a full-leg brace for the first fortnight after surgery.
An ACLR (anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction) is not major surgery in the grand scheme of life, but those who endure such a procedure don't have it easy.
All too often we see professional footballers (AFL and otherwise) go down with a knee injury, watch them stretchered from the field, read the newspapers the next day and forget about them for the next 12 months. No-one realises or reports on the actual struggle of an ACLR recovery, despite it's everyday occurance.
In the next few days, Sport Talk will post videos of actual ACL reconstructions, through the lens of the arthroscope that probes the knee during the surgery. We'll also look at the type of grafts used in ACLR procedures in this day and age.
Here's hoping Sport Talk reveals the human perspective of the athletes we pay and love to watch
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