What has happened to Alexia Putellas?

Barça's captain was injured on July 5 during a training session before the Euro Cup currently taking place in England. The current Ballon d'Or suffered a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament.

A ligament is a very strong and elastic band of connective tissue whose function is to connect bones within a joint. Specifically, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) extends from the inner surface of the outer condyle of the femur to the anterior intercondylar area of the tibia. Its function is to prevent the forward displacement of the tibia relative to the femur.

In our article “Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury: What It Is and How It Is Treated,” we explain that the ACL is the knee ligament most commonly injured and what the main causes of injury to this ligament are. In the case of the international player Alexia Putellas, neither Fútbol Club Barcelona nor the Spanish National Team have wanted to detail how the injury occurred; however, studying the factors that influence ligament tears, we could highlight that both playing football and being female are risk factors.

Initially, FC Barcelona stated in a press release that Alexia Putellas would be off the field for between 10 and 12 months; however, minutes later, they removed the recovery time estimates. Nevertheless, Dr. Ripoll, an expert in Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology, said on Cadena Ser that, at a minimum, the current best player in the world would be out for at least 8 to 10 months.

Last Tuesday, Alexia underwent successful surgery and will begin her recovery to return to the field as soon as possible. The first three days after anterior cruciate ligament surgery involve an acute inflammatory phase characterized by pain and swelling. Regarding the latter, it can be treated in different ways, such as cryotherapy (ice), manual lymphatic drainage, or pressotherapy.

If we use pressotherapy, the ideal would be to do it with SIZEN pressotherapy, specifically in mode 2 since it is indicated to drain excess fluid. The way this mode works is as follows: Chamber 1 inflates, then chamber 2 inflates, and so on consecutively until all chambers are inflated, always maintaining the inflation pressure of the previous chambers. Once all are inflated, they deflate simultaneously, and the process starts again.

For lymphatic drainage with pressotherapy, experts recommend a pressure between 30 and 40 mmHg and a duration of 30 to 60 minutes.
On the other hand, as rehabilitation progresses after anterior cruciate ligament surgery and the athlete gradually returns to activity, they may feel muscle overload due to lack of sports habit, so mode 3 or 4 is more recommended, with which the athlete will achieve rapid muscle recovery.

If you want to know more about anterior cruciate ligament surgery, what the operation involves, how it can be prevented, and its causes, we recommend you read the following article: https://sizensrs.com/lesion-en-el-ligamento-cruzado-anterior-que-es-y-como-se-trata/