Knee Recos & the ACL

[WilliamPowell]

I have been thinking about this since poor Dave Rodan did his knee in downtown Morwell and I thought I'd raise it here to see what people think and if anyone can give me some clarity.

Dave Rodan's knee injury was described as being a "ruptured ACL joint". When Gas did his knee it was said he had ruptured his ACL as well.

Over the years other players have torn their ACL or snapped their ACL.

The result is always the same a complete knee reconstruction.

However, over the years I have read that some knee injuries requiring reconstructions are considered not "bad ones" while others are described as really bad ones. For example, when Gas did his knee they said it wasn't a bad one but when Joel Smith was at StKilda and did his knee (I still remember that one after all these years - OUCH) it was described as a bad ACL. The result of these "bad ones" and not so "bad ones" are that the reconstructions are referred to the same way.

I am assuming that rupturing the ACL is not as bad a tearing or snapping it and as a result the reconstruction process (the grafting) for each is slightly different?

Does anyone know , has anyone had a reco?

Thoughts? Comments?

[mightytiges]

No MD WP but I'd presume a rupture is a partial tear of the ACL whereas when it's torn or snapped the ACL has been completely torn in half. I know you can't reattach the ends together so that's why you need a complete reconstruction with the ACL ends removed and a graft (from a tendon) put in the old ACL place.

As the ACL prevents the knee joint from moving forward (IIRC) so you can't play elite sport without one as the knee isn't stable enough for that amount of twisting and pivoting.

From memory I think Richo's was a "good" ACL. They did it tighter to make it stronger even though that meant longer to recover.

[WilliamPowell]

As the ACL prevents the knee joint from moving forward (IIRC) so you can't play elite sport without one as the knee isn't stable enough for that amount of twisting and pivoting.

Yeah that's my understanding too. If I did one I probably wouldn't need a reco.

That's why after doing your ACL you can walk around quite normally after the initial agony (about an hour).

[mightytiges]

That's why after doing your ACL you can walk around quite normally after the initial agony (about an hour).

That's how you knew Rodan had done his ACL when media reports said he was walking around after the Morwell game virtually unaided  .