ACL/CL injury. Do you hear a noise?

[Norman Deeley]

A question for those of you that have played the game at a decent level - or even on the Sunday parks.

I'm just finishing my first novel. There's a fight scene near the end where the hero drives his foot into the villain's knee, with the specific intention of disabling him. It's exactly equivalent to a really bad football tackle (Roy Keane on Haaland).

Would you hear a noise when that happened? Would you hear the tendon snap?

Thanks in advance and my apologies for such a morbid question. It's only a line in the book but I want to get it right.

 

[Alan]

No, and in fact you can potentially carry on as normal for days or even a couple of weeks before your knee completely locks up.

You absolutely "feel" something, though.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

I didn't. Knew something was up and I couldn't play on, but I walked off.

Then I was knacked the next day.

You hear a broken leg/ankle, not done it myself but been near someone who did (not a nasty tackle, just a weird fall and twist).

 

[Derby Wolf]

Not every case results in a sound, you can do it so innocuously and it not become an issue for a few hours/days afterwards as we saw with Jonny. If there is a sound it's more like a popping sound as opposed to a snap. As I've posted elsewhere, I used to train Krav Maga - my sparring partners ACL went in training one night.

 

[Kenny]

Right on the bone breaking noise. When I did my ankle i heard that. Never seen a player describe a noise when they have done ACL. All talk about pain but it quickly numbs, hence why so many get up and try to walk.

Isn't it the Achilles that makes a loud noise if it goes properly?

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

The key question is surely:

Is this the spiritual successor to the Steve Barnes trilogy?

 

[Norman Deeley]

The key question is surely:

Is this the spiritual successor to the Steve Barnes trilogy?

Hopefully not - I had to Google that. But the protagonist played footy as a teenager. He's lying on the floor and needs to kick upwards, so a knee is my best bet. The research is a really fun thing to do: I've talked to paramedics, prison officers and a guy in the Met counter-terrorism dept.

 

[PuntsWolf]

When I did my first ACL I didn’t hear it but you feel a pop. You just know it’s fucked though. Remember when Gabor Gyepes went down, that was me. I didn’t scream like him but you kind of give an “ahh” because you get a weird feeling where it feels like you left shin and things are going in different directions (literally what it happening) and just collapse in a panic because you know you’ve done something bad. When I stood up my leg was shaking all over the place like I was on a wobble cushion and within a hour or so my knee was very swollen and couldn’t bend it. I’d torn the meniscus as well and had basically destroyed the condyle in the impact so there was a bit more going on than your regular ACL tear.

Second one on the other knee was a bit different. Collided with a mate skiing and ski dug in the floor and didn’t unclip as I went over head first so basically just pivoted on my knee. Hurt quite a lot in the back of my knee but I felt ok, felt solid. So put my ski on and has I pushed of on my leg I got the shin and thigh going opposite ways feeling and just collapsed. Got down the hill skiing on one leg and by the time I got back to the room it was swollen solid again. No idea to this day if I tore in pivoting or and had just partially torn it and then pushing off was the straw that broke the camels back, or it was already fucked so I had no stability. Probably the former. Tore my meniscus that time as well so Again can’t really tell you what an exclusive ACL feels like.

 

[Norman Deeley]

When I did my first ACL I didn’t hear it but you feel a pop. You just know it’s fucked though. Remember when Gabor Gyepes went down, that was me. I didn’t scream like him but you kind of give an “ahh” because you get a weird feeling where it feels like you left shin and things are going in different directions (literally what it happening) and just collapse in a panic because you know you’ve done something bad. When I stood up my leg was shaking all over the place like I was on a wobble cushion and within a hour or so my knee was very swollen and couldn’t bend it. I’d torn the meniscus as well and had basically destroyed the condyle in the impact so there was a bit more going on than your regular ACL tear.

Second one on the other knee was a bit different. Collided with a mate skiing and ski dug in the floor and didn’t unclip as I went over head first so basically just pivoted on my knee. Hurt quite a lot in the back of my knee but I felt ok, felt solid. So put my ski on and has I pushed of on my leg I got the shin and thigh going opposite ways feeling and just collapsed. Got down the hill skiing on one leg and by the time I got back to the room it was swollen solid again. No idea to this day if I tore in pivoting or and had just partially torn it and then pushing off was the straw that broke the camels back, or it was already fucked so I had no stability. Probably the former. Tore my meniscus that time as well so Again can’t really tell you what an exclusive ACL feels like.

Punts - with the deepest sympathy - that's brilliant. So with the second one you sort of stood up and your leg collapsed under you? That would be perfect for what I need.

 

[Deleted Cyber]

I actually heard my knee pop. It had an echo to it similar to a cork coming from a wine bottle. Then my knee went fizzing hot. Then the pain. All in about 20 seconds max

 

[PuntsWolf]

Punts - with the deepest sympathy - that's brilliant. So with the second one you sort of stood up and your leg collapsed under you? That would be perfect for what I need.

First one was on dry land, football pitch. I didn’t collapse after I’d stood back up, but my knee was just unstable shaking side to side under loading.

Second one was on snow. So when I just tried to push off my knee gave way and I fell over. You wouldn’t give way on normal ground, was purely because I had skis on in the snow.

And it’s fine. They’re both fixed (ish), and I still couldn’t make it into pro football.

 

[Norman Deeley]

First one was on dry land, football pitch. I didn’t collapse after I’d stood back up, but my knee was just unstable shaking side to side under loading.

Second one was on snow. So when I just tried to push off my knee gave way and I fell over. You wouldn’t give way on normal ground, was purely because I had skis on in the snow.

And it’s fine. They’re both fixed (ish), and I still couldn’t make it into pro football.

That's perfect, Punts, thanks very much. Fight takes place on a wet, slippery pier. That's ideal. And really glad they're fixed.