Mallory Swanson’s Patellar Tendon Tear and Recovery: What You Need to Know

April 11, 2023
By Kayleigh Toney

Unfortunately, Mallory Swanson went down with a severe knee injury in the USWNT friendly against Ireland on April 8. It was later confirmed that she suffered a torn patellar tendon in her left knee, which is tough news for the forward who was in the best form of her career.

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It’s a devastating injury that takes her out of the running for the World Cup roster at a time when she had become the star of the team.

In the last year, Swanson has been playing great and has been a consistent goal-scorer for the national team. At the 2023 SheBelieves Cup, she powered the USWNT offense scoring four goals and taking home the tournament MVP. Going into the friendly against Ireland, Swanson had scored in six consecutive matches with eight total goals in her last six games.

Here’s a little bit more about the injury that Swanson suffered.

What is a patellar tendon tear?

The patellar tendon is a ligament that attaches the kneecap to the shinbone and crosses over the kneecap, or patella, to keep it in place. It’s responsible for things like allowing your knee to straighten. The severity of the tear can be either partial or complete. The details of Swanson’s tear weren’t released, so it’s unclear what the severity of her injury was.

However, she announced that she underwent a successful surgery on Tuesday, April 11. This likely means she suffered a completely or nearly complete near since it required surgery.

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Here, we’ll look at the timeline of recovery for complete tears. A complete patellar tendon tear requires a surgical repair to reposition and reattach the tendon.

It’s a rather lengthy recovery process that typically takes somewhere between 6-12 months, Swanson will likely be on the lower end of that recovery timeline, but it’s difficult to really say.

After surgery, the knee is put into a leg immobilizer that will be unlocked in increments as time goes on. The recovery timeline can be compared to maybe an ACL tear. For the first couple of weeks, crutches are used, and there can’t be weight put on the injured leg, but as time goes on, the knee will gradually begin to start weight bearing.

Afterward, physical therapy helps to regain the range of motion and strength in the knee joint.

How does it happen

Soccer is a physical sport, and there’s always a risk of a serious injury every time you step on the field. Knee injuries certainly aren’t uncommon in the sport, unfortunately.

Swanson has a history of knee injuries, and that could’ve played a factor in this most recent injury, but patellar tendon tears can also happen from falling and landing awkwardly on the knee as well as from jumping and landing wrong on the leg.

This sport can be cruel sometimes, and there is little that could’ve been done to prevent the injury. Although some are calling that this should be a sign to change the ways that women’s soccer players go through training and injury rehabilitation since many methods are based on male anatomy.

Swanson faced a scare earlier in the match in a collision between her and the keeper, which resulted in the training staff checking out her head and brain. Ultimately, the trainers gave her the thumbs, and she felt ready to enter the game again. Many argue that she shouldn’t have reentered the game, which would’ve prevented this injury. But, the patellar tendon tear had nothing to do with the first incident, plus the athletic trainers gave her the green light to play again.

It’s tough to describe how the injury to Swanson will affect the USWNT this summer at the World Cup. Swanson was a pivotal piece to the team’s title defense, and Vlatko Andonovski will have a massive hole to fill. 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson filled in for Swanson on this roster against Ireland.

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