ACL tear

[gymmom01]

I will preface to say that I am not seeking medical advice. My daughter (Level 9) injured her knee on a bad vault landing at her meet last weekend. We saw a sports medicine ortho this week and it is very likely that she tore her ACL and potentialy the meniscus and will need surgery. We have an MRI scheduled for next week. She has been wearing a knee brace and walking around fine on it without any pain.

My main concern is that she thinks it is fine because she can walk around without any pain, but I was lead to believe that ACL tears pretty much always warrant surgery.

Anyone that has gone through this... any advice on going through the long journey of recovery? We won't know the results or the full extent of the damage until the end of next week, but I am trying to prepare us both mentally for the worst case scenario.

Also, when the doctor says 9 months of recovery,did that mean not doing anything at the gym for 9 months, or were you/your gymnast doing some kind of conditioning at the gym in addition to PT before then?

 

[Gymgirl84]

I have an ACL tear, but I didn't make a recovery to go back to gymnastics (I didn't really try to).
Though, I think the 9 months are to go back to regular training, I think they could be doing something in the gym much earlier (like conditioning and bars over the pit). You could take a look at Jessica Gadirova's IG, she has shared a lot of her recovery journey, and even her, that was really slow in her recovery was at the gym earlier than 9 months post surgery doing bars and some basics (non-impact). Some others like Asia D'Amato and Ondine Achampong have been at the gym quite early. Ondine has been doing almost full beam and bars routines, except the dismounts. She injured almost in (almost) may and she was doing some skills at Cal in November.

 

[gymmom01]

Ugh, this sport is so brutal. I looked at Jessica Gadirova's IG. That is defintely eye-opening for sure We will take one day at a time.....

 

[Gymgirl84]

Gadirova's was definitely much slower than most and she had a couple of other injuries along the way, but it can give you an idea. You can check the other girls too for a different perspective.

 

[CoachPow]

After 21 years coaching gymnastics, track and football, I've been around more ACL's than I want to remember (Just lost my best boys' sprinter to a pick-up basketball ACL injury-surgery was Wednesday...) As long as the meniscus is intact, it might not hurt all that much, but it is still unstable. Make sure she does the PT religiously, before and after the surgery. I've learned that you should beware of a surgeon that sets the recovery timeline up front. Some use ambitious timelines to gain your business, while others are looking to protect their low reinjury rates. We have a great surgeon from a small practice in our area that won't make promises but has had kids back in 4-5 months, while others take that 9-10+ month range. We've had kids go to the big name clinics in the Twin Cities and the surgeons have told them recovery will be at least 10-12 months before they even look at the MRI... Find one that is knows something about gymnastics and will work on return to sport based on recovery and therapy progress, and not a specific timeline. The best ones will have them start with basic athletic movements as they reach PT thresholds, and they will advance from there. In my experience, full recovery and return to previous levels is a function of their work ethic and their confidence. An athlete from the next town over who worked out in our gym during the off-season tore her ACL during soccer in September, and returned to qualify for State gymnastics in February. I've also never been around a more mentally strong teenage athlete. We've also had kids that take a year plus, and some that never fully return because they are concerned about re-injury. Best thing you can do to aid recovery is support her mentally and physically through PT!