Did Abby d just tear her acl?

Tell that to Molly Ludlow. She's running just fine after her share of knee surgeries. Abbey is still young and I would think has plenty of great years of running ahead of her. Wishing her the best in her recovery!

These days the ACL injury is not a career ender. The surgery has gotten so much better and advanced that total rehab is usually possible. The real issue with her injury is the torn meniscus. That is something that is a lot harder to fix/replace and can cause a lot of chronic issues down the line.

Ball Zach wrote:

These days the ACL injury is not a career ender. The surgery has gotten so much better and advanced that total rehab is usually possible. The real issue with her injury is the torn meniscus. That is something that is a lot harder to fix/replace and can cause a lot of chronic issues down the line.

Absolutely correct. ACL isn't the career ender. Particularly for distance people. That injury is more profound on sports that require pivoting and change of direction.

The potential meniscal damage is the real concern for her.

It's probably much more than her ACL, especially after she kept trying to run on it like a total F-tard.

I am the one who knocks. wrote:

It's probably much more than her ACL, especially after she kept trying to run on it like a total F-tard.

And how many times have you been to the Olympics? Dumba@#$.

Hate to say this as she seems like a great person - but how can her career NOT be over now? I don't mean in the sense that she won't be able to run again but she'll be out for the rest of the this year and won't be in shape for 2017 WC's even if she makes it back that fast.

Losing a large chunk of training cycle during the prime of her career is not good. Her remaining years left to fulfill her entire potential is narrowed - unless she can extend it into her thirties like Farah. Plus her sponsorship deal will be in jeopardy now. You can't take a year off from serious training during your prime years and be the same or better.

Always good to be reminded why I don't post here often and consider this site a joke more often than not

SloweRyan wrote:

Always good to be reminded why I don't post here often and consider this site a joke more often than not

Explain yourself. Your comment is vacuous without elaboration. You are exactly what you are complaining about.

People have injuries all the time. Women give birth that keep them from training for about a year.

It's not impossible for her.

Wtftw wrote:

People have injuries all the time. Women give birth that keep them from training for about a year.

It's not impossible for her.

Popping a kid out of a vagina is not damaging knee ligaments. Moran.

Abbey is done wrote:

Hate to say this as she seems like a great person - but how can her career NOT be over now? I don't mean in the sense that she won't be able to run again but she'll be out for the rest of the this year and won't be in shape for 2017 WC's even if she makes it back that fast.

Losing a large chunk of training cycle during the prime of her career is not good. Her remaining years left to fulfill her entire potential is narrowed - unless she can extend it into her thirties like Farah. Plus her sponsorship deal will be in jeopardy now. You can't take a year off from serious training during your prime years and be the same or better.

I still think that your outlook might be a bit too pessimistic.

Yes, it is an extremely unfortunate accident and certainly a significant setback. At the same time, Abbey is only 24-years-old and as a result she will be between 27-29-years-old during the Doha/Tokyo/Eugene sequence of championship meets in a few years. That is still a 5000m runner's prime! It may take her a little while to get back, but I'm confident that her tremendous strength of character will carry her far along the road to recovery.

As far as her sponsorship deal being in jeopardy, I sincerely doubt that. New Balance has a good reputation for standing by their athletes despite injury setbacks (see Emma Coburn), and now that Abbey is an iconic Olympic darling you can be certain that other companies (e.g., Oiselle) would be anxious to sponsor her, too!

HOWHOW wrote:

SloweRyan wrote:

Always good to be reminded why I don't post here often and consider this site a joke more often than not

Explain yourself. Your comment is vacuous without elaboration. You are exactly what you are complaining about.

Meant to quote the person calling her an F-Tard for finishing

Devon Allen came back from a torn ACL. It seems like that would be harder comeback for a 110m hurdle guy than a 5K runner. Plus Allen still plays wide receiver.

Certainly the slow girl should not have been in the race. But by far the safest thing for lapped runner to do is stay to the inside, which is why that is generally the rule. The problem with moving out while getting lapped is sometimes the runners don't know they are getting lapped, or don't realize it until it is too late to move out without causing more of a problem. Or they move out one lane, not realizing the passing runners are going 3 wide. When lapping someone, I would much rather they stay to the inside so I don't have to guess where they are going to go, and if they will move out soon enough and far enough to get out of the way. Many times I have had a runner move out after I already committed to passing on the outside.

gahuga wrote:

I get that the Chadite/Chadian/Chadese/Chadosian was one of these "universality" athletes, but maybe its time to re-think that policy, or maybe think about limiting which events they can run in. Maybe limit them to the 800 and shorter, at most the 1500. You shouldn't be getting lapped in a 5000, at any level. If you are, you don't belong at that level.

I'm sure the IAAF would agree, but this isn't the World Championships, it's the OLYMPIC GAMES. The rules are different.

rojo wrote:

helloyellow wrote:

So...any news on Abbey Dags MRI results??

Major props to the OP. He or she shoudl go to medical school. How did they now that she tore it. I'd assume if you jogged another mile it wouldn't be torn.

She has a complete tear of her right ACL.

To give some clarity of the situation from the other postings, you have to look at the whole situation. As another poster said, a partially torn MCL, medial meniscus and ACL is common and known as the unhappy traid. They are most likely to occur together. Based on the video it appears that once the leg got caught there was that anterior and rotation component.

So the ACL is the primary stabilizer and there is an increased risk of tearing it as knee flexion increases. So the MCL, is the medial stabilizer however its distal attachment goes partially into the medial horn of the medial meniscus which leads to the "triad" of the injury

To go onto the next part of Rojo comments regarding pain and to confirm what another poster said. If it's a complete there, individuals are likely to experience no pain at all except for that initial pop due to the severing of the nerve fibers (think 127 hours). Yet if there are still fibers connected and you try to get it to do its normal job, your body will do everything in its power (ie pain signals) to get you to stop it and protect the area.

My theory is that something happened (mild to moderate injury) she was able to get back up with some discomfort, get back over to the NZ athlete but when she tried to run (ie an increase in force) lead to further damage/knee buckling.

Now, she gets back up and jogs the next mile in. A good theory is that she is in pain during this but adrenaline can also mask those feelings until after its over.

Is she still able to run?

Based on the dx, its probably a complete (grade III acl tear, complete tear), with a medial meniscus injury and an grade I or II MCL sprain. The MCL will heal on its own given a decrease in activity (rest). She might have felt something catching or locking in her knee joint as she tried to extend her leg during her stride.

Now onto the ACL, the ACL prevents anterior translation of the tibia and femur. You actually don't need your ACL to run or walk. Some individuals who lead more sedentary lifestyles will forgo surgery. We call these people copers. With keeping your quads and hamstrings strong they can act like a brace in a sense surrounding the knee joint to maintain that stability.

Given the level of competition and fitness for her, it's no doubt she was able to rely on these to finish the race out. Now if she went to rotate, turn, pivot quickly, she would have most likely not been able to do that.

In terms of ACL reconstruction. We have come a long way. Only about 8-24% fail afterward requiring a secondary surgery. Some guidelines, I haven't worked with any doctors who allow running no sooner than four months out. Most people think it's about reinjury the new ACL but the ACL is healthy. Its more about the bone remodeling occurring right then in which it's the weakest about 2-3 months out (ie how they anchor the knee acl into the femur and tibia).

*I could source alot of this information if anyone requests it. Also I'm happy to pop back in and answer any other questions about it.

Great post; thanks for the detail.

SloweRyan wrote:

Have seen her go from a HS nobody to a decent HS runner to Dartmouth and beyond, amazing to see her out there but crushed for her after this happening, I guess some people can joke about her going home devastated in a wheelchair

Not everyone can win gold, to make the a standard and be an Olympian in the first place is an amazing accomplishment for her soil I disagree she had a disappointing olympics. What were you hoping from her? Gold? A medal? Top 10? None of those are particularly realistic. Being remembered for sportsmanship is a win for her

So basically Molly and Emily ruined Abbey's career.

RunWalkRUn wrote:

once the knee is not swollen she should be able to run with a torn ACL...not so sure about meniscus.

Can a torn ACL heal on it's own without surgery?