Ashley's ACL Story

by Ashley

Let me start off with I am very accident prone, so this was devastating news despite all my past injuries. (4 concussions, dislocated kneecap, knee drained twice, torn arm ligament, multiple sprained ankles, you name it, but no broken bones =)
I have been an athlete my entire life. I ran Varsity track 6 years in high school in addition to cheering on both my schools Varsity team and an All-Star team. I also go to tumbling classes since it is one of my favorite parts of cheerleading. I started my first year at UB last fall and was part of the cheerleading team there as well. I spent the whole summer running everyday trying to get into great shape for the upcoming season. I was at my last tumbling class about 2 weeks before I was to return to school for cheerleading practice. I was having a great day, throwing tucks and layouts with ease. I went to do my last pass & right when I landed and felt my knee bend inward and heard a huge crack. I was convinced I broke my leg since no ones leg should ever bend that way. But when I could move it, I figured I just sprained it or something. Surprisingly it didnt swell really at all so I just took some advil, iced it & elevated it. I was limping around for a few days after but didnt have much pain or swelling still. About 5 days later when I still couldnt move it right I decided I should get it checked out before practice started up again. I got x-rays, nothing was broken and the dr thought it could be a sprain or bad bone bruising since it wasnt too swollen and I wasnt in pain, but just to be sure sent me for an MRI. Later that day I got a call & sure enough I tore my ACL. I was one of the few people that had no swelling, almost no pain, could walk almost normal and had a torn ACL. GREAT! I'm waiting to have my surgery. I am really scared about surgery in general since I've never had surgery & I'm worried about how long it will take until I can run again and get back into cheerleading...