A special feature by permission of Primal Pictures

Q I am 13 years old and usually play catcher.  I had  arthroscopic knee surgery to reconnect my meniscus to my ACL in Sep. '05.  My doctor said that I could catch again but he wouldn't recommend it.  I'm trying to decide wheather or not to catch in the '06 season. Based on your experience, what do you think I should do?

A

The meniscus are contact/cushioning pads in the knee joint. The ACL is a cross connection within the knee. Both help with stability and mobility. ACL Repair is one of the surgeries we hear lots about. It stands for Anterior Cruciate Ligament and while the ACL in each knee is less than half an inch wide and about 1.5 inches long in an adult, they carry a heavy responsibility. To help you appreciate the ACL's importance we have 2 animations showing the knee action. The other ligament you see in the middle is the PCL, Posterior Cruciate Ligament. The anterior connects to the front part of the top of the tibia - the larger of the lower leg bones, and the posterior connects to the back of the tibia. Both connect inside the femur. The two ligaments cross each other which is what 'cruciate' means. The still images here are from the back of the knee; the animations show the action from the side as well.
Depending on the specifics of the surgery you had (there are many techniques for repairing meniscus tears or reattaching the ACL) and assuming you followed the proper rehab program... with compression, muscle strengthening, and then movement exercises right up to mini-tramps and wobble boards, you should be pain-free and ready to go. But like your doctor we agree that there is always a risk of recurrence... seldom does a repair job work as well as the original. Plus you need to correct whatever caused the problem in the first place and in this case that might just be overuse in a growing body. The catcher crouch puts extra pressure on the joint. When you go out for baseball make sure you work all the other movements - do sprints, laterals, etc. and feel closely for an sign of pain. If everything feels good then try catching. At even the least sign of pain, ease up on the catching.

Note: According to at least one significant study ACL injuries are 8 times more likely in female athletes than male.