By Kelly Bleakley
The ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is a crucial tissue that connects the thighbone to the shinbone. ACL injuries have become more prevalent in athletes as the years have gone on. On average there are over 200,000 injuries a year. Surgery being the number one treatment used to repair this surgery also means a longer recovery time. The average recovery time is 6 months. My sister, Allison Bleakley, a BHS student was one of the many athletes that have this injury that you will see crutching around the halls for the next couple months.
Q: When did your injury occur?
A: Sunday morning, Aug 21st. It was an 8:00 game and there were 19 minutes left in the first half when I went down.
Q: How did the injury happen?
A: I was running from the other side of the field at full speed attempting to win the ball over to our possession again. I turned my body the wrong and the other girl turned my body and my leg twisted and i was down.
Q: What was the situation after you got injured?
A: It was a very emotional car ride to the ER because I knew something wasn’t right and my knee was in a lot of pain at the time.
Q: Were you ever scared or nervous?
A: I was very nervous because it was only our third game of the season and I didn’t want anything to be torn or broken.
I was scared when we got to the hospital and when I got x-rays because it was my first injury and all I knew was that I was in a lot of pain and that my knee had swelled so much that I couldn’t see the bone outline anymore.
Q: What was your first reaction when the doctor told you your diagnosis?
A: I was very confused because I didn’t think the injury was as drastic as it was.
Q: How was the pain on a scale from 1-10?
A: When the injury first occurred the pain was well over the scale.
Q: What classes are you taking this semester?
A: English 2, World History, Geometry, Art Fundamentals, all classes being very far apart from one another.
Q: How difficult do you find it to get through the halls with your injury?
A: I leave five minutes early so I have the advantage. It’s just very hard to crutch around. When there’s other kids in the hall I have to go very slowly because they’re not watching for me so it’s very easy to get tripped.
Q: Is it harder to focus with the injury/pain in class?
A: Not often but sometimes it can be distracting because I have to focus on my injury and class.
Q: Is it more stressful dealing with an injury and school? ( makeup work)
A: Yes, because it’s hard to catch up, it’s hard to get so much homework from each class, and it adds more stress.
Q: Are your teachers easier on you?
A: Some, they’re nicer with moving around the class and they’re easy going because they understand the injury.
Q: Are kids mean in the hall?
A; No, only when people don’t pay attention and bump against me or something.