What do Tom Brady, Derrick Rose, Adrian Peterson, Josh Hamilton, and Joe Thornton all have in common? If you’re a casual sports fan, you may recognize them all as former MVPs of their respective sports. But if you dig deeper into their playing history, you’ll also find that all five players have suffered significant knee injuries.

In this week’s episode of Sideline Data, we examine the once ominous ACL tear. At one time a player clutching his or her knee was a gravely serious, career-ending ordeal. Thanks to advancements in surgical technology and rehabilitation, ACL sprains and tears have become manageable injuries. To gain a better understanding of the medical breakthroughs that have impacted knee injuries over the last three decades we sat down with the world-renowned knee specialist, Dr. Riley J. Williams III.

This past weekend in #Barcelona, HSS #sportsmedicine surgeon Dr. Riley Williams provided insight on articular cartilage repair in the high demand athlete at the XXVII Isokinetic Medical Group Conference. #FFMED pic.twitter.com/v7sAS1WEPf

— Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) (@HSpecialSurgery) June 8, 2018

Dr. Williams is a Sports Medicine Surgeon and specialist in knee, shoulder and elbow surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery. He is also the Medical Director and Head Team Orthopedic Surgeon for the Brooklyn Nets, the New York Red Bulls, and the Iona College Department of Athletics, as well as a Team Physician for USA Basketball and the Director of the FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence at HSS specializing in the care of soccer injuries.

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