Sports doctor, former head of the medical service of Donetsk "Metallurg" and founder of the "Ukrainian Sports Clinic" Oleg Kasatka explained whether there is a tendency that after the first knee ligament injury, football players subconsciously overload the healthy leg and then injure it as well.
Vladimir Shepelev. Photo: fcdynamo.com“It’s very simple. According to statistics, the high risk of re-injury lasts for 5 years after the initial injury — it ranges from 4% to 13%, because the injury itself is complex. And if the management of loads after the injury is incorrect, this risk increases even more.
One third of football players suffer a repeat leg injury within 24 months, and for the other uninjured leg — it’s 1/5. If the cruciate ligaments are torn in one leg, there is a 20% chance of injuring the other leg.
Arkadiusz Milik, Mattia Perin, Federico Chiesa — these are all examples. Only 20% of football players return to or exceed their athletic performance levels that they had before the injury. Only 65% of players play at the highest level 3 years after an ACL tear,” said Kasatka.
