I find it a bit odd that many on this board expected goldie locks to stroll right back onto the pitch and pick up where he left off last year as soon as he returned from his knee injury. The man tore his ACL. Need I remind you it is one of the most difficult injuries for athletes to come back from?
Sure nowadays advancements in medicine and surgery have allowed athletes to have their knees repaired and get back on the pitch/field/court in a much shorter amount of time than even 10-15 years ago. But remember, recovery time for an ACL injury to an athlete is usually about an 8-9 month endeavor before they can even begin to train again. Therefore an athlete is usually out one full 10-12 month period before they are competing again on a repaired knee. However I have seen several cases in American sports and also football proper, of players who suffered an ACL tear taking about two full seasons to get back to top form and back to playing at a level they were performing at prior to the injury.
Of course there are exceptions to this, Adrian Peterson for example tore his ACL on December 24th and was back on the football field for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings in early September at nearly full strength and earned MVP honors this season. But Peterson is a physical freak and the exception to the rule.
A reminder that Lucas tore his ACL ligament on Tuesday December 1st 2011 and was back for LFC playing against Toronto in a friendly on Saturday July 21st 2012. That is 8.5 months recovery time and even then it only seems like he is just now getting more comfortable and strong on his knee and rounding back into form a full 15 months from the injury. I fully expect Lucas to continue to improve and get better as his knee and lower body gain strength this season moving forward and I would think he will be 100% and firing on all cylinders to begin the 2013-2014 season.
Sure nowadays advancements in medicine and surgery have allowed athletes to have their knees repaired and get back on the pitch/field/court in a much shorter amount of time than even 10-15 years ago. But remember, recovery time for an ACL injury to an athlete is usually about an 8-9 month endeavor before they can even begin to train again. Therefore an athlete is usually out one full 10-12 month period before they are competing again on a repaired knee. However I have seen several cases in American sports and also football proper, of players who suffered an ACL tear taking about two full seasons to get back to top form and back to playing at a level they were performing at prior to the injury.
Of course there are exceptions to this, Adrian Peterson for example tore his ACL on December 24th and was back on the football field for the NFL's Minnesota Vikings in early September at nearly full strength and earned MVP honors this season. But Peterson is a physical freak and the exception to the rule.
A reminder that Lucas tore his ACL ligament on Tuesday December 1st 2011 and was back for LFC playing against Toronto in a friendly on Saturday July 21st 2012. That is 8.5 months recovery time and even then it only seems like he is just now getting more comfortable and strong on his knee and rounding back into form a full 15 months from the injury. I fully expect Lucas to continue to improve and get better as his knee and lower body gain strength this season moving forward and I would think he will be 100% and firing on all cylinders to begin the 2013-2014 season.