My son has a torn ACL

[AZRaiderH8r]

Hey all, hoping for some advice here. We just found out that our 16 year old son has a torn ACL from an injury at the start of his summer basketball league. Unfortunately, he is absolutely terrified of surgery, but we'll help him get past that. At his age, surgery is the only option because he's got a lot of years ahead of him. Have any of you had your kids go through this, or been through it yourself? Just trying to get a sense of what we're in for. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Ulty]

Hey all, hoping for some advice here. We just found out that our 16 year old son has a torn ACL from an injury at the start of his summer basketball league. Unfortunately, he is absolutely terrified of surgery, but we'll help him get past that. At his age, surgery is the only option because he's got a lot of years ahead of him. Have any of you had your kids go through this, or been through it yourself? Just trying to get a sense of what we're in for. Thanks in advance for your help!

My 16 year old nephew tore his ACL last fall playing football. He had surgery in October and by April he was squatting at nearly full strength again. He is now running and playing baseball. He lost spring baseball but is going to be playing all summer and says he feels 100% now. His biggest concern was speed, which used to be his best attribute, but he hit a triple his first game back a couple weeks ago and looked good.

ACL is not a two year injury the way it used to be. Especially with young, healthy athletes, the recovery may go quicker than you think. The hardest part for my nephew was the first couple months after the surgery of no weight bearing and feeling super bummed as a result. But after that the rehab went really well. I was shocked at how quickly he regained his speed and strength.

At your son's age, he should be able to come back stronger than ever. Get the surgery and follow doctor's orders. Be patient in the early going and then work hard (and carefully) when the knee is ready.

 

[AZRaiderH8r]

That is incredibly helpful, thank you @Ulty! Poor kid is so bummed right now, he was really looking forward to the summer league. He had one of his best games ever in the first game, but the second game against another team was getting pretty chippy. He was playing defense and a large kid came to set a screen. Unfortunately, while setting the screen the kid also felt the need to add a shove to the mix. My son planted to prepare, but the shove caused his knee to go in a very bad direction. He screamed immediately and fell to the court, grabbing his knee. The ref was trying to help, but at the time said that he heard a pop and that I needed to get him to the hospital, because he was positive that it was his ACL. Didn't help calm my kid down at the time, but turns out the dude was Nostra-frigging-damus or something.