News About a Common Soccer Injury

(PRWEB) December 2, 2004

PRO SOCCER PLAYER’S INJURY WAS A CATALYST TO HELP GREENWICH ATHLETES:

Greenwich High School coach uses lessons of ACL injury to train girls’ team in prevention

Plancher Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, Greenwich, CT and NY, NY, 2004 – For most competitive athletes, the dream of playing professionally – once achieved – gives way to the fear of a career-ending injury. But for Nicolae Piperea, currently the Greenwich High School Girls Varsity Team soccer coach, the injury has actually helped him achieve an even more fulfilling goal.

Piperea, 38, began playing professional soccer for his native country of Romania when he was just 16. He continued his professional career, playing in several national championship games, even during his advanced studies at the Academy of Physical Education and Sports in Bucharest. After graduating, Piperea left Romania for Germany, where he played on one of Germany’s third division teams until 1993.

It was a trip to the United States in 1994 to see the World Cup soccer game that finally spurred Piperea to hang up his professional cleats for good and concentrate on coaching youth soccer. “I developed my passion for playing soccer at a very young age by playing with kids from my neighborhood, day in and day out, in the park and on the streets,” Piperea recalls. “When I came to the U.S., I was very impressed to see so many children playing soccer. That changed my life,” he says.

Piperea and his family moved to the United States, and began coaching the Greenwich High School Girls’ soccer team in 1998. Thanks to the groundbreaking “Title IX” legislation which guarantees equal funding for girls’ and boys’ school sports, Piperea was provided with all the necessary resources to help his players reach their personal and team goals. Yet, even more than 30 years after passage of Title IX, coaches like Piperea and other advocates of girls’ sports note that maintaining its safeguards is still a fight. In fact, recent federal court nominations have brought the issue to the forefront once again, as at least one nominee is on record supporting some limitations for Title IX. “We are so fortunate here in Greenwich to have a strong girls’ soccer program,” Piperea says. “As their coach, I see it as my responsibility to the community, the players and the sport to be sure it continues this way.”

When not coaching, Piperea trains local children at his “Jack Rabbit’s Gymnastics Studio,” and finds time to indulge his own passion for soccer as well. “Even though I continued to coach soccer,” Piperea notes, “I also didn’t stop playing.” He joined the Greenwich Arsenal Soccer Club’s over-30 league, and it was during a 2002 game that Piperea sustained a tear in his Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL).

Facing the prospect of continuing instability and not being able to play soccer again, Piperea chose reconstructive surgery, which he believed offered him the best chance of returning to the field. Kevin Plancher, MD, a leading sports orthopaedist in the New York metropolitan area and official orthopaedic surgeon for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard teams, performed Piperea’s surgery, and the results were all that Piperea had hoped they would be. “Everything went so well: the surgery, the healing, the recovery and rehab. I was thrilled at how quickly I recovered.” Piperea says. “I followed the regimen to the smallest detail, and now I’m back on the field, playing with confidence and having a lot of fun.”

But perhaps even more importantly, the injury and repair has impacted the approach Piperea takes when coaching his high school players. Recent research has suggested that girls are up to eight times more likely to sustain an ACL injury, and so Piperea has made a point of integrating injury prevention strategies into his coaching philosophy.

“Fitness is a very important factor in preventing ACL injuries,” Piperea points out. “Every player has the responsibility of coming in good physical condition before the season starts. My job as a coach is to ensure all fitness components are developed and maintained at a high level throughout the season. In addition, I have the girls focus on correct preparation – warm-ups, cool-downs, and stretching – before and after practices and games,” he reports. Known in athletic circles as “prehabilitation,” these preventive exercises include: those that focus on a full range of motions, such as front-to-back, side-to-side, and circular; movements like squats or lunges, which strengthen leg muscles, as well as exercises that target the body’s large “core” muscles of the spine, rear and abdomen; and flexibility and endurance regimens, such as yoga and walking.

Piperea hopes to continue his soccer coaching career – along with “playing for fun” – here in Greenwich, and vows to continue to impart a passion for soccer, an understanding of the game, and the importance of injury prevention. “I am so happy to give back to the sport that gave me so much all these years,” he says.

When an injury does occur, Piperea advises, “Players who might suffer an ACL injury should definitely consider the reconstruction surgery.” According to Dr. Plancher, who has also conducted a long-term study on the outcomes of conservative treatment repair versus reconstruction, that’s good advice. In his study of 72 patients who underwent reconstructive surgery following an ACL injury that was rated either a “C” or a “D” preoperatively, Plancher noted: “Seventy of the 72 patients’ (96%) knees were graded either an “A” or a “B” after the surgery, and all of the patients expressed satisfaction with the results of the reconstruction.” (Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery of America, 1998 Feb;80(2):184-97)

About the ACL

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is the more prominent of the two ligaments that connect the femur (thigh bone) with the tibia (shin bone) beneath the kneecap. The ACL is most likely to be pulled either partially away from the bone, ruptured or torn in the middle of the ligament during sports that involve planting a foot with spikes in speed movement followed by short decelerations or a turn at a sharp angle. This kind of movement and potential injury is common in soccer, football, basketball or tennis.

Signs of ACL injury

-A “popping” sound as the knee twists or bends”

-Immediate searing pain, followed by a dull, painful sensation in the knee

-Swelling around the knee almost immediately after the injury

-Difficulty bearing weight on the knee

http://www.plancherortho.com

Bio:

Kevin D. Plancher, M.D., M.S., F.A.C.S., F.A.A.O.S, is a leading orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine expert with extensive practice in knee, shoulder, elbow and hand injuries. Dr.Plancher is an Associate Clinical Professor in Orthopaedics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in NY. He is on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Journal of Sports Medicine, and is a reviewer for the Arthroscopy Journal.

A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, Dr.Plancher received an M.S. in Physiology and an M.D. from their school of medicine (cum laude). He did his residency at Harvard's combined Orthopaedic program and a Fellowship at the Steadman-Hawkins clinic in Vail, Colorado where he studied shoulder and knee reconstruction. Dr.Plancher continued his relationship with the Clinic for the next six years as a Consultant. Dr. Plancher has been a team physician for over 15 athletic teams, including high school, college and national championship teams. Dr.Plancher is an attending physician at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City and The Stamford Hospital in Stamford, CT and has offices in Manhattan and Greenwich, Connecticut.

Dr.Plancher lectures extensively domestically and internationally on issues related to Orthopaedic procedures and injury management. During 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 Dr.Plancher was named among the Top Doctors in the New York Metro area and was the New York State Representative for the Council of Delegates to the American Academy of Orthopaedic surgeons. For the past six years Dr.Plancher has received the Order of Merit (Magnum Cum Laude) for distinguished Philanthropy in the Advancement of Orthopaedic Surgery by the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation. In 2001, he founded "The Orthopaedic Foundation for Active Lifestyles", a non-profit foundation focused on maintaining and enhancing the physical well-being of active individuals through the development and promotion of research and supporting technologies. http://www.plancherortho.com.

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