00:00This is the Injury Report, presented by NYU Langone Health.
00:05The Giants passing game took a huge blow when slot receiver Calvin Austin III
00:10tore his ACL in Monday's practice.
00:12He's now out for the season.
00:14So in today's Injury Report, we have Dr. Andrew S.B.,
00:19sports orthopedic surgeon at NYU Langone,
00:21to give us an insight on why these ACL tears are so common in the NFL
00:26and, of course, what Austin's road to recovery looks like.
00:30Doc, appreciate you hopping on with us today.
00:32I saw it firsthand.
00:34I was right there watching it.
00:36He went to make a break at the top of his route,
00:39then he went down and he immediately grabbed his knee.
00:41So how does something like that happen,
00:45especially since he wasn't engaged in anything overly physical at the time?
00:54Yeah, it's a brutal injury and a brutal hit to the Giants.
00:58You know, very common injury mechanism for an ACL.
01:02Most common way that ACLs get torn is a non-contact pivoting injury
01:06like the one that Calvin Austin sustained.
01:08It usually isn't some kind of collision or high-energy mechanism.
01:12The knee goes into, you know, to use a little terminology,
01:15the knee goes into valgus, which is basically when the knee goes inward,
01:18and in the tibia, which is the shin bone, rotates inward as well.
01:22And that combination of forces puts a lot of strain on the ACL
01:26and can rupture it even with something as simple as coming into an out route
01:30or landing from a jump ball.
01:32Well, I'm sure you've had patients come into your office
01:34that don't play professional sports, and they've torn their ACLs as well.
01:40So is there a difference in the treatment for one of your patients
01:45versus what Calvin's and Malik's rehab and recovery was like?
01:52Yeah, I mean, there's definitely unique considerations you've got to take
01:55when you take care of high-level collegiate professional athletes.
02:00Obviously, you're going to be much more aggressive in timing of surgery
02:04and getting them back into early and aggressive rehabilitation.
02:06You know, I treat a lot of patients, anywhere from, you know, sedentary,
02:10older patients to weekend warriors to high-level collegiate professional athletes.
02:14If a patient is older, a little less demand, all they'll do is walk their dog
02:18and go to work, you know, I tell them they don't always need an ACL surgery for that.
02:22But anyone who's younger, higher activity level, wants to get back to sport,
02:26the ACL is a critical stabilizing structure.
02:28And I treat all my patients typically the same.
02:30We're, you know, getting them back to playing sports, similar time frames,
02:34getting them back early physical therapy, strength testing before return to sport.
02:40So getting even weekend warriors back to sport is a priority.
02:43Everyone wants to get better.
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