603 LIVING / YOUR ACTIVE LIFE
Sidelined by an ACL Injury? Return to sports with confidence, thanks to a new collaboration BY DANIEL P. BOUVIER, M.D. / PHOTO BY BLAZE LYJAK
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nterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries can be devastating for an athlete, especially a young one. As recent decades have passed, we’ve gained ever more knowledge regarding graft selection, and surgical techniques have improved our surgical efficiency and objective results in patients undergoing ACL reconstruction. Despite these improvements, in the youngest and most active patients who play a sport and wish to return to that sport, subsequent 90 New Hampshire Magazine | May 2022
injury to the reconstructed knee — in addition to the opposite knee — is a real risk and approaches 25% in combination. Our challenge as fellowship-trained orthopaedic sports medicine surgeons is to give patients the best chance at the best possible outcomes by being judicious about graft selection, patient expectations and optimizing postoperative rehabilitation. Returning to the field or court with confidence can be challenging for young
athletes after ACL reconstruction. It takes a collaborative effort of the whole sports medicine team — the doctor, the physical therapists, athletic trainers, and strength and conditioning coaches. In the past, time from surgery and some basic strength tests were used to tell the patient when they could return to the activities they enjoy. Research has shown that the biology of the healing ACL graft can take two years to complete, and that the closer the patient progresses
