According to the Mayoclinic.org, an ACL injury is a tear or sprain of the anterior cruciate (KROO-she-ate) ligament (ACL) — one of the strong bands of tissue that help connect your thigh bone (femur) to your shinbone (tibia). ACL injuries most commonly occur during sports that involve sudden stops or changes in direction, jumping and landing — such as soccer, basketball, football and downhill skiing*.
Many people know a friend, family member or fellow athlete that has needed this type of surgery. For those who are competitive athletes, the question often asked of their physical therapists is how quickly can they get back to competition. Everyone, and especially athletes, want fast, effective recovery so they can get back to the activities and sports they love.
Owners, Brett Bloom of Longevity Physical Therapy and John Meyer of Meyer Institute of Sport, recently collaborated to offer their physical therapy teams the opportunity to dive deeper into this very subject for post ACL recovery with a continuing education conference led by Enda King, PHD MSC.
King is a physiotherapist, educator, conditioning coach and researcher. He is head of Elite Performance and Development in Aspetar, Doha Qatar and lives in both Qatar and Ireland. He travels internationally and consults for teams in a variety of disciplines including football, rugby, AFL, NFL, NBA, UFC, Boxing, jockeys and GAA. His expertise lies within hip and groin related injuries and knee ACL rehabilitation. He has over 40 peer-reviewed publications and is committed to performing research to develop methods for injury prevention and rehabilitation. He speaks regularly at conferences about Athletic Groin Pain, ACL Return to Play and Return to Performance After Injury.
The two-day training included multiple hours of hands-on practical experience with innovative techniques that could immediately be applied to our patients recovering from ACL surgery. Longevity has long been a proponent of Applied Functional Science which focuses on the relationship between physical, biological and behavioral sciences, and how the body actually moves.
If you have had, or are scheduled for ACL surgery, Longevity Physical Therapy and Meyer Institute of Sport have some new tools in the ACL recovery toolbox to help you return quicker to your sport or favorite activity.
*https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/acl-injury/symptoms-causes/syc-20350738
