ACL INJURY: Does it require surgery?

ACL INJURY: Does it require surgery?

The ACL is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament. The ACL is one of the most commonly injured ligaments of the knee. The anatomy of the ACL is like that:

The bone structure of the knee joint is formed by the femur, the tibia, and the patella. The ACL is one of the four main ligaments within the knee that may connect the femur to the tibia.

The knee is essentially a hinged joint that may hold together by the medial collateral, lateral collateral, anterior cruciate (ACL) and the posterior cruciate ligaments. The ACL may runs diagonally in the middle of the knee, preventing the tibia from sliding out in front of the femur, providing the rotational stability to the knee.

The weight-bearing surface of the knee may be covered by a layer of the articular cartilage. On either side of the joint, between the cartilage surfaces of the femur and tibia, there will be medical meniscus and the lateral meniscus. The menisci will act as shock absorbers and will work with the cartilage to reduce the stresses between the tibia and the femur.

Nonsurgical treatment for ACL Injury:

In the nonsurgical treatment, the progressive physical therapy and the rehabilitation will restore the knee to a condition close to its pre-injury state and will educate the patient on how to prevent the instability. This may be done with the use of a hinged knee brace.Nonsurgical treatment will be successful with patients having:

* Partial tears and no instability symptoms.

* Complete tears and no symptoms of knee instability during low-demand sports who are willing to give up the high-demand sports.

* Light manual work or live sedentary lifestyles.

* Growth plates are still open.

Surgical treatment for ACL Injury:

Surgical treatment is usually advised when dealing with the combined injuries.The ACL tears are not usually repaired using the suture to sew it back together,because the repaired ACLs have generally been shown to fail over the time.So, the ACL will be generally be replaced by a substitute graft made of tendon.

The grafts that are commonly used to replace the ACL include:

• Patellar tendon autograft (autograft comes from the patient)
• Hamstring tendon autograft
• Quadriceps tendon autograft
• Allograft (taken from a cadaver) patellar tendon, Achilles tendon, semitendinosus, gracilis, or posterior tibialis tendon
  

Joint & Bone Solutions may provide the best ACL Reconstruction treatment.Dr.Biren Nadkarni is one of the best Orthopaedic & Joint Replacement Surgeon who may have well-known experience. For more details contact us:

drbirennadkarni@gmail.com
http://www.drbirennadkarni.com