Your knee involves three bones: the bones from your shin and thighs, as well as the patella. The knee is the meeting ground for these bones, held together by four ligaments. They connect with the muscles via tendons, and cartilage, this allows them to absorb shock and move freely.
The ACL, or anterior cruciate ligament, is part of a couple of ligaments holding your shin and thigh together. It’s vital for keeping your knee stabilized, and injuries to this area make movement a lot more complicated.
Importance of the anterior cruciate ligament
The ACL is crucial to keep your knee together. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the most common injuries for many athletes. The primary function of ligaments is to connect bones in joints.
Additionally, the ACL also provides stability for your knee while reducing stress throughout the joint. It does so by restraining excessive movement forward from your tibia related to your femur. It also limits how much your knee can rotate.
Breaking down ACL injuries
Most ACL injuries come from excessive twisting, trauma to the knee’s front, or sudden stops. For instance, straightening the knee beyond its natural straightened position can tear the ACL. It forces your lower leg past its healthy angle concerning your thigh.
Turning your lower leg excessively inward can also cause tearing in your ACL.
Most of these injuries are relatively common for athletes. Soccer, football, wrestling and gymnastics are some of the activities that risk ACL injury. Anything stressing your knee beyond its normal function can damage the ligament.
While external force is the most likely cause for these injuries, non-contact tasks can also result in injury. Incorrectly pivoting and landing from drops can damage your ACL.
Symptoms
People with ACL injuries will primarily feel like something is “off” with their knee. That includes a popping feeling in your knee and noticeable discomfort or pain. Swelling and losing motion range is also typical. The same holds for instability when bearing weight.
Complications include increasing your risk of suffering from osteoarthritis in the area. That is still possible for people who undergo reconstruction procedures.
Diagnosis
The first step is to examine the function of your knee. That means assessing how much you can move and straighten your knee. Alterations in your knee’s natural motion range are fundamental symptoms, along with pain when moving your lower leg.
Your ACL injury can result in issues within the surrounding area: cartilage, MCL, bones, and more. Therefore, an MRI or x-ray scan is often necessary for proper ACL diagnosis.
Prevention and treatment
Contact injuries aren’t always preventable. However, athletes should always prioritize proper warmup and exercise routines to ensure their muscles and ligaments are in top condition. Depending on the sport, learning the ideal techniques for landing, pivoting, and more can make a huge difference.
For treatment, both physical therapy and surgery can be necessary. Fighting inflammation is often enough for mild injuries. However, surgery can be vital for people to resume activities, like sports. Arthroscopic surgery is one of the best approaches, involving small incisions to minimize invasive practices.
Surgery Concierge Surgeons utilize minimally invasive techniques with arthroscopic surgery, returning thousands of patients back to their full potential after successful ACL surgery and rehab. During your teleconference with your surgeon, you can decide which graft is best for your particular case- hamstring vs. quad tend vs. patella vs. cadaver.