Doomsday101
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At one time, a torn anterior cruciate ligament was a career-ending injury in football, but thanks to improvements in surgical procedures and new rehabilitation techniques, players seem to be coming back faster, and sometimes better, than ever.
Though it remains a devastating injury, many point to the biggest difference being the improvements in the rehab process, which often begins the very night of the injury.
According to Kevin Wilk, a reknowned physical therapist at Champion Sports Medicine in Birmingham, Ala., patients will walk on treadmills submerged in water that alleviate about 25 percent of the body's weight, move on to running on zero-gravity treadmills that use contained air to buoy an athlete like a hovercraft, and eventually graduate to running on solid ground and sports-specific skills.
Mauti suffered his third ACL injury in November, toward the end of an All-American senior season. Although he was unable to run for scouts at the NFL combine in February, he was in Indianapolis for interviews and other assessments. And of course, he was poked and prodded by just about every team's medical staff.
"I had 32 sets of hands on the leg,'' he said, "but everybody was real positive about it.''
Adrian Peterson returned to the Vikings for the 2012 season, six months after suffering an ACL tear in December 2011 and came within a first down of breaking the NFL's single-season rushing record.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...-spelling-doom-for-football-careers-1.5335284
Though it remains a devastating injury, many point to the biggest difference being the improvements in the rehab process, which often begins the very night of the injury.
According to Kevin Wilk, a reknowned physical therapist at Champion Sports Medicine in Birmingham, Ala., patients will walk on treadmills submerged in water that alleviate about 25 percent of the body's weight, move on to running on zero-gravity treadmills that use contained air to buoy an athlete like a hovercraft, and eventually graduate to running on solid ground and sports-specific skills.
Mauti suffered his third ACL injury in November, toward the end of an All-American senior season. Although he was unable to run for scouts at the NFL combine in February, he was in Indianapolis for interviews and other assessments. And of course, he was poked and prodded by just about every team's medical staff.
"I had 32 sets of hands on the leg,'' he said, "but everybody was real positive about it.''
Adrian Peterson returned to the Vikings for the 2012 season, six months after suffering an ACL tear in December 2011 and came within a first down of breaking the NFL's single-season rushing record.
http://www.newsday.com/sports/footb...-spelling-doom-for-football-careers-1.5335284