AJ Watch

[stevoswan]

AJ given a one year contract extension by the Swans.... Luckless Swan Alex Johnson earns new deal - AFL.com.au ......would be nice to see that extended again some time late next season.

[dimelb]

Try this one:

Luckless Swan Alex Johnson earns new deal - AFL.com.au

[Auntie.Gerald]

brilliant !!!

[Markwebbos]

Did you catch 'ask the coach' with John Longmire earlier on Facebook?

Someone asks if AJ will make his "long awaited return this year"

Horse replies "We hope so. He's running fairly hard at the moment and hopefully he joins ball work in the coming weeks"

https://m.facebook.com/AFL/photos/a.264711586416.147202.63513051416/10154326612521417/?type=3

[Meg]

Wow, that would be fantastic!

[ScottH]

Will be a big day if it does happen!!

[southsideswan]

I dread the day.. not sure I can hold my breath for an entire match

[aguy]

I think it would be astounding if he plays seniors this year. If I remember correctly his last operation was only in the second half of last year ( was it august?). It takes 12 months to get to full strength after an acl reconstruction and he has missed so much footy that he will need a lot of conditioning and strength work too. I'm hopeful he plays some neafl toward the end of the season.

[Mug Punter]

I think it would be astounding if he plays seniors this year. If I remember correctly his last operation was only in the second half of last year ( was it august?). It takes 12 months to get to full strength after an acl reconstruction and he has missed so much footy that he will need a lot of conditioning and strength work too. I'm hopeful he plays some neafl toward the end of the season.

I think we'd all take 8-10 NEAFL games.....

[aguy]

I think we'd all take 8-10 NEAFL games.....

I would be ecstatic if he gets that many games

[Ludwig]

I believe he had his surgery on or about 1 June. He would have had time to pre-condition his body for his rehab, although caution is certainly the best call.

I wouldn't be surprised to see him playing in the NEAFL in May. The key will be when he can join the main group for training, which could be in a couple of months.

I'm feeling optimistic.

[Southern Swan15]

Fingers crossed for AJ. Surly his luck is about to change.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[goswannies]

I think it would be astounding if he plays seniors this year. If I remember correctly his last operation was only in the second half of last year ( was it august?). It takes 12 months to get to full strength after an acl reconstruction and he has missed so much footy that he will need a lot of conditioning and strength work too. I'm hopeful he plays some neafl toward the end of the season.

The 12 month timeframe is for graft healing - strength of the graft - not the leg (muscle strength) itself (and is a little conservative). From 9-12 months it's getting up to 70-90% of its full strength. Nothing can really expedite this. He would have likely been the best pre-conditioned ACL recon patient running around - muscle strength, I doubt will be an issue, nor proprioceptive retraining or cardiovascular fitness. Given his history though, it would be sensible to take a conservative approach, as a re-rupture would almost certainly be career ending (almost because AJ is defying every odd known to man so far!).

[aguy]

The 12 month timeframe is for graft healing - strength of the graft - not the leg (muscle strength) itself (and is a little conservative). From 9-12 months it's getting up to 70-90% of its full strength. Nothing can really expedite this. He would have likely been the best pre-conditioned ACL recon patient running around - muscle strength, I doubt will be an issue, nor proprioceptive retraining or cardiovascular fitness. Given his history though, it would be sensible to take a conservative approach, as a re-rupture would almost certainly be career ending (almost because AJ is defying every odd known to man so far!).

I agree about 12 months for graft to be at full strength. That is what I was meaning. I have to disagree about his general strength and conditioning though. Yes he has been working hard in the gym etc but they will rightly be cautious given his history and no.amount of gym work can fully replicate game conditions. That is what I was saying

[goswannies]

I agree about 12 months for graft to be at full strength. That is what I was meaning. I have to disagree about his general strength and conditioning though. Yes he has been working hard in the gym etc but they will rightly be cautious given his history and no.amount of gym work can fully replicate game conditions. That is what I was saying

Ah, you're talking about match fitness/conditioning. That is different to strength IMO. The primary limitations with an ACL deficient knee is that he will avoid uncontrolled twisting/pivoting and jumping/landing (which are obviously essential during a football match). Controlled strengthening of the dynamic stabilisers (quads/hamstrings and to a lesser extent pes anserinus and popleteus - the former two assisting AP knee joint stability, the latter two controlling small rotational torsion that occurs with knee flexion/extension because of the joint surface articulation), however, can be pushed quite hard. This is where AJ differs from a "routine/normal" ACL injury (IMO). With a normal ACL rupture, there is considerable swelling, instability and (usually) pain. This prevents the ability to undertake intensive rehab preop. The result is marked atrophy of the muscles (particularly the quads). Once this all settles, the ACL is often punctually reconstructed. Postoperatively, the graft strength limits the types of exercises that can performed (ie open kinetic chain quads exercises are avoided during the early postop period because of the increased loading they exert of the graft) resulting in further atrophy and consequent diminished muscular strength. I emphasise that this is for a typical ACL rupture.
Now (and I emphasise with no insider knowledge of AJs circumstances) intuitively I would suggest that over the years that AJ has had off, he has has considerable opportunity to strengthen the afore mentioned dynamic stabilisers (making him far better prepared preoperatively than a standard patient) he will have also likely been undertaking an extensive preoperative proprioceptive retraining programme (and this is the lengthy part that occurs during the last few months of a traditional ACL recon programme), because he's had many preoperative (for the current reconstruction) periods where he isn't restricted but swelling/pain etc, so he could be essentially advanced on that too.
Yes, match conditioning will be limited, however, the I suspect that the majority of other boxes will have been ticked earlier than is typical and the result of this is that match conditioning can be adressed as soon as graft strength recovery permits - this is in contrast to typical ACL patients whose grafts might have aqdequate strength, but the insufficient strength of dynamic knee stabilisers and proprioceptive input would put the healing graft at greater risk should they return to match simulated activities too early. That is what I was saying.