The Cause

I had bilateral ACL tears. In both knees, my Anterior Cruciate Ligaments were torn completely. Below I describe how that happened or, click here to get into the surgery stuff.

Playing soccer was something I loved to do when I was young. I went to college, an NCAA Division II school, expecting to play for some time. But in college I found out I had Osgood Slaughters disease in my left knee. So, a career in soccer was not going to happen. In fact, I was not sure I would ever be able to play again.

In 1993, at the age of 32, I became a born-again soccer player (not my only born-again experience, but that is for another page). I had started coaching a youth team. They turned into one of the top teams in the area. Soon after I started coaching, I figured, the heck with my knee, I love this game and I want to play again. I joined an Over-30 Men’s league in Harrisburg with some guys I had never meet. We played year round, in the fall men’s league, in the winter and early spring indoor league in Lancaster, and then back outside for the spring outdoor season.

I had a great time playing the game. My knee would get sore, but my playing was now at an ‘old man speed’ and the training was basically non-existent. More importantly for my soccer, as a year-round coach of a local youth team powerhouse, I had a new appreciation of the game. I saw the field differently then I ever did as a player. And, although when I was younger I was a good (but never a great) player, my coaching experience made me a very smart player. What I lacked in physical speed and size, I made up for with knowledge of the game, the strategy, and the game smarts to play well.

1998 marked the beginning of the end for my knees. First, in a playoff game in March of 1998 playing at Red Rose Arena in Lancaster, I planted my right foot into the artificial turf, as an opposing player stumbled as we pursued a 50/50 ball. He fell into my right knee from the outside. My leg bent at the knee sideways, like a cheap Ken Doll being mangled by a 2-year-old. I heard the pop sound. The pain shot up my leg and into my brain like a wild fire. I remember writhing in pain lying on turf. Eventually, I got up and off the field. My father was there watching the game, and he later told me he had never seen a knee bend that way.

Of course, I realized what happened, but this was playoff time. I had to get back out there. So, after about 10 minutes the pain subsided, in fact to the point that it actually felt okay. Maybe the injury was not so bad. Maybe the injury was just a sprain. I wrapped up the knee and out onto the playing field I went. Of course, within 90 seconds, I went to plant my right foot and turn. Out popped the knee again and down like a ton of sweaty socks I fell.

My father was able to drive me home and I knew I was in trouble. The swelling in my knee was incredible. It looked like a balloon body part. I iced it, walked around on crutches for about 4 days, and eventually things started to hurt less.

I waited a few weeks and then I bought one of those high tech knee braces at Sears. You know the type – elastic, with a ¼ inch piece woven metal on the outside (like that’s really going to help me!) and out I went to play outdoor soccer for the spring season.

I played with pain and the occasional knee dislocation for our 8-week spring season. Going into the summer, I felt I had rebounded and was getting better. Then, at a practice scrimmage in August of 1998, the same thing happened, but this time to my left leg. Planted my left foot, had a player roll up the leg and bent the knee in a way outside of its original design.

Same treatment as before, but I knew that having both knees in trouble was not good. Eventually, I got a really good brace for my left knee (I am right-handed and felt that I should at least stabilize the left knee).

I played soccer until the spring of 1999. By then, my knees basically popped out on a regular basis while playing soccer. Occasionally they popped out just walking across the room (especially the right one).

CONTINUE...