The Most Significant ACL Injury in my Dynasty Franchise History

Dan Meylor

injuryJust eight ticks remained on the clock.  Holding a slim 58-57 lead, we were set to play defense.  The ball was coming in from mid court.  Playing tight man-to-man defense, I was determined not the let their best player get the inbound pass.  Having shaved our comfortable lead down with a pair of threes from the top of key over the last minute of the game, he couldn’t get the ball.

What may sound like the opening paragraph of a basketball novel or perhaps something from an exciting finish of an NCAA tournament game is far from it.  In fact, it couldn’t be further from the truth.  It’s actually the story of the closing seconds of a truly meaningless men’s league basketball game in South Dakota, as well as the story of how I tore my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL).

Defending him closely at the top of the key, he cut towards the midcourt stripe.  Overplaying him in an attempt to keep the inbound pass from his hands, we were hip to hip.  When the ball came in with me on his left side, my left leg was fully extended and I reached out my left hand to deflect it as he grabbed it with both hands and spun to his right.  Two pops and down in a heap of pain.

I’d never felt that kind of physical pain before.  Feeling as if my knee had exploded, I clutched it with both hands with my eyes squeezed tight.  It felt as if it was out of place so I attempted to slowly move it in hopes of it “popping” back into position.  No luck.  Moving it – even in the slightest way – caused a piercing pain that would bring most to their knees.  As the horn sounded eight seconds later, I attempted to open my eyes to see the final shot of the game.  I couldn’t.  It literally hurt too much to open my eyes.

[inlinead]About 30 seconds after crumbling to the floor, the pain started to subside slightly.  A quick inspection of knee showed nothing abnormal.  There were no bones piercing the skin and no immediate swelling.  Because the only knee injury I had ever experienced was a very minor cartilage tear nearly 15 years earlier, I had no idea exactly what had happened – but I knew it was relatively serious.

Instead of going to the emergency room that evening, I decided to wait until the next day to see an orthopedic doctor.  That night was brutal.  Sleep was nearly impossible.  Any movement would send a bolt of pain through my leg and the constant throbbing on the back of my knee was nearly unbearable.

After having an x-ray done when I arrived at his office the next morning, I met with the doctor.  I explained my pain was mostly on the back of knee rather than the front and he did a physical examination of the knee, bending and twisting it in an effort to determine the injury.  Because there was no swelling which isn’t typical with a torn ACL, he was cautiously optimistic that I hadn’t torn it.  But when he showed me on the x-ray a rather large contusion on the back of my tibia (the large bone in the lower leg), his optimism diminished slightly.  He explained that in many cases a contusion on the bone happens when the ACL tears because the lower end of the femur (the thigh bone) slams into the tibia.  He scheduled an MRI and although I tried to give the illusion that I was optimistic it was just a cartilage tear, I knew it was worse.  Still, when the doctor gave me the results of the MRI, my heart sunk and head dropped.  It was difficult to hear.

At this point, it’s probably necessary for me to explain why I’m telling this story.

I’ve been a diehard football fan since Don Majkowski was the starting quarterback for the Packers in the late 80s.  At that time, torn ACLs in the NFL were devastating, career-threatening injuries.  When a fan heard of their favorite player suffering such injury, the expectation was that they’d never be the same.

Now, when fans and fantasy football players see a star player go down to a torn ACL, many hardly flinch.  The expectation has changed so much that most anticipate elite football players to return to form inside of a year.  Because Adrian Peterson returned to the field just eight-and-a-half months after tearing his ACL and nearly broke the all-time single season rushing record less than a year after the injury, some now believe their favorite athlete should return to their previous level in that time frame.

That expectation has been in the spotlight throughout the dynasty community this offseason.  Despite tearing his ACL on November 15, the general consensus is that Todd Gurley should be the top pick in rookie drafts this offseason, perhaps for good reason.  Recent reports suggest he’ll be ready for his first NFL minicamp in late July – just eight months after suffering the injury – and that he should be cleared to play by week one a little over a month later.

Like I mentioned above, the expectation has become that athletes should return to form inside of a year of their injury.  I’d like to know first person (to the best of my abilities), how realistic those expectations are and what it takes to do so.

I realize that my experience isn’t the same as an elite NFL running back in his prime.  In no way am I like Peterson or Gurley.  I’m in average shape (6’3 ½”, 220 pounds) but instead of pushing my physical limits daily like they do, I’m a weekend warrior like many other 32-year olds still looking to feed the craving for competition.

The thing I feel I do have in common with professional athletes that suffer a torn ACL is my drive to return to competition at the same level (or better) than I was before the injury.  I’m committed not only so I can continue to play well and without pain, but also so I can get a tiny glimpse as to what it takes for an athlete to return to form for his NFL team and therefore, for my fantasy teams.

Typically after tearing an ACL, patients are forced to wait between four and eight weeks to have their surgery in order to reduce swelling and allow the other injured parts of the knee to heal.  Because I had very limited swelling and didn’t tear my lateral collateral ligament (LCL) or medial collateral ligament (MCL) – I suffered grade two sprains to both – my waiting time was towards the lower end of that spectrum.

After explaining my intentions to commit vehemently to my recovery, my doctor pointed out that working out daily up until my surgery to strengthen the muscles around the injury including my quadriceps muscle and calf muscle was imperative to a strong recovery.  He also began explaining the options I had for my surgery.

I had three options for my ACL reconstruction.  No matter what option I selected, my surgeon (who has also been my doctor throughout this process) would use a graft to replace the ligament.  The most common option for reconstructing an ACL is called an autograft.  There were two options for an autograft in my case.  I could take a part of the tendon in my kneecap (patellar tendon) or one of my hamstring tendons to replace the ACL.  My other option was to do an allograft reconstruction, which would be done by taking the Achilles tendon from a deceased human donor to replace my torn ligament.

After his explanation, I asked my doctor what option he suggested for me considering I wanted to make a speedy and strong recovery.  He suggested doing the allograft because when using a cadaver’s tendon there is only one surgical area rather than two when an autograft procedure is done to replace the ACL.  After much research and many conversations with other ACL patients, I decided to have the allograft done.

Since my surgery two weeks ago, I feel better with every day that passes – both with the health of my knee and my choice to have the allograft done.  I work out three times daily to strengthen the muscles and to regain motility in the knee.  I’ve proven to both my doctor and my physical therapist just how committed I am to returning as a better version of the weekend warrior I was before the injury.  Both have expressed confidence that if I stay just as committed, I’ll reach my goal of returning to the basketball court in November – just nine months after tearing the ACL.  Hopefully at that time I’ll also understand at least to some extent, exactly what it takes for a player on my dynasty roster to return to his previous self.

Other than the small toll on my career because of missed work and the added pressure on my wife and son due to me being relatively useless for a week long stretch after surgery, the injury has actually been relatively positive simply because I chose to turn my torn ACL into a fun challenge.  I’d absolutely recommend to anybody going through this to try to do the same.  I’d also suggest being picky when choosing a doctor and trying to ensure the same doctor will be your surgeon as well as the follow-up doctor after surgery.  No matter what doctor is chosen, he or she will likely strongly suggest improving leg strength before surgery.  Follow that advice.  Along with being picky when choosing a doctor, being just as particular finding a physical therapist that will match your intensity in recovery is equally important.  Those steps have worked well for me – at least to this point.

I know I’ll never truly get to see first-hand exactly what it takes for a great tailback or elite wide receiver to return to the field.  At the very least however, I’d like to find out exactly how realistic it is to expect somebody to return to form after just nine months.  Not just for my own curiosity and well-being, but also in a very small way for the well-being of my dynasty teams.

As for the men’s league basketball game I was playing in when I tore my ACL and the shot that I couldn’t open my eyes to see.  It clanged off the rim and fell harmlessly to the floor.  Needless to say, winning that meaningless game was of little consolation.

dan meylor