[Cassandra is a Physical Fitness Programing student at Coker College in South Carolina and is an Athletic Development Intern at Athletic Lab]

When can I play again?

This is the most asked question after an injury from coaches, parents, media, teammates, and even the player themselves. The question they should’ve been asking all along is Am I ready to play again? I am living proof of why proper rehabilitation is key when wanting to return to sports. I’ve had a partial tear of the ACL sophomore year of high school. A complete tear and surgery senior year of high school, sophomore year of college, and in May of this year.

I did everything wrong. I had no idea what proper rehab was. I didn’t really know anything in high school except for soccer. Until my last injury I didn’t realize that I was only doing half of what I needed to be doing. Jumping, agility, cutting, and balance are just a few qualities needed to play sports. In rehab I worked on half of these things. Vogel states that rehab corrects the muscle imbalances that may have contributed to the injury. After an injury a doctor may send you to a physical therapist. The physical therapist only does the basic things for you to return to your sport. I performed very little balance, mobility, and strength work in physical therapy. I jogged when I was cleared to run. A couple of months ago when I thought that I could play with a torn ACL I was going through different types of training. Training involved a lot of jumping (how I re-injured my knee), weight training, and agility. What surprised me the most was that I was jumping incorrectly. No one had ever told me I was jumping wrong. It is something athletes do on a consistent basis in games and practice? it’s not something you think of, it is just something that comes naturally.

Hewett, et al. states that “you can return to pivoting, twisting, and rotational sports as early as 3-4 months, but may be unsafe for those athletes who do not have sufficient functional stability to protect weakened or healing graft.”

Who tells you that you have sufficient functional stability

Granted, surgeries have changed over years, but what has not changed is the continuous number of re-injuries due to the fact that they were simply not ready to return to sports. In my personal experience, I go through rehab, do what they tell me, go to the doctor, he feels my quad muscle and if he feels it is strong enough, I am cleared to return to sports. Personally, I do not think it should be this simple; I feel as though there should be pre- and post-surgery testing for strength, conditioning, and stability to ensure a more seamless return to your sport.

References:

Vogel, Deborah. “Understanding Knee Trauma.” Dance Spirit 1 Jan. 2007: n. pag. Web.

Hewett, Timothy E., Carmen E. Quatman, Kevin R. Ford, Mark V. Paterno, and Gregory D. Meyer. “Rehabilitation After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Criteria-Based Progression Through the Return-to-Sport Phase.” Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy 36: 385-402. Print