“They said I was just a phone call away from the pros,” recalls ‘Wheeler Receiver Schmidt, referring to his tryout for the Green Bay Packers two years ago. The tryout had gone extremely well, with Jesse putting up better numbers and results than many of the Packers’ actual draft picks, including running the 40-yard dash in under 4.4 seconds.

Dashed Dreams
He’d hoped to close the deal by showing the Packers and the rest of professional football the kind of stuff he brings onto the field. Then, three weeks into the Quad City Steamwheelers’ 2007 season, Jesse was running during a kickoff play and felt something pop in his knee. “It was like no pain I’ve ever felt before,” Jesse says. Once he was taken off the field and onto the sidelines, the team trainer and physicians twisted and bent his leg this way and that to test for injury. “They didn’t make a diagnosis right there, but I saw the look in their eyes and knew that they didn’t have good news for me,” he recalls.

Jesse says the pain, as bad as it was, wasn’t the worst part. His family came down from the stands to where the trainer was working on his knee. Jesse recalls the scene: “I couldn’t talk to my family because I was too broken up.” Seeming a bit reluctant to remember that devastating moment, Jesse concedes that seeing his professional football dreams apparently disintegrate there on the sidelines was hard. “My heart dropped for a little bit… you know, I got a bit teary-eyed.”

New hope with a new tendon
Then he met Dr. Tuvi Mendel of Orthopaedic Specialists. “A torn ACL can be a career-ender,” says Dr. Mendel. “Any time you tear your ACL, your performance may not return to the same level,” he adds. But Dr. Mendel saw that Jesse was young and highly motivated to make at least a full recovery. After discussing the options for repairing his torn ACL (one of the knee’s four major ligaments), Jesse and Dr. Mendel chose to use a new technique that replaces the torn ligament with a bigger, stronger hamstring from a tendon bank. Another option was to remove tissue from Jesse’s left kneecap and use it in his right. But the recovery with donated tissue was not only faster; it didn’t require rehabbing two legs. “Even though I could tell he was terribly worried about his recovery, Jesse was a terrific patient,” recalls Dr. Mendel. “He was committed to putting in the rehab work, and motivation is the key to gaining results in the rehab program.”

The surgery itself was no problem. “Right when I met with Dr. Mendel, I knew he was a good guy,” says Jesse, and his experience bore out that impression. A friend who’d had a similar surgery wound up with a 6-7” scar. “But I just have three little dots on my knee with a two inch scar where he did the surgery.”

A better way to repair a torn ACL
Dr. Mendel employs a newer minimally invasive technique that uses hamstring tendons in ACL reconstruction that does not involve damaging the kneecap and its tendon, like the old technique does. It also involves a smaller incision, off to the side, so there are fewer complications. “In women especially, the old procedure causes knee and joint pain years later,” adds Dr. Mendel, who has performed more than 200 hamstring-ACL reconstructions.

Jesse credits the surgery as a career saver. After the procedure came the physical therapy. Jesse’s sister had torn her ACL in high school, and her comeback to athletic competition set a strong example for him. “For a while it was tough out there,” he recalls. “Dr. Mendel’s staff kept my head up, and that really helped a lot.” He worked so hard at his physical therapy that the therapist told him to stop coming so often, for fear he’d develop tendonitis.

But Jesse was committed to working out and coming back even better than before the injury. He joined the Acceleration program, and says he has never worked his legs so hard before. He’s so committed to the program and its results that he plans on staying with Acceleration through the season. Before the injury, Jesse ran the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds or just under. Because of all the hard work he has put in, he’s even faster today, he says.

So fast, in fact, that mid-way through the season, Schmidt is now a leading receiver in the af2 League. That is not the kind of production even the most ardent fan would expect from a player whose career looked to be over last season.

He continues to prove himself to reach the NFL. “That’s the goal,” he says. “That’s the final stop.” But to get there, he’ll have to keep putting up the big numbers. And with his restored knee and confidence, that may happen quickly – perhaps even under 4.4 seconds.

Loud music can set the mood and get the blood pumping, but it can also cause tinnitus, a condition marked by ringing in the ears. It affects millions of Americans. According to the American Tinnitus Association, a recent survey of college students by West Virginia University found that nearly 66 percent of the students surveyed experienced signs of tinnitus, but that of those exposed, 58 percent weren’t concerned about it.

Experts say the volume from your MP3 today will cause bits of damage in your ears over time. “Hearing loss is insidious because there is no pain associated with it and it occurs gradually over years,” warns Parker “By the time you notice hearing loss, it is too late to do anything about it. Noise exposure is cumulative and depending on how long and how loud the exposure was, you would notice the effects over a period of time, even if the noise occurred when you were a child.

Tinnitus becoming prevalent
“I am seeing more younger people with tinnitus than I did 10 years ago,” she adds.

Parker advises that when wearing earphones or ear buds, it is important to keep the level of sound at a reasonable level. What does that mean? “Excessive noise exposure can be caused by a single loud blast such as a gun blast, or longer exposure from a lower level sound. For example, music from an IPOD over several hours can be just as damaging as a single blast from a gun. The damage from noise exposure is cumulative over a lifetime,” she explains.

So how do you know whether you have had too much sound exposure? “The biggest warning is usually ringing in your ears (tinnitus),” says Parker. “Often the tinnitus goes away after a day or two, but eventually remains as more and more damage occurs. Tinnitus is a sign that the nerve endings in your inner ear have been damaged.”

Parker says that while the most common age she see for this problem are men and women in their 40’s (who are beginning to notice the effects of hearing loss) it’s the younger ages she worries about. “Unlike their parents, kids are not usually as sensitive to their hearing or their health. Parents need to be aware of the signs of damaging noise and discuss their concerns with an audiologist.”

Signs of Hearing Damage

• Tinnitus (ringing in the ears)
• Auditory fatigue (your ears feel tired)
• Sensitivity to loud noises after exposure
• Muffled or a feeling of pressure in the ears
• Speech is not clear; conversation is heard but not understood.

Tips for Safe MP3 Use

• Limit MP3 exposure to no more than 30 minutes if you are cranking up the volume. (Longer MP3 use is OK if the volume is kept to a reasonable level.)
• Listen to your ears-they will warn you of over-exposure.
• The MP3 is too loud if you can hear the words to the songs that your kids listen to. Turn the volume down or limit their exposure to 30 minutes.
• If someone has to raise their voice so you can hear them, the volume is too loud.
• If you already have hearing loss, you are at greater risk for more noise induced hearing loss; be more conservative about your noise exposure.

Source: ENT Professional Services, Davenport, Iowa

ENT Professional Services is a Davenport, Iowa based Otolaryngology medical practice specializing in the ear, nose and throat. ENT Professional Services is also a member of the Mississippi Valley Health Network (MVHN). MVHN is Davenport-based physician organization comprising of medical practices and physicians specializing in Anesthesia and Pain Management, Gastroenterology, General and Outpatient Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Ophthalmology, Otolaryngology, Physical Therapy and Plastic Surgery.