Kress (77) shown above , moments before his season-ending ACL tear.

By Hunter Moore ’15

In all levels of sports -professional, college, or high school- there has recently been problems with the tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). There are about 200,000 ACL injuries in the United States per year according to reports. In Sherwood alone, several students have torn their ACL, and it seems that every six to eight weeks, a new person undergoes an ACL injury.

ACL tears have become so common lately because the human body is not built to make the jumps and cuts athletes now make. The ACL is located inside the knee joint, connecting the underside of the femur to the top of the tibia. The main role of the ACL is to prevent the tibia from sliding in front of the femur and out of joint. The dynamic forces created by jumping and making side-to-side cuts tend to stress the ACL by pushing the tibia out of position. When the ACL tears, it’s usually because the athlete rotated his hips at the wrong moment, adding too much force to the ACL.

According to different studies, female athletes are five times more likely to have an ACL injury, for various reasons, most of which are body development. Women have a wider pelvis, different thigh bone structure, and mature differently with muscles and hormonal changes than men, that make women more susceptible to an injury.

“Tearing my ACLs wasn’t incredibly painful when it actually happened, but the next day was dreadful,” said senior Alex Kozlowski, who has torn both of her ACLs. “Walking down the stairs was out of the question and walking itself was a horrible task.” Kozlowski tore her right ACL while playing basketball, recovered and then tore her other ACL during the powder puff football game last year.

Kozlowski has been in rehab for four months, and, for both ACLs has been required to do over a year of rehab. Fortunately, she will be able to return to the basketball court for her senior year, though she will be required to miss her first few games, including the game against rival Magruder, as a part of the rehab.  Kozlowski can begin playing on December 29.

Another basketball player, senior Christopher Chiogioji, may also have to miss the season opener as part of his rehab after a devastating injury during a scrimmage against Howard weeks before last years lacrosse season in which he tore his ACL, making a cut that caused his knee to give out.  He will return to both basketball and lacrosse, but it will not be an easy task.

Chiogioji found the ensuing next couple of months much harder than the days immediately following his injury. “The process of surgery and rehab was long and hard, if you don’t work it out every day then it won’t get any better.  I’ve been working hard to get back into shape and get my knee fixed, but one of the most difficult tasks was muscle atrophy. I’m happy the process is almost over to say the least,” said Chiogioji.

Chiogioji and Kozlowski are not alone. Senior Ziggy Popkin, junior Karli Dorsey and senior Timothy Kress are amongst the people who also suffered from the injury. Each of these athletes endured some of the worst physical and emotional pain of their young lives.

On September 12, Kress tore his ACL in a football game against Blair while making a sack, as he was falling an offensive lineman landed on his knee and tore both his ACL and his Meniscus. “The pain was like no other pain I have ever felt, it was excruciating,” said Kress. “What’s even worse was the devastation I felt when I got the news that my senior year of football was over. I had worked so hard and had so much riding on the season, and it was taken from me in an instant.”

ACL injuries have increased as more people participate in athletic activity, but with advancements in medicine doctors are able to treat a torn ACL and have athlete’s return to sports. 30 years ago a torn ACL usually was a career ending injury, but now shows a 96 to 98 percent chance of healing.