I would appreciate feedback from anyone who has dealt with ACL tears and recovery.
I coach a very small school's track team and I have a female athlete who tore her ACL about 15 months ago and is 13 months post surgery.
She has this brace she wears to practice and is obviously very attached to it psychologically (justifiably so). I know she will not reach her potential wearing this during practices and meets due to the added weight and limiting her range of motion.\
She is a good athlete and wants to do hurdles and would be part of relay teams as well.
My question is, does she still need to wear this brace for structural strength and prevention or would she be safe at this point to get rid of it? I have seen her not use it in the weight room when she is doing some lifting and it gets in the way, like with cleans.
Thanks.