Why ACL injuries are such a big deal in the NFL

Whenever we watch an NFL game and see a player go down grabbing at their knee, we instantly think about the ACL. And this is true from the announcers to the casual fan sitting at home. And if their ACL isn't injured after we find out what their injury is, we all breathe a collective sigh of relief. But why is that? Why do we react to ACL injuries (or the thought of a possible ACL injury) in such a manner?

To answer that question, we have to know exactly what an ACL is. The ACL, or Anterior Cruciate Ligament, is one of the four ligaments in your knee. The ACL is inside the knee joint, running smack-dab in the middle of the joint, connecting the shinbone and the thigh bone. The ACL is very important for knee stability, as it keeps the leg bones from shifting too much and overall keeps the knee stable. Because of this, it allows for dynamic movements involving the knee, like the football movements you see your favorite football players do, like juke moves and sudden stops and go's.

As you can assume, when the ACL is damaged, these dynamic movements that are essential to football aren't as easy to do, if at all possible. This applies to all degrees of ACL injuries, from stretches of the ligament to full tears, like what the image depicts. Even basic movements in football, like lateral movements and even running become difficult or impossible with ACL injuries.

Aside from the immediate impact of ACL injuries, there are also profound long-term impacts of ACL injuries in the NFL. Despite the advancements in modern medicine, ACL injuries can still have long-term effects. The major long-term risk of an ACL injury in NFL players is arthritis in the knee as a result of the injury. Even after surgical repair, the knee can still not work properly, which results in the surrounding structures like the meniscus or even the other ligaments getting damaged and weakening the joint as a whole over time. Alongside this risk, in severe cases of ACL injuries like complete tears, there is a chance the player will never be the same. For example, Robert Griffin III suffered a badly torn ACL in the 2012 NFL playoffs, and his career never got on track as a result; we were left with a huge "what-if?" question over his career. Another example of this is the career of Teddy Bridgewater. While he was a Minnesota Viking, he suffered a severe knee injury in a 2016 preseason game that (most notably) included a fully torn ACL. It took him about a year to recover, and he was just unable do be the same player afterward. He simply wasn't himself anymore, and to this day his playstyle looks drastically different than what his game was like pre-injury.

Overall, ACL injuries are pretty significant in the NFL and are also one of the most feared injuries in the game of football. Not only are they painful, but they can lead to surgeries, multiple missed months of action, and even potentially a derailed career. It's why modern sports medicine has attempted to combat the problems associated with them, and it's why teams are much more cautious with their players when they suffer ACL injuries.