LuncheonMeat said:
cw said:
Some ACL injuries don't cause much pain - just instability. When the damage is at a point that not much more damage can be done (I presume by playing with a brace - I don't know how they make that assessment), some players have come back to play in the playoffs without an ACL (ie Ray Ferraro).
From the report, Frattin is done for the season so I don't mean to get anyone's hopes up. I just wouldn't read too much into how he walked out of the rink with an injured knee.
In my experience that's the exception to the rule. Usually with a complete tear/rupture of the ACL there's such an overwhelming feeling of instability that most wouldn't attempt to walk on it... save for the first few steps.
That's crazy about RF... I had no idea. I wonder if he decided to forego surgery (and being sliced from stem to stern) in favor of a brace? Do you have any idea cw?
I tried to look up the story and didn't find much detail on it.
http://a.espncdn.com/nhl/playoffs2002/columns/buccigross_john/1381806.html
Ferraro hobbled out of the visitors' dressing room at Joe Louis Arena with one healthy anterior cruciate ligament and one disintegrated by Kris Draper's Darcy-Tucker-like low hit in Game 2. But this is the Stanley Cup playoffs, and one ACL or not, you stick on a brace, grit your teeth and get out there. It's also what you do when you have two sons -- Matthew and Landon -- who play hockey. There is nothing cooler than having your dad play in the NHL. And when you're that dad, there is no greater motivation than having sons old enough to remember you playing.
That explains why Ray and others play with one ACL.
What surprised me at the time was that he wasn't the only one who has done it. In part as I recall the explanation back then, it was because sometimes, the pain isn't that bad and the brace helps with the stability.
I think Kerry Fraser was another notable one because of name recognition who reffed without an ACL. I can't recall the names of others who have done it - just that Ray wasn't the only one.