2 ACL tears success story

SDSteve760

BRONZE
I want to share my daughter story to maybe someday help someone else going through ACL recovery.
ACL tear #1- It happened during training and was a contact injury. My daughter was so devastated. The day she found out it was an ACL tear I was so surprised because she was walking fine and her knee didn’t swell to bad. The first thing my daughter said to the doctor was how long before I can play again. She instantly went into recovery mode and it shocked me.

Recovery #1- My DD was so determined to go back and play. All the exercises she was doing and not always with a smile on her face she wanted to quit so bad at times but she pushed through. When she was near the 8 month mark she was clear for non contact. I was researching and reading stories here. I wanted to do everything right so I didn’t have to see this pain on my DD face ever again. I sent her to performance training to get her stronger and more confident. We followed all protocol worked into practice. Finally cleared for game action at the 11 month mark.
The first game back out her 11 and 1/2 months post OP. Game went pretty well she was very timid as expected. We played one tournament 3 games and she started to look more comfortable.
The next tournament we start she had scored her first goal since coming back and it brought me to tears on the sideline not because she scored a goal but because the joy and her face wow. I knew this experience was going to teach her so many life lessons.

Devastation- during her 6th game back she was running back to grab a loose ball and down she went no contact nothing. I can’t even put into words the emotions I was going thru watching my DD lay there on the ground. No way it could be her knee again. ....... it was her other knee.
At this point I was so devastated for my DD she worked her but off did everything right waited long enough I just couldn’t figure out why. I was ready for her to tell me she was done. I was mad at soccer. She was devastated in tears and was already looking at her calendar to see when she could play again. I wasn’t going to tell her to play or not to play this was her decision I would support it either way.

The Comeback part 2
Every recovery is different this one was not smooth at all like the first one. She had some swelling and pain for longer period of time. She would go back and forth wanting to quit wanting to go. She pushed through all adversities and stepped back onto the soccer field the opening weekend of Coast Soccer Premier. This was in 2018. She slowly worked her way back into the lineup. She has now been playing for over a year and it did take quite a bit longer for her to feel comfortable but I am happy to say I got to watch her play in a Far west regional game this week and she is playing better soccer than before either injury. This kid has a huge heart I was 100% ready for her to quit but I wasn’t going to make any decision for her. As I reflect on the journey I know a similar story here helped me get through the first injury so I had to share her story.
 
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