For active Asheboro NC citizens, surgery is an option for an ACL tear

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.

Anatomic ACL surgery treats ACL tear in Asheboro NC

Among athletes, ACL tear is the most common knee injury. They hurriedly visit their Asheboro NC orthopedic doctors for consultation and treatment. ACL tear is usually seen in basketball, football and soccer. These sports require players to make quick stops and turns as they play. These movements can easily twist or hyperextend the knees.

Function of the knee

The knee is one of the most used joint of the body and one of the most easily injured. In order for the knee to maintain stability and function properly, there are four large ligaments that need to be intact. However, as it is subjected to high impact movement, the pressure exerted on the ligaments may cause it to be torn.

ACL injury symptoms and treatment

After an ACL tear, one will feel pain, swelling and instability. Within a few hours, the swelling gets bigger, the range of motion is decreased and tenderness and pain along the joint line increases.

Orthopedic doctors treat ACL injuries with non-surgical rehabilitation and surgery. ACL sprains and strains usually receive non-surgical treatment. Treatment includes immobilization of the knee to stabilize the joint. At this point, crutches are worn. When non-surgical treatments fail to restore function, surgery is then generally required.

ACL Surgery and Anatomic ACL Surgery

An ACL tear is not repaired using the suture procedure, which is sewn back together. The reason why is that repaired ACLs typically fail over time. ACL reconstruction on the other hand, is done by replacing a torn ligament with a graft made of tendon. It is a highly successful procedure that restores the function of the torn ligament and create knee stability. ACL reconstruction uses a surgical instrument called an arthroscope. It allows a surgeon to enter the joint using a tiny camera. Anatomic ACL is an advance ACL reconstruction procedure performed by experts.

Anatomic ACL surgery is a difficult procedure to perform and is not yet widely practiced by many surgeons. However, with this procedure, the patient’s recovery time is significantly reduced.

As the cases of ACL tears increase, it is not surprising the ACL surgery is becoming an area of focus in the field of orthopedics and sports medicine surgery. 

ACL tears can lead to innovative ACL surgery in Asheboro NC

ACL tears and other knee ligament injuries in Asheboro NC, and nationwide, have almost tripled in the past decade. And why?  Perhaps people are living more active lives these days, exercising more, playing more organized sports, spending more time outdoors.  Perhaps more of those same people who have been living more active lives all along are now getting older, with weakened knee joints that are susceptible to twisting or overextension.  Most ACL tears tend to happen in people older than 40.

What is the ACL?

The anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, is the major stabilizing force in your knee. The ligament is a broad, thick cord about the size of your index finger and its long collagen strands weave together to sustain forces of up to 500 pounds. This ligament extends from the back of yourthigh bone to the top of your shin bone, and when there is an ACL tear, the joint loses its stability. The ACL begins to unravel, and the entire joint is compromised. Destruction of knee cartilage is certain to occur. ACL surgery can eliminate further damage to your knee.

What causes an ACL tear?

An ACL tear often happens during sports and is quite common in basketball, soccer, skiing, football, and other sports with lots of weaving, jumping, and stop-and-go movements.Your ACL can be injured if you fall on your knee joint,or the joint is hit, bent side to side or backward, or is twisted. Sudden stops or jerky movement also can cause damage to the ACL joint. The chance of injury to the ACL is increased when more than one of these damaging movements occurs at once.  Falling off a ladder and walking on uneven ground are also likely causes. ACL tears reportedly happen more often in women athletes than in male athletes, suggesting to some orthopedists that women are more anatomically prone to ACL injury because they have wider hips and weaker hamstrings, putting more pressure on their knee joints.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of an acute ACL tear include: Knee feels unstable, buckles; pain on the outside and back of the knee; feeling or hearing a pop at the time of injury; knee swells within the first few hours of the injury. Swelling that occurs suddenly is usually a sign of a serious knee injury; limited knee movement because of pain or swelling or both; pain will likely stop you from your activity, but you may still be able to walk.

ACL strains and sprains are relatively minor and simple to treat, but with an ACL tear, early ACL surgery usually leads to the best outcome. ACL surgery is one of the most common knee operations performed by orthopedic surgeons today.

Treatment for ACL tear

Minor ACL tears, caused by ACL strains and sprains, can sometimes respond well to non-surgical treatment which includes ice, compression, and elevation, plus a brace to protect the knee, crutches, and pain relievers. However, often ACLsurgery is required. The ACL is crucial for maintaining joint stability, but when it is torn, the ACL unravels like a braided rope. Because it has a relatively poor blood supply, the ACL does not have the ability to heal on its own. Complete ruptures of the ligament produce bleeding into the knee, causing swelling in the joint. ACL reconstruction is the type of ACL surgery that is most often performed to repair an ACL tear.

What is anatomic ACL reconstruction?

ACL surgery is a common treatment for an ACL tear. Anatomic ACL reconstruction surgery is an advanced innovative procedure using your own ligament tissue taken from another part of your body, such as your hamstring. Using this natural material and placing it in exactly the same position as your original, your ACL reconstruction will heal better, function more naturally, do a better job stabilizing your knee, and help decrease your risk of further knee injury. Dr. Jeffrey Yaste is qualified and experienced in this exciting new procedure.