How do you fix it?
Complete ACL
tears do not heal on their own. Surgery is advisable in most cases,
though in non-active lifestyles it is not absolutely necessary. In
these cases the
swelling will decrease in a few months, and the joint will be usable to
certain extents - especially if the muscles around the joint are bulked
up to compensate for some of the loss of stability.
To "fix" the ligament requires arthroscopic surgery and up to nine months of physical therapy to bring your joint back to pre-injury health and strength (www.medicinenet.com), though actual time in physical therapy will vary from patient to patient.
With the Arthroscopic surgery a new ligament is grafted in place of the old one. The graft can be a graft from the patient (an autograft, usually from the hamstring or patella tendon) or the graft can come from a cadaver (an allograft). Synthetic grafts have also been tried, though not with as much success (www.sportsci.org). For the tissue grafts, the tissue of the graft goes through some biological changes to become more ligamentous. This transition stage is when the graft is the weakest, and occurs between 6 - 12 weeks post operation; physical therapy programs have to take this into account (www.sportsci.org)
Rehab and physical therapy can be sumed up through 4 stages (www.sportsci.org):
1) Regaining flexibility and reducing swelling after surgery.
2) Regaining balance and stability in the muscles surrounding the knee.
3) Increasing strength and aerobic conditioning of the muscles surrounding the knee.
4) Slowly returning to former activities.
For a more detailed version of this see (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/anterior_cruciate_ligament_injury). It is similar to what I went through with mine.
Gaining muscle around the joint is essential for not re-injuring the ligament, and for returning back to former activities.
To "fix" the ligament requires arthroscopic surgery and up to nine months of physical therapy to bring your joint back to pre-injury health and strength (www.medicinenet.com), though actual time in physical therapy will vary from patient to patient.
With the Arthroscopic surgery a new ligament is grafted in place of the old one. The graft can be a graft from the patient (an autograft, usually from the hamstring or patella tendon) or the graft can come from a cadaver (an allograft). Synthetic grafts have also been tried, though not with as much success (www.sportsci.org). For the tissue grafts, the tissue of the graft goes through some biological changes to become more ligamentous. This transition stage is when the graft is the weakest, and occurs between 6 - 12 weeks post operation; physical therapy programs have to take this into account (www.sportsci.org)
Rehab and physical therapy can be sumed up through 4 stages (www.sportsci.org):
1) Regaining flexibility and reducing swelling after surgery.
2) Regaining balance and stability in the muscles surrounding the knee.
3) Increasing strength and aerobic conditioning of the muscles surrounding the knee.
4) Slowly returning to former activities.
For a more detailed version of this see (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/anterior_cruciate_ligament_injury). It is similar to what I went through with mine.
Gaining muscle around the joint is essential for not re-injuring the ligament, and for returning back to former activities.
Title Page
What is an ACL?
How do you tear an ACL?
The Physics of an ACL tear
How do you fix it?
Bibliography
What is an ACL?
How do you tear an ACL?
The Physics of an ACL tear
How do you fix it?
Bibliography