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.
“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.