Michael Owen Knee Injury!

[Clarkey]

You might have seen when Michael Owen tore his cruciate ligament during the Football World Cup and will not play for at least 5 months. Recently he has had knee surgery to repair cartilage damage but the Surgeon didnt repair his torn cruciate ligament. The knee is now swollen so has to wait for cruciate ligament to be repaired in September. If he had both done at same time he would recover quicker and be able to play football for Newcastle sooner.

My question is why didnt the Surgeon repair torn cruciate ligament when he repaired cartilage damage. Is it too much for knee to take at once is the only reason I can think of, or repair cruciate ligament first rather then damaged cartilage, let me know what you think they should have done.

[Kai]

One of the most serious complications of ACL surgery is a condition known as arthrofibrosis..  There is an excellent tutorial on this site about it.  This causes a lot of grief...  studies have shown that one of the main ways of eliminating this is to wait for the acute swelling and trauma of the original injury to subside..  Stedman knows this..

I injured my knee on April 19th and did not have surgery until May 31..  My OS insists on a minimum of 3 weeks of physio therapy prior to surgery...  in my case he made me get 4..  he says you have to have quad strenght and full range of motion going into the surgery if you have any hope of getting it back after the surgery..

cheers
Kai

[patpalloon]

absolutely Kai. I and many others on this site had cartilage or meniscal repairs and at the same time as the ACL recon. However, the time between injury and surgery for most of us here is considerably longer than with Michael Owen. The surgeon would want to make sure that full extension and ROM were restored and swelling reduced before doing the ACl recon.

[zengirl]

The time between my injury and surgery was three years. Although I had my meniscus trimmed away at the same time as the ACL reconstructed, there wasn't any swelling and my knee was as strong as it could be. I guess this is why the surgeon didn't do Michael's ACL at the same time as the meniscus repair.

[ruthpan29]

i had my meniscus repair 8 day after injury and ACLr only 6 weeks after that when knee was much less inflammed and there was good flexion... the knee felt much better after the 2nd op than the first. 

[Clarkey]

Thanks for all the replies you have all sent in, I now know a liittle bit more about ACL injury and what preperation is needed before you have ACL Surgery I hope it never happens to me in my life time sounds like a nasty injury to get and a slow recovery.

Do you think Michael Owen will ever be able to play Football again to his full potential after he has had ACL Surgery or will he always have knee probloms, will he have to retire from Professional Football because of his injury or will he be able to play for a few more years.

[matiny2k]

Clarkey,

From personal experience, you do tend to lose a bit of something after an acl recon. I'm not sure whether it's pace (physical) or whether you just become a little more reserved on the field - for fear of repeating the injury (psychological).

With the standard of treatment he will be receiving, he should have no problem physically, it's just whether he can cope with the other side - particularly in view of the other injuries he's had in his career.

I would add that Owen's game is all about pace and without it he doesn't have much else. Shearer had an acl recon and came back a different type of player - more of a target man, playing with his back to goal - I'm not sure Owen could play that role. It'll be an interesting one to watch.

Mat

[ibis003]

He is just going to get fat like Ronaldo .  (Owen is one of my faverite players)

[henri]

i actually have problems with weight:D but i am working with this. So matiny2k is basically saying the right thing,also atleast i am going to be really careful on the field in the future,if i am even going return there:P

[ibis003]

Like I said, I was strickly joking...just because the media was giving Ronaldo such a hard time.  He is still a sick player at any weight.  Any pro player that comes back from an ACLR is still amazing to watch.  they have the best of the best getting them back to were the should be, plus the have positive mental attitude (which we all should always have during rehab).  I am 39 and plan to get back on the pitch...if I have 0.5% of any pro players skill I would be stoked. 

[feeny]

Dont forget -

I believe Ronaldo had an ACLr as well.

[ibis003]

I know he did... thats when he came a little heavy.  and he is still a sick player, I don't care what the media says

[John Foy]

http://home.skysports.com/list.asp?hlid=404853&CPID=8&clid=11&lid=&title=Pistone+targets+Toffees+return

Evertons Alesandro Pistone is nearing a comeback from ACLR. Click the link.

John

[Clarkey]

Hi thought I would update you with Micheal Owens knee injury, he has undergone successful surgery on his ruptured cruciate knee ligament last week in USA.
Dr Richard Steadman performed the surgery, have any of you ever been treated by him or know someone who has. (Maybe he a KneeGeek Member who knows)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/5312042.stm

Nick  {2006}

[nick157]

Clarkey,

From personal experience, you do tend to lose a bit of something after an acl recon. I'm not sure whether it's pace (physical) or whether you just become a little more reserved on the field - for fear of repeating the injury (psychological).

With the standard of treatment he will be receiving, he should have no problem physically, it's just whether he can cope with the other side - particularly in view of the other injuries he's had in his career.

I would add that Owen's game is all about pace and without it he doesn't have much else. Shearer had an acl recon and came back a different type of player - more of a target man, playing with his back to goal - I'm not sure Owen could play that role. It'll be an interesting one to watch.

Mat

Good post Mat, you obviously know a bit about Football and I agree with everything you say. Funnily enough most of the players I know of who've had the ACLR were never renowed for pace - Zenden, Mendieta, Van Nistelrooy, Gazza, Shearer, Pires - so it will indeed be interesting to see if he loses the explosion of pace he had.

On the subject of not being as brave (going in for tackles) after the surgery - I've not found that. I'm 18 months post ACLR and play 2-3 times per week - I still think I tackle as hard now as I always did. However, I wil NOT make the same tackle I did when I sustained the injury (block tackle with the joint opened up). Other than that nothing has really changed (I never had any pace!)