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After school on Monday I went to the school trainer, whom after a lengthy examination of my knee, told me the good news that I had no torn ligaments in my knee. I had strained my MCL, a muscle on the inside part of the knee that allows lateral and horizontal motions (Zumerchik 688-689). She told me if the ski on my left foot had twisted even an inch further, I would have had a season ending injury such as a torn MCL or ACL. It would have been very hard to wrap my mind around the fact that I would not be playing any of my favorite sports for the rest of the year and some of next year. The worst injury I had experienced up until the point of hearing that was a high ankle sprain, which was just over a week of healing time. Injuring my ankle was the first time I had to leave a sports game due to injury. For some athletes this might not seem very significant, but up until that point I played with the mindset that since I had not been hurt up until that point I could do whatever it took to win and not be injured. After having to see with my own eyes that my body has limits, the way I played sports was altered sub consciously. Our school trainer told me I would be out of my winter sport for around a week, which was a long time for me, but I was just thankful I could still use my knees without needing surgery. That injury haunts my mind almost every
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Because the foot can not move to adjust to where the rest of the body is moving ligaments get pulled in the knee and ankle and if put under too much stress the muscles tear. The goal should be to do anything possible to allow players feet to move out of the ground when the body gets jerked in a different direction, but that is the opposite of what some people’s goals are. Cleat manufacturers sell products that are designed to dig into the field and allow the player’s foot to remain in the ground. This is in an attempt to make athletes faster by pushing off the grip in the ground the cleats provide. This grip in the ground is exactly why most ACL injuries happen during sporting events. Specially designed cleats are made for turf fields, where the grip is much easier to obtain than on that of a grass field. These cleats provide less hold in the ground and do not keep the foot as anchored into the ground as standard cleats. This is what all designers of cleats must be trying to work into their products in an attempt to avoid so many season ending knee injuries. Coaches should be telling their players that the extra ¼ inch increase for cleat spikes may provide a better grip on the field, but it is putting them at a higher risk for injury. Those who use turf cleats are making the sacrifice that may make
Because the foot can not move to adjust to where the rest of the body is moving ligaments get pulled in the knee and ankle and if put under too much stress the muscles tear. The goal should be to do anything possible to allow players feet to move out of the ground when the body gets jerked in a different direction, but that is the opposite of what some people’s goals are. Cleat manufacturers sell products that are designed to dig into the field and allow the player’s foot to remain in the ground. This is in an attempt to make athletes faster by pushing off the grip in the ground the cleats provide. This grip in the ground is exactly why most ACL injuries happen during sporting events. Specially designed cleats are made for turf fields, where the grip is much easier to obtain than on that of a grass field. These cleats provide less hold in the ground and do not keep the foot as anchored into the ground as standard cleats. This is what all designers of cleats must be trying to work into their products in an attempt to avoid so many season ending knee injuries. Coaches should be telling their players that the extra ¼ inch increase for cleat spikes may provide a better grip on the field, but it is putting them at a higher risk for injury. Those who use turf cleats are making the sacrifice that may make