Carson Wentz ACL Story

It was December 11, 2017. The Philadelphia Eagles had won the NFC East for the first time since 2013 the night before, but no fans were celebrating, they were mourning. MVP Candidate Carson Wentz had left the game against the Rams after throwing his 33rd Touchdown pass of the season. That pass broke the single season Eagles Touchdown record. Four plays before that throw, Carson Wentz scrambled to the end zone and dove between two defenders. The play was called back because of a penalty committed by Eagles Left-Tackle Lane Johnson. Wentz got up somewhat slowly but continued playing. After the touchdown pass, Wentz was then seen on TV in the Medical Tent on the sideline. Shortly after, Wentz was walking back to the locker room, with what sideline reporters called a “left knee injury.” Initial on-site testing showed signs of a torn left anterior cruciate ligament, commonly referred to as ACL. The term “ACL” may sound familiar, as professional athletes tend to tear this ligament more than anything else. The reports on the morning of December 11 confirmed Eagles’ fans fears. MRI tests showed a torn ACL, according to Eagles head coach Doug Pederson. So, how long until Philadelphia gets to see Carson Wentz on the field again? The truth is, with these knee injuries, there is no precise answer. Every injury is different, considering the age of the athlete, the possibility of collateral damage to other ligaments in the knee, and the athletes access to top medical care and dedication to the rehabilitation process. There seems to be an apparent ACL epidemic in the NFL. There have been 47 ACL tears through 15 weeks of the 2017-regular-season alone, according to NFL records. This is not out of the ordinary for the NFL, but it may feel that way when some of the league’s best players have fallen victim to ACL tears during the 2017 season. The amount of ACL injuries in the past 20 years are impacted by how many players can continue playing after one or multiple tears. Back in the 1970s an ACL tear could mean the end of one’s career. Now, the conservative recovery window is nine to twelve months. Over the years, the surgery has become much less invasive, and the rehab process has become refined. “You can tell when someone tore their ACL in the 1970s just by looking at their knee. Someone who had surgery in the 70s to repair their ACL will have much more scar tissue than someone who gets their ACL repaired in 2017,” Matt Schofield, Student Athletic Trainer for Pittsburgh University Football said. “Surgeons used to have to open your entire knee up to fix an ACL,” Schofield said. “Now the incisions are much smaller, and they use cameras to perform the operation, the less invasive the better.” Someone in NFL could have a much different recovery timeline from an ACL tear, then someone in high school or even college. “Obviously athletes like Wentz will have access to best medical care you can get,” Schofield said. “Wentz had [Dr. James Bradley] perform his operation, he is the top doctor in Pittsburgh and beyond for ACL repairs,” Schofield added. One may not necessarily need a top doctor to perform the operation successfully, but getting the operation done correctly is massively influential to the rehabilitation process. However, arguably ever more important than the operation is the rehabilitation process. “While an athlete in college may get similar resources to an NFL player like Wentz, his advantage over younger athletes still in school is his free time. Students have obligations that will prevent them from rehabbing as much as physically possible. Wentz could get healthy faster than someone in college with a similar injury because he can treatment three times day instead of once or twice,” Schofield said. There is no concrete schedule for rehabbing this injury, and it progresses at a different pace for every athlete and every specific injury. Over the past 40 years, the treatment has not changed too much, but they have found ways to speed up the process, according to Schofield. For example, there is no set time to get off crutches after the injury, unlike broken bones and casts. “It could take the athlete six weeks instead of the usual four weeks, let’s say, on crutches. When they are ready, they are ready,” Schofield said “What is important with an ACL injury, regardless of the situation, is being dedicated in the rehabilitation process. Get treatment whenever you can. It is all about restoring range of motion, and strength in the affected knee and leg,” Schofield added Knowing there is no concrete timetable to recovery could be frustrating, but taking short cuts could lead to retears. The most important thing is to be patient and not rush the recovery process. However, there is no way to prevent the injury from happening again, or at all. A study conducted by the Orthopedic Journal of Sports Medicine in 2016, compiled all ACL injuries in the NFL from 2010-2013, with the purpose of characterizing injury trends. The study found that nearly 18.3 percent of ACL injuries in those years were players with a previous ACL injury. Two percent of players, suffered their third ACL tear. Players can be successful following ACL injuries, but as they age, the recovery process will take longer. There is also little chance for an athlete to come back and play with the same style after these types of injuries, according to Schofield. For now, Eagles fans and Carson Wentz will wait, and hope that Wentz comes back stronger, as the ACL tear haunts the 2017 NFL season. ACL tears may seem more commonplace now than ever, but statistics do not reflect that statement. Rehabbing the injury is paramount to recovery.