Day in and day out Eric Rozen, head athletic trainer at the University of Rochester, shows his dedication and devotion to the athletes at the U of R by giving them the best medical treatment available. Rozen has been a member of the staff for 11 years. Through this time he has had many opportunities to see firsthand the impact of an ACL injury. We sat down with Rozen and asked him a few questions regarding the ACL injury and his thoughts are listed below:
Q: Which part of the knee is injured when someone tears an ACL?
Eric Rozen: The ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament the anterior name in the ACL is where the ligament attaches on the tibia and posterior aspect of femur inside the joint capsule. The purpose of the ACL is to prevent anterior tibia translation.
Q: When an athlete tears an ACL, what happens next?
ER: It’s a process the knee while get evaluated, an MRI will happen to confirm the ACL tear. It is a test that is 90% definite in tears within the knee.
Q: Are there preventive measures athletes can take to prevent an ACL tear?
ER: There is a lot of research in this area specifically with a program called PEP, that deals with strength training for the quads and hamstrings which includes a lot of jumping and landing techniques. There is also the debate of prophylactic knee bracing.
(Read more about this in the "Male vs. Female" section)
Q: What would happen if the athlete never gets the surgery?
ER: People can be functional but you get all of the translation without an ACL you do damage to cartilage the knee is constantly grinding on each other. the meniscus and articular cartilage are damaged.
Q: How does the ACL surgery work?
ER: The surgery process is basically the same the difference is the type of graphs the use bone patella bone auto graph = own tissue. They drill tunnels through tibia and femur and replicate the area where the ACL where be and they would do some bone graphing.
Q: How long is the recovery process?
ER: start to finish minimum varies from surgeon to surgeon and individual to individual here our minimum is being cleared at 6 months post and a isokenetic test is required that tests the ratio of strength between right and left. Can take up to a year to get feeling back biggest issue is psychological.
Q: What are some of the different treatment processes after ACL surgery?
ER: Standard protocol is to first get the range of motion back, full extension, and as much flexion possible this all followed by strength training.
Q: We have heard stories of athletes re-tearing their ACL. Why does this happen?
ER: It happens because it happens, you tear the one you’re born with then you can tear the one they replace. There are some different theories including one about a notch space which is the area where the ACL is fixed and this difference may lead to the shearing of the ACL again.
Q: What’s the craziest ACL story you have ever heard?
ER: A few years back we had a senior basketball player who tore his ACL in the preseason and was functional without it. He made the decision to play and played with a brace, allowing him to make it through the season.
Q: Which part of the knee is injured when someone tears an ACL?
Eric Rozen: The ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament the anterior name in the ACL is where the ligament attaches on the tibia and posterior aspect of femur inside the joint capsule. The purpose of the ACL is to prevent anterior tibia translation.
Q: When an athlete tears an ACL, what happens next?
ER: It’s a process the knee while get evaluated, an MRI will happen to confirm the ACL tear. It is a test that is 90% definite in tears within the knee.
Q: Are there preventive measures athletes can take to prevent an ACL tear?
ER: There is a lot of research in this area specifically with a program called PEP, that deals with strength training for the quads and hamstrings which includes a lot of jumping and landing techniques. There is also the debate of prophylactic knee bracing.
(Read more about this in the "Male vs. Female" section)
Q: What would happen if the athlete never gets the surgery?
ER: People can be functional but you get all of the translation without an ACL you do damage to cartilage the knee is constantly grinding on each other. the meniscus and articular cartilage are damaged.
Q: How does the ACL surgery work?
ER: The surgery process is basically the same the difference is the type of graphs the use bone patella bone auto graph = own tissue. They drill tunnels through tibia and femur and replicate the area where the ACL where be and they would do some bone graphing.
Q: How long is the recovery process?
ER: start to finish minimum varies from surgeon to surgeon and individual to individual here our minimum is being cleared at 6 months post and a isokenetic test is required that tests the ratio of strength between right and left. Can take up to a year to get feeling back biggest issue is psychological.
Q: What are some of the different treatment processes after ACL surgery?
ER: Standard protocol is to first get the range of motion back, full extension, and as much flexion possible this all followed by strength training.
Q: We have heard stories of athletes re-tearing their ACL. Why does this happen?
ER: It happens because it happens, you tear the one you’re born with then you can tear the one they replace. There are some different theories including one about a notch space which is the area where the ACL is fixed and this difference may lead to the shearing of the ACL again.
Q: What’s the craziest ACL story you have ever heard?
ER: A few years back we had a senior basketball player who tore his ACL in the preseason and was functional without it. He made the decision to play and played with a brace, allowing him to make it through the season.