The Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries Essay Example

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the two key ligaments that help to stabilize your knee. The ACL is connected to the thigh bone, which is also known as the femur, and it is also connected to the shinbone, or the tibia. 

The ACL can be torn in many ways, but the most common is the stopping or changing direction in a quick manor. This is most common in sports, but can also happen in your day to day life. Tears can also occur when someone lands awkwardly after jumping, pivoting your foot when it is planted, and receiving a direct hit to the knee. There are also lots of risk factors that can raise the chances of you tearing your ACL. Some risk factors include wearing footwear that does not fit properly and playing certain sports including soccer, basketball, football, and volleyball. Another predominant risk factor is being a female. Due to the difference of muscle strength, anatomy, and hormones, females are much more likely to tear their ACL than males. Despite the risk factors, there are preventative measures you can take to lower your risk of tearing your ACL. The main preventative measure you can take is strengthening your leg muscles. The most important leg muscle to strengthen is your hamstring. By strengthening your hamstring, it ensures an overall balance in your knee which helps to prevent injuries. Another measure you can take is improving your technique when performing cutting or pivoting movements. 

To determine an ACL tear, a MRI is done and is able to classify the amount of damage that has been done. When it comes to the severity of an ACL tear there are three different levels. A grade 1 sprain does not require surgery, just a couple weeks of physical therapy. The second level is a grade 2 sprain. Depending on the person's activity level, a person with a grade 2 sprain may require surgery on their ACL. A grade 3 sprain almost always requires surgery. The general surgery that is done to reconstruct the ACL is called an Arthroscopic ACL Reconstruction. During this surgery, the surgeon will start by making 3 small incisions on the knee. A sterile solution is then pumped into the knee. This gives the surgeon a clearer look of what is going on in the patient's knee. At this point, the surgeon will use probes to begin reconstructing the ACL. To reconstruct the ACL, the surgeon will use a graft either from the patella tendon or the hamstring tendon. A graft is a type of tissue that is used to create a new portion of the ACL ligament.  Once finding and preparing the graft, surgical drills are used to create tunnels in the bone. The graft is then pulled through the tunnels and secured to the rest of the ACL ligament. Once the graft is in place, the surgeon will stitch up the small incisions and wrap the knee up. Surgeons also have the choice to do a single or a double bundle graft. A double bundle graft requires 2 additional bone tunnels to accommodate for an additional graft. This method is often used for people who are on the heavier side, and who put more pressure on their knees. For example, an NFL linebacker. In total this procedure can take anywhere from 2-3 hours (Michigan Medicine, n.d).  

When having ACL reconstruction surgery, your recovery almost always starts before the actual surgery. For at least 2 weeks before the surgery, you will go to physical therapy to start working on some stretches to help the recovery process after the surgery. Once the surgery is complete, you will be on crutches for anywhere from 2-4 weeks. By being on crutches, you are taking your weight off of your leg, allowing it to heal faster. In addition to the physical therapy before the surgery, you will also need it afterwards. At physical therapy, you will mostly be working on strengthening the leg again, but also getting your range of motion back to normal. The average amount of time spent at physical therapy is 3-4  months depending on the grade of the injury, the other damage in your knee, and how invasive your particular surgery was (UPMC health, n.d) . The overall recovery time for after an ACL reconstruction surgery is 6-9 months (UPMC health, n.d) . Many athletes will wait closer to 9 months before participating in sports again due to fear of reinjuring the knee. 

To wrap things up, ACL reconstruction surgery is very common with over 120,00 athletes getting it done per year (UW Health, n.d). This surgery has improved throughout the years and is now using the newest technology to make sure the surgery is as efficient as possible. Every athlete is capable of taking preventative measures, so they do not have to go through this surgery one day.