1 family, 11 ACL tears.

Image courtesy of the Greco family

“Now Chaeli I don’t want you sitting around here and moping around for yourself. It’s important to remember there are people out there who have it a lot worse than you!”

An awesome parent’s advice to his 13 year old daughter who had just torn her ACL 12 hours earlier. I couldn’t wait to write this story. It’s about a family who loves sports, each other and has a phenomenal outlook on life. How did they handle such devastation of eleven ACL tears? Read on :)

I had an amazing opportunity to interview a fellow Marquette Golden Eagle. 4 ACL tears later, she is willing to share her story to help others.

Me: “Do you mind telling me a little bit about your story, sounds pretty unbelievable, it got me super curious to be honest.”

Chelsea: “Hey Svetlana! Haha, yes it is a pretty interesting “case study” among my family with all of our ACL tears. So if you’re just counting ACL tears only we have 11 I believe: my mom has 4, my sister has 4, my brother has 3, and I have 4. All of us (myself included) were multi-sport athletes but I sustained all of my ACL tears while playing basketball.”

The First ACL Tear.

Her first tear happened on her right knee as a junior in High School. After a long day of summer league ball it was during the fourth game of the day. “So I’m sure fatigue was definitely a factor.” The family chose a patellar tendon autograft and Chelsea did rehab for 9 months.

The Second ACL Tear.

A year to the date, the second tear happened. This time the left knee went during a summer league basketball game. Once again, she used a patellar tendon autograft. She did rehab for an entire year before trying to return to basketball. “We chose patellar tendon for both of my right and left leg tears because we had seen my sister’s two hamstring repairs fail right away.”

The Third ACL Tear.

Even though 2 ACL tears later Chelsea wanted to stay away from basketball,  but it kept calling her name. As a sophomore in college she went out for the club basketball team and made the entire season without any issues before sustaining a third ACL tear during the Club National Championship Game. Right knee again. “I actually knew I had torn it right away and tried to go back into the game knowing I might not be able to play again. I didn’t last long as my knee kept giving out.”

This time Chelsea had to undergo a two-part surgery to repair the knee. First, the surgeon inserted a cadaver bone plug to fill in the original drill hole from the first repair. The bone plug needed to heal for six months; during that time Chelsea did not have an ACL. Second, the surgeon repaired the ACL using a hamstring autograft. The doctor and the PT gave her the “all clear” after 9 additional months of rehab. She was able to return to play for her senior year.

The Fourth ACL Tear.

In her senior year of college, just 4 months into the club season she blew out her right knee once again. For the last surgery, she used an Achilles cadaver tendon for her graft. While Chelsea was able to make a full recovery, she has chosen to give up basketball as a recreational sport to preserve her knees during her adult life.

Why?

That’s the question that immediately comes to mind, why did so many tears happen? Chelsea describes 4 things that she can think of affecting her knees:

1. Fatigue. First injury happened during the last game of the day.
2. Genetics. Everyone in the family has some laxity in the ligaments.
3. Hip alignment. “My sister, mom and I all have wider hips with a pelvic tilt forward and I know my right hip is shifted farther forward.”  This is called an anterior pelvic tilt. The pelvic tilt can lead to knee hyperextension, where knees bow back more than usual and put more strain on the ligaments. Additionally, the wide hips lead to knee valgus, also known as a knocked knee position, which also puts more strain on the ligaments.
4. Hormonal changes. As a female athlete it’s a very real factor. “All of my ACL tears (and my sister’s) were also during a special time of the month (ad lib), I think that has a huge influence. But it’s so difficult for female athletes because it’s not realistic to say that you’re going to just stop your sport for an entire week every month.”

(Reason 4.5) Me: “Sometimes we don’t know why we are dealt the cards we are dealt, you just have to have faith that things happen for a reason and it will all be ok.” Chelsea: “I totally agree.”

Life After 4 ACL Tears.

Me: “How do you cope with something like this, did you find another outlet?”

Chelsea: “It has honestly been really difficult for me to find excitement or enjoyment with working out. While I am limited (not being able to run long distances or feeling more fatigued with changing weather patterns) the most difficult part for me has been to not do a social physical activity like basketball that I enjoyed so much and made so many friends.”

“I often was having so much fun I forgot I was even working out. Now I try to do low impact workouts like biking, elliptical, and body pump classes. But, if I’m honest I sort of dread it. I wish I could just play basketball 3 days a week again.

I try to focus on the positive lining of all of this. I try to focus on all of the functioning that I do still have rather than dwell on what I cannot do.

I think all of my siblings would probably agree that we don’t regret the hands we were dealt in regards to injury and that sports have played a really important part in helping us build up resiliency in life that has definitely blended over to other parts of our lives.”

Chelsea’ mom was forced to give up her sport after 4 ACL injuries. She knew better then anyone what it’s like to walk in those shoes. Chelsea’s dad is a high school coach. Both parents consistently provided the perspective of resilience and mental toughness. “My parents have always been incredibly supportive to us and I think we all took care of each other knowing how difficult of a mental toll the process is, which really helped our rehabilitation.”

“Every Challenge Is A Growth Opportunity” – Carol Dweck, Growth Mindset.