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Prep Roundup
Columnists Brian Meadows Brad NormanMembersLocal Connection› Iredell County Young Athletes Association› South Iredell Athletics Association › SHS athletics › WIHS athletics › NIHS athletics › SIHS athletics › LNHS athletics Syndicate RSSAP NASCAR NASCAR Features A look at this year's schedule A look at this year's drivers Differences between stock car and open-wheel racing NASCAR Research & Development Petty Enterprises splitter testing Aerodynamic testing in Concord's wind tunnel Top 10 moments in Daytona history Site StatisticsThis page has been viewed 773565 timesPage rendered in 0.2742 seconds Total Stories: 2136 Total Comments: 34 Most Recent Entry: 08/15/2008 01:53 pm Most Recent Comment on: 04/17/2008 11:54 pm Most Recent Visitor on: 02/09/2012 04:40 am |
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2008 Apr-20
Recovery comes at high priceBy Brad Norman A long road to recovery awaits athletes who tear their anterior cruciate ligaments. Surgery is required immediately after a tear, with three methods currently favored by doctors: Surgical grafts move tissue from the patients’ hamstring or patellar tendon in place of the ACL. Another option is the use of cadaver tissue to reconstruct the ligament. Once surgery is complete, the focus turns to rehabilitation, which varies in duration and intensity. “It depends on what they’re going back to,” said Carl Dunkin, director of Rehabilitation Services at Iredell Memorial Hospital. “If they’re going back to a really high-velocity sport that requires a lot of jumping and cutting and stopping suddenly and changing their direction, then time can be anywhere from six months up to a year.” Rehabilitation involves a series of exercises and movements, some excruciatingly painful, that focus on restoring stability and power. Jumping and balancing workouts are common, as are basic strengthening exercises, like hamstring curls. “One goal initially is to protect the surgical graft, the new ACL that’s been put in there,” Dunkin said. “There are certain movements and certain muscles we don’t want to use with an extreme amount of force, again to protect the ACL.” Although they have the same goals in mind, athletes don’t experience rehab the same way. For some, like Lake Norman junior Hayley Hammond, getting proper balance back is difficult. Hammond tore her left ACL after being fouled by two girls while going up for a layup during a basketball summer camp. The foul caused her to land awkwardly, rupturing her ACL. “Right now, it’s just testing out the strength of the knee with jumping exercises,” said Hammond, who is in the final phase of her rehab. “But I’ve never had very good balance, so it’s not exactly my cup of tea.” Other, more aggressive, forms of rehab, are also common, especially for athletes who will play in college. That’s the case with Marrissa Church, a West Iredell senior who tore her left ACL after landing funny during the 3A state championship volleyball match in November. Church has done most of her rehab with Lenoir-Rhyne College’s staff as she prepares to play volleyball for the Bears next year. “At the beginning, it was really hard and tough,” Church said. “I didn’t enjoy it. Two or three months went by, and (my trainer) would stretch me until tears would come to my eyes. But I enjoy doing it now.” Bookmarkz |
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