Hello, I'm sharing my current experience/situation with an old injury, ACL. I used to love soccer but sadly, 2 years back, i torn my right ACL in one of the games. Was told to go for surgery however i have been delaying it. Tentatively, I'm suppose to get it done in this year. But since the flame of badminton has been ignited, i may actually delay it further, pending on the condition. Initially when i just started off, the knee will give way or somehow, instability. I did invest in some good knee braces but definitely, the performance will be better without having them on. Another thing that will helps, is good stretching, i always make it a point to reach my game earlier. I probably will stretch - 15mins ,planking for a min. And some dynamic warm up to heat up this old rusty body of mine. So far, it had been well. I'm keeping optimistic and hopes it continue to stay this way.
I had always thought that once you tear an ACL, it needs to be surgically repaired. Is that not the case?
It is. No way you can play competitive badminton with a torn ACL. Also very dangerous because of the instability, you could easily injure another ligament.
That is not necessarily true. There are rare cases when professional athletes still compete with a torn acl. Dejuan Blair, former nba player comes to mind, he didnt even realize his acls were torn until he got drafted. With strength training one can pretty much reduce instability. However 99,5% of players should get surgery on his/her acl if he/she wants to do serious sports. Ignoring this can result in cartilage, ligament or tendon damage.
I don't know about other sports but in badminton a torn ACL is pretty serious. Most of the professionals never reach their form again, even after surgery.
True. It also means for the non professional sports person, a torn ACL is also manageable. And there must be many more of those people walking around. Some people are afraid of surgery and therefore do not undergo a reconstruction. Many people do have surgery in order to have a greater chance of getting back to higher (maybe not extremely high) levels of activity and to reduce the risk of damage to other parts of the knee like the meniscii (the knees' shock absorbers). Meniscii cannot grow back and can only heal in a limited fashion.
yes, that is also my concern. Even after the surgery, it may never be the same as before. The surgery is done within a day but the downtime and recovery, estimate to be around 8 months.. I'm trying my luck here, was hoping if i can find any members who had such injury and recover/remain without any surgery done.
Word of caution: I never had an ACL injury, so take my words with a pinch of salt, but I heard from a lot of people that a torn ACL is pretty much the worst ligament injury there is. I know a guy who tore both his ligaments during the time when he was playing soccer, now he is playing badminton without a problem. The surgeries went pretty well. Another girl I know had an operation too, she's playing well again, too. She even stopped wearing a brace after a while. But then there are examples like Li Xuerui, Wang Xin, Hayom Rumbaka and more who never came back to their game. Not sure you can apply this to our situation - recreational play. In the end it's your choice and a very tough one at that. I think I'd avoid operation as long as I could still play 90-100 % because there's always a risk of making it worse. Operation is usually the last resort.
yes, this is my intention too. I'm 40, nothing much to ask for. Just hope to stay fit and healthy while continue having fun in badminton and life.
i only know it's torn and i was told to go for surgery. is there partial torn situation? I didn't ask this with my doctor.
MRI is the only way to tell for sure. But instability and buckling is a good indication. There are 2 types of surgery. One is meniscectomy to remove any loose cartilage, the symptom of which is the feeling of foreign loose body inside the knee with inability to straighten knee. Second is ACL repair for severe to complete ligament rupture, the symptom of which is instability and buckling.
i did have a MRI done but didn't ask if it was actually a half torn or full torn.. Was only told to go for surgery if i want to stay active. Yes, instability is there. Especially when i am taking the stairs down, the right knee will tend to give way or push forward. I actually have a few falls before because of this. But since i into badminton, it somehow gets better. don't know if it's a placebo effort or the muscles get stronger to sustain the weakness. But definitely, before each game, i got to stretch the leg really well. Otherwise, it will pull, similar to a clamp.
Definitely ask about MRI how much tear or if complete tear. And definitely do not, I repeat, do not twist it again... otherwise the tear will be complete if it hasn't already, and there may likely be more meniscal damage with each further severe twisting injury. Stationary biking is a good strengthening exercise. And definitely wear a knee brace when you play sports to prevent another injury.
I had this before after a meniscus injury. It was only after a long time I decided to see a physio for new ideas. It transpired I had also suffered a medial collateral ligament injury. The physio treatment was painful but worked.
Yes. A single bundle might be torn. It's rarer but can happen. Surgeon can reconstruct the single bundle. Because the one natural bundle is intact, it will preserve some of the proprioception. However, not sure how many surgeons will do this type of operation.
I think is also the age of the players, all the players you mentioned here are in thier mid 20's when the rupture their ACL. Hence, a bit difficult to come back as such injury really requires 8-12 months(depending on the severity) recovery time and physioteraphy. By then they would have lost a year, and add anohter 6-8 months of slowly intensify the training and you have there easily 1.5 years gone. Then when you are ready for competitive badminton again, you start from the bottom, local and regional tournaments( eg LXR is playing now)....and that will probably take another 6-8 mths to reach competitive level. Overall, I would say 1.5 - 2.5 years to get back to their old self.....and by then they will be touching 30 years old, hence, do you think they will have how many good badminon years left.....but there is one lady who really surprise me, Sayaka Sato, she not only came back from the brink but also won the Indonesian Super Series after a rupture ACL. So never say never!! however, if they had the ACL ruptured in their early years, i am sure they will come back stronger - as this atletics would have sufficient time to recover and rehab.... Just my thots, and really depends on the surgery and extent of the damage as well.....I have been reading about ACL surgeries, and the regenation of the ligament is as good as the original ligament, you get back 90-95% and with proper rehab, with building your quads and hamstring, the power could be even better that the non injured knee.
With 8-9 months recovery, you would have already been fully healed by now if you got the surgery 2 years ago. If you can, you should definitely get it fixed now. Do not wait any further as there are no alternatives and an accident is around the corner if you already have issues going down some stairs. Besides, you’re still young. Use the 8/9 months of recovery/rehab to get fit before playing badminton. You can do home bicycle and fitness training (ask your kinesiologist for the right exercices) pretty much right after the surgery. You can also start practicing services. Don’t delay it any further, you do not want to damage your knee more than it is.
