After season-ending ACL injury, Boston skier is Olympics-bound

What happens when an adrenaline-addicted athlete slows down? Julia Marino thrives at high speed and from great heights. In 2009, 17-year-old Julia was at the top of her game. Coaches and fellow slopestyle skiers had pegged her as a rising star on the World Cup circuit. Salomon, a top winter sports gear manufacturer, had signed on as her sponsor. Then, during the first event of the season, she crashed. Crashes are common in slopestyle. Skiers hit jumps at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, flying up to 50 feet in the air to perform aerial tricks. Julia landed awkwardly on one ski, heard a resounding pop in her left knee and felt the “most intense pain” of her life. She braced herself and skied to the medical tent. The on-mountain medical crew insisted she wasn’t injured. But Julia and her mother doubted the diagnosis. An MRI at Boston Children’s Hospital confirmed the family’s worst fear. Julia had torn her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), and her season was over. Although Julia wanted immediate surgery, Martha M. Murray, MD, orthopedic surgeon and co-director of the Female Athlete Program at Boston Children’s, advised waiting several weeks until the swelling subsided before undergoing ACL reconstruction. Prescription for patience Murray’s medicine was a bitter pill for Julia. Competitive athletes, anxious to return to their sport, often push for fast-track treatment and accelerated rehabilitation.  Murray recommends a more gradual approach, focusing on long-term ...
Source: Thrive, Children's Hospital Boston - Category: Pediatrics Authors: Tags: ACL All posts Our patients’ stories Sports & exercise ACL tears in young athletes Female Athlete Program Martha Murray Source Type: news