The ACL tear is one of the most feared injuries in all of sports, but one New York doctor is using a new procedure that cuts the rehab time in half. 

Soccer player and coach Adam Marcu is back on the field just five months after suffering his own ACL tear. The ACL is a key ligament in the center of the knee that provides stability in sports where pivoting is common, like basketball, soccer and football.

Marcu says the injury happened on a quick move that he had made thousands of times before. But he says that this time he had a hunch that he injured himself. He contacted Dr. Jonathan Glashow, clinical associate professor at NYU and team doctor for the New Jersey Devils. Glashow had previously treated one of Marcu’s injuries in college.  

Dr. Glashow told Marcu of the procedure that allows the doctor to repair the native ligament rather than taking a piece of foreign tissue for repair.  

While the rehab started slow, Marcu says that after just one month, he began to see rapid advances in his rehab progress. He says that in just five months he was able to return to the field. 

Dr. Glashow says that the treatment is still considered new and not everyone that tears their ACL is a qualifying candidate for the procedure.