As Yonkers varsity basketball players gear up for playoffs, Dr. Nicole Solomos, a lifestyle and sports medicine physician with White Plains Hospital Physician Associates (WPHPA) in Yonkers, underscores the importance of proactive injury prevention in young athletes.
ACL injuries increased 12% among high school athletes between 2007-8 and 2021-2022, according to the National ACL Injury Coalition. Female athletes are at higher risk than their male counterparts for these types of injuries, especially in soccer and basketball.
Talking from personal experience, high school athlete and Yonkers resident Gianna Ruiz recalls her ACL injury. “When it first happened, I knew I tore my ACL immediately,” she says. “It felt like there was nothing holding my leg together.”
Last June, Gianna, then 13, was playing her favorite sport, basketball, at a school field day. The eighth grader was looking forward to the summer ahead and the start of high school at John F. Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School, where she hoped to play basketball at the varsity level.
Then Gianna felt a snap: another player’s knee had collided with hers, dashing her hopes of playing competitive basketball in the fall.
Surgery and Rehabilitation
Dr. Solomos provided first line treatment to Gianna immediately following her accident. “In light of the severity of her injury, the swelling and limited range of motion, we ordered X-rays and an MRI to confirm Gianna’s diagnosis,” explains Dr. Solomos. “I recommended that Gianna begin physical therapy and referred her to Dr. Anthony Maddalo, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in knee and shoulder surgery who also sees patients here at WPHPA in Yonkers.”
“Gianna’s MRI confirmed that she had a complete ACL tear,” says Dr. Maddalo, a former assistant team physician for the New York Rangers. “These types of knee injuries are common in athletes, especially in sports with action that starts and stops suddenly, like basketball, soccer, and lacrosse,” he explains.
Dr. Maddalo recommended surgery to repair her ACL, which would restore her full range of motion – and help get her back to the sport she loves. “After surgery, most patients can bear weight immediately with crutch support, and can get off their crutches in 10-14 days,” adds Dr. Maddalo.
Four weeks later, Dr. Maddalo and his team performed a 90-minute reconstruction using a portion of Gianna’s patellar tendon, which connects the kneecap to the shin bone.
Gianna was able to go home the same day, where her parents helped keep her leg elevated and applied ice to minimize swelling. She received physical therapy three times per week for the first two months after surgery to restore the knee to its full range of motion, building strength and gaining mobility. Within five months, Gianna was able to reduce her physical therapy to just one session per week.
“With physical therapy, which is essential for optimal recovery, patients can typically resume their daily activities after three to four weeks,” explains Dr. Maddalo. “Athletes require additional strength training to make a full return to sports, which varies from patient to patient, but takes about nine months.”
ACL Injury Prevention
While today’s advanced orthopedic treatments and physical therapy yield high recovery rates, Dr. Maddalo says preventing ACL injury or reinjury should be part of an athlete’s training regimen.
“Lower extremity strength conditioning is the most practical protection against injury,” says Dr. Maddalo. “A simple workout including repetitions of squats, leg extensions, and hip abductions will strengthen your hips and thighs, which is key to providing support for your knees and preventing ACL injuries.” These exercises can be incorporated into warm-ups and practices, adds Dr. Solomos.
Back to Basketball
As for Gianna, she’s feeling great with a full range of motion and eager to play ball. While she waits final clearance from Dr. Maddalo to return to competitive play, she practices daily with her teammates on the Gaels varsity basketball team at Kennedy Catholic and expects to be back on the court in time for the AAU spring season next month. As a UConn basketball fan, she found inspiration in Paige Bueckers, who announced her return to the sport in August 2023 after recovering from an ACL tear.
