Current treatment and rehabilitation for ACL injuries
Introduction
This essay deals with the current treatments, rehabilitation procedures and onsets following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. Within this essay, there will be information including the causes, characteristics, and symptoms of ACL injuries. Throughout the United States, there are estimated to be 200,000 ACL injuries per year with 100,000 of those injuries being treated through ACL reconstruction (Evans, Shaginaw, & Bartolozz, 2014). With a satisfactory ACL reconstruction outcome between 75%-97%. From the 10%-15% failure rate of ACL reconstruction, the primary fault is due to technical mistakes at 70% (Samitier, Marcano, Alentorn-Geli, Cugot, Former, & Moser,
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The knee joint consists of four ligaments, two intra-capsular which are the ACL and the PCL and two extra-capsular ligaments including the MCL and LCL. The ACL is an extremely strong stabiliser which prevents anterior displacement of the knee. The ACL is a ligament and therefore connects one bone to another, the femur with the tibia. The ACLs origin is from the anterior intercondylar eminence of the tibia (home,2017) and the fibres pass upwards, backward and laterally inserting into the lateral condyle of the femur.
Characteristics of ACL Injuries
ACL injuries used to be seen as career ending injuries 50 years ago, however, throughout the years with the advancement in technology aiding treatment and rehabilitation procedures. Yet they are still sever and take months to recover. This is because of the precise location of the ligament within the knee joint. Resulting in no blood clot formation within the joint as a consequence scar tissue will not form and the tissue will just be filled with uncontrolled blood leading to swelling an pain within the joint (ACL reconstruction Oxford university hospital, 2017) which is why it takes between 9 to 12 months for recovery. With an ACL injury, other injuries often follow, namely MCL injuries and meniscal lesions which in time would likely lead to the patient contracting osteoarthritis due to it being a degenerative disorder consequently resulting from the meniscal and
Sports has always been a huge part of my life. I would be the one team player who took the sports season a little bit too seriously. I was the number 1 doubles player on my school's JV tennis team. Unfortunately, I fractured my ankle during my junior year and wasn't able to play with my team. I was devastated, but I didn’t allow myself to become disconnected from my team. I became the team manager to allow myself to still play a role in my team, despite my injury. I would record scores to my division leaders and take pictures to post on the website I created for my team. After the season was over, my doctor told me my ankles required surgery to become fully healed. I knew that meant I couldn’t continue to play tennis, but I didn’t want to give
An anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is the overstretching or tearing of the in the knee. This muscle is located just below the knee bone and the tear that occurs may be partial or complete. When you hear your ACL pop that’s a clear sign of a tear. Lots of people have surgery to get it repaired. It is about a year recovery of rehab. Many times when you tear your ACL, there’s no
When an ACL is torn there is usually a whip-like snap of the lower extremity that can be observed as the ACL tears (Ireland, 1999, p.152). In visualizing this high-risk ”position of no return,” we comprehend the importance of a “get-down” knee-flexed, 2-footed balanced position (Ireland, 1999). In the no-return position, the hip abductors and extensors have shut down, and the pelvis and hip are uncontrolled.
Abby describes when athletes typically tear their ACL they are rolling around screaming, unable to walk off. This was not the case for her, however something was wrong so she went to an orthopedic doctor. Due to her stability the doctor did not order an MRI and assumed it was a strained PCL.
Each year, approximately a quarter of a million physically active young people experience an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, and seventy percent of these ACL injuries will be sustained while engaging in non-contact activities such as sudden deceleration while landing (Begalle et al., 2012). This type of injury is grossly detrimental not only on the occasion in which it occurs but also for the subsequent years to come. The majority of individuals who injure their ACL also go on to either, re-injure that same ACL, or injure the opposite knee. Furthermore, our bodies are put in tremendously vulnerable planes of motion during sporting events, especially during activities such as, basketball, football, or soccer. In this day
An anterior cruciate ligament tear can be confirmed by the Lachman test, the dynamic extension test, and the Pivot jerk test. The Lachman test and dynamic extension test is helpful in, “making a diagnosis, particularly in the acute injury.” (1) The lateral pivot test reproduces, “the rotatory subluxation that occurs in ACL defiency. The test is difficult to perform and takes residents and fellows in my practice approximately three months of intensive training to be able to adequately perform the jerk test in the unanaesthetised patient.”(1) The test is important because the demonstration of the lateral pivot jerk is the replication of the instability that the patient has. The initial goals of treatment immediately after injury are to reduce pain, reduce
If I could do-over one day I would choose May 5, 2015 of my junior year of high school. On that day I tore my anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and it changed my life forever. Tearing my ACL affected me academically, athletically, and mentally.
ACLs are one of the easiest injuries to get for athletes and average people alike, and a lot of people don't know what the ACL is or how to treat it until they tear it.
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the four main ligaments in the knee joint that connect it to the shin bone (tibia) and thigh bone (femur). It 's located deep within the joint, behind the kneecap (patella), above the shinbone, and below the thighbone. The ACL lies diagonally across the middle of the knee and plays a role in keeping the knee stable during movement. Partial tears of the ACL can occur, but are rare. Most ACL tears are either near-completes or complete tears. After experiencing an ACL tear, an athlete has a 15 times
INCREASE IN TEARS Anterior cruciate ligament injuries are receiving a great deal of notice because of the incidence of injury that occurs not only in the athletic population but also in those individuals who are recreationally active (Russell, 2006). Each year in the United States there are approximately 250,000 ACL injuries. This is approximately 1 in 3,000 in the general population (Boden, 2000). Of these injuries, about 175,000 require reconstructive surgery. These surgeries had an estimated cost of over two billion dollars annually in the United States (Yu, 2007). These statistics alone make it obvious that this injury occurs very often. The ACL is one of the most commonly disrupted ligaments in the knee. While the prevalence of the injury has increased, so has the number of athletes in the world since ACL injury research first began. Women are now allowed to participate in sports and new sports are being participated in
With an ever increasing number of people becoming involved with athletic activities, there is an increasing number of injuries occurring which can be devastating for the individual. Most of the injuries that affect athletes occur in one of four structures in the human body: bones, muscles, tendons, or ligaments. Because ligaments attach bone to bone and play a major part in providing stability for joints, the major stabilizing ligament in the knee, the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), assists in performing everyday actions of the human body including sitting, standing, walking, running, dancing, and participating in other sports. The injury that specifically affects this ligament is very serious and always
In the sports world the word ACL brings absolute horror and cringe with it. That’s because when an ACL tears it can be one of the most painful experiences an athlete can have, especially with the surgeries and recovery it brings with it. Along with that, the ACL is in the deep part of the middle of the knee, so most of the time when you damage your ACL you most likely have damaged something else. Women especially have to worry about the overall health of their knees as they have a 4.8% greater chance of tearing their ACL than men (Musgrave). ACL tears are one of the worst injuries in the sports world and in order to recover to full health it takes time, patience, and a hard-work ethic.
The knee is a hinge joint and is also one of the largest and most complex joints in the human body. The knee joint is made up of four bones connected by ligaments, and surrounded my muscles, ligaments, and meniscus. It sits in between the
The Anterior Cruciate Ligament also known as the ACL is deemed the most commonly torn ligament in the knee and can result from both contact and noncontact injuries. Most Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries result from an extreme force on the lateral side of the person’s knee causing a valgus force which pushes the knee inward (Kisner & Colby, 2012, pp. 802-803). This injury to the side of the knee can also cause a “Terrible Triad” injury which also injures both the medial meniscus and the medial collateral ligament (Kisner & Colby, 2012, p. 803). Our textbook further states that “the most common noncontact mechanism is a rotational mechanism in which the tibia is externally rotated on the planted foot….this mechanism can account for as many as 78% of all ACL injuries” (Kisner & Colby, 2012, p. 803). If the person does not seek medical help with this injury they are susceptible to also injuring the remaining support ligaments as well. Patients usually present with joint effusion; possibly 25 degrees of flexion, joint swelling if blood vessels are involved, limited ROM, stress pain and instability along with quads avoidance gait patterns (Kisner & Colby, 2011, p. 208)
A torn ACL is one of the most serious and common knee injuries. Many aspects play a role in the treatment and rehabilitation of this injury. This paper will discuss the anatomy of the knee, describe a torn ACL, and the rehabilitation.