Bengals cornerback out with ACL injury, orthopaedic experts urge athletes to do 'pre-hab'
Monday, November 7, 2022

by Liz Bonis, WKRC

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CINCINNATI (WKRC) - Bengals cornerback Chidobe Awuzie may be out for the season due to a reported ACL tear.

Sports medicine specialists at OrthoCincy told Local 12 when you have an ACL injury that needs surgery, the newest change in getting athletes back on the field is what happens before they ever get into the operating room.

It is now suggested they start "pre-hab."

"Which is rehab before his surgery. So, his surgery will be two to four weeks from now as he re-gains his range of motion and strength," said Dr. Adam Metzler. "I think if there anything new in this is that that is what we really want to make sure athletes are doing, making sure their swelling is down, range of motion is back and strength is back and their strength is improving before we take them to the operating room which has been shown to help them improve 9 to 12 months down the road."

The ACL is the ligament that is in the center of the knee to help stabilize it.

After pre-hab, it will need repair.

"So, the surgery is going to entail probably taking his quadriceps tendon, or part of his patella tendon to reconstruct his ACL to make him a new ACL ligament," said Dr. Metzler.

Dr. Metzler says there is a high return to sport rate following this procedure.