lots of misinformation on this thread. NOTE TO POSTERS: do NOT get medical advice/information from the web unless you KNOW who it's coming from. to preface this...i am an orthopedic surgeon. the ACL connect the femur to the tibia, not fibula. it is tested via a couple of things, but is tested by checking the anterior translation of the tibia with reference to the femur by a test called the Lachman maneuver or by another test called the anterior drawer test. if you don't do it right, it can be hard to interpret, even with comparison to the uninjured knee. other times, it could be partially torn and the abnormality can be more subtle. range of motion isn't a test for an acl injury. there are a couple other tests that are not usually necessary, and one that we always do in the OR prior to fixing them called a pivot shift. that usually isn't tolerated very well with you awake, so many guys don't check it till the OR.
to make this quickly...they didn't do anything wrong by having him continue to play. testing an acl can sometimes be equivocal in certain circumstances. depending on when it happened the team ortho doc was likely in phoenix at the time. you CAN play with a torn acl, but it isn't always the best of options. if a guy is a senior and isn't planning on playing at another level you can have the talk with him about playing with a brace, but that doesn't always pan out. in most circumstances, the guy is done and it needs to be fixed. most times the instability felt after it happens prevents an athlete from continuing.
