Victoria S. DorsanoFounder, Be Victorious Coaching · Be Victorious Coaching · Systems > Willpower

The emotional journey of ACL injuries

9 Jul 2024 · 1 min

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In this personal narrative, Victoria S. Dorsano recounts the instant she felt her ACL pop during an athletic activity. Within milliseconds she experienced a deep, gut‑wrenching sense of dread and despair, followed by intense physical pain that forced her to the ground in tears. She emphasizes that the emotional pain—an overwhelming, immediate shock—was even more debilitating than the physical injury. Dorsano frames ACL tears as an athlete’s worst fear, noting their notoriously long, finicky rehabilitation, high re‑tear rates, and chronic pain, and she highlights how the injury launches a prolonged emotional roller‑coaster that compounds the physical challenges.

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When I first felt my ACL pop in my knee, I remember feeling this deep pit in my stomach. There was this despair and dread all swirling in me, and this was just in the milliseconds that I was in the air before I even landed on the ground. And then the pain hit, and man, did it hit hard. And I remember falling to the ground and crying and just holding my knee. But what really made it hard for the tears to stop flowing was not so much the physical pain, which did really hurt, it was more this emotional pain that I felt instantly. And I'll never forget what that felt like. ACL tears are an athlete's worst fear. They are known for their long and finicky rehab process, high retear rates, and pain. But it was in that moment that when I tore my first ACL that I realized what made this injury even more grueling was the emotional roller coaster it sends you on.