complete acl tear (14 year old with open growth plates)

by candy kahany
(brooklyn, new york)

My son is 14 years old with complete acl tear from a bike accident and doctor suggests waiting another year to perform surgery since growth plate is still open. He is so bored. He goes from video games to television.

His whole life has been outside running, jumping and playing. He plays baseball in little league and was looking forward to playing September 2009 in high school. He is not used to staying home, but I am afraid of him injuring his knee further until the surgery.

We are seeing the doctor again in 3 weeks with regular x-rays to see growth plate clearer. He looked at MRI films but wants to see regular x-rays regarding the growth plate.

Any suggestions for what an extremely active 14 year old could do for fun while waiting for surgery? Anything in the wait of being outside and playing?

Please help.

Thank you.

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complete acl tear (14 year old with open growth plates)

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Dec 23, 2008
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bart
by: Anonymous

I would like to know why bart has not responded to my posting???

Dec 23, 2008
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alternative activities
by: Bart - SII

Depending on how bad his knee his (how unstable) he should be able to stationary bike or even use the eliptical trainer without problems. Not as exciting as sports, but would keep him active.

Most sports, like basketball, soccer, baseball, etc require too much lateral movement to be done safely with an ACL deficient knee. Swimming would be an excellent activity that shouldn't place too much stress on the knee while you wait for the growth plates to close.