Residents in Asheboro NC may find comfort in the fact that an ACL tear
does not necessarily need surgery. It is surely an option for a patient but it
doesn’t mean it is the only way to fix our ACL.
The anterior cruciate ligament is one of the four major ligaments of
the knee. It stabilizes the knee and it also prevents excessive motion of the
knee joint. However, it may be injured while executing pivoting and landing
movements.
ACL tears usually occur in sports. This is naturally so since athletes
subject their knees to huge amounts of pressure and stress while playing. They may
hurt their ACL while running, jumping and pivoting. Other patients may not need
a strong ACL but it is quite different for athletes. They often undergo ACL
surgery so their motion fit for competition may be restored.
Professional doctors diagnose an ACL tear by
letting patients get an MRI. It is the most common method to diagnose ACL
injuries as well as other knee injuries.
ACL surgery
ACL injuries may not always require surgery. Often, patients feel
better after applying the RICE method – Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation. Mediation
such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen are usually recommended as well. However,
for quite severe cases, instability of the knee joint, as a result of an ACLtear, poses problems and later on may prompt the need for surgery.
ACL reconstruction is the usual procedure to fix a torn ACL. In this
procedure, the torn ligament is replaced with another tendon or ligament. One
variation of this procedure is called anatomic ACL reconstruction.
Anatomic ACL reconstruction places the substitute tendon precisely in
the same position of the original ligament. This procedure addresses the
difficulty of replicating the original ligament function. With this procedure,
patients experience faster recovery.