Tuesday, October 29, 2019

An insight into ACL Tear and what it is all about

knee joint replacement surgery in chennai
knee joint replacement surgery in chennai
ACL(Anterior cruciate ligament) is one of the most common sports injuries that occur frequently to athletes and sportsmen in general. An ACL tear or a torn anterior cruciate ligament is one of the most common among knee injuries. An estimated 2, 00,000 ACL injuries occur worldwide annually and about 1, 00,000 ACL surgeries are performed each year.
 It is one of the primary ligaments of the knee as the ACL connects to the top part of the shin bone back to the bottom part of the thigh bone. An ACL is an important part that keeps the shin in place from sliding forward and thus providing rotational stability to the knee. Most of the ACL tears tend to happen in the middle of the ligament or when the ligament gets pulled off from the thigh bone. The tears may form a gap between the edges and may not heal naturally.
 What are some of the causes and risk factors for ACL?
 ACL Tear or injuries tend to happen more for people who play high-impact sports where rapid pivoting and turning is most common in games such as basketball, football, skiing, etc. About 70% of the tears may happen without any contact to the knee and in some instances, the tear may happen when the person runs or may quickly change direction in turn twisting or cutting.
Women are 2 to 10 times more susceptible to ACL tears when they are into playing pivoting sports than male athletes due to pelvis and lower leg alignment, a wider pelvis, other anatomical differences such as physical conditioning, muscular strength, etc.
 Depending on the severity, ACL tears or sprains can be categorized as per the following way.

  1. Grade 1: Pain with minimal damage to the ligaments but can still keep the knee joint stable.
  2. Grade 2: Ligament damage and mild looseness of joint is often called a partial tear.
  3. Grade 3: Ligament is completely torn and the joint is quite loose or unstable. 
What are the diagnosis and treatment?
 To diagnose an ACL Tear, the ACL expert will examine your knee by comparing the structure of your injured knee as well as the non-injured one and see if the parts are in a position when pressure is applied in all directions. In most of the cases, the following tests may be recommended to diagnose a tear such as
  1. X-Rays
  2. MRI
  3. Arthroscopy 
Coming to treatment, surgery will depend on the following factors to repair a tear in the anterior cruciate ligament.
  1. Your activity level and expectations of how active you want to be
  2. The type of job/work you do
  3. Whether or not the cartilage and other parts of the knee are injured.
  4. The amount of knee laxity or joint movement.
 Most people who are elderly or inactive may choose not to have surgery if they return to limited activity after rehabilitation or by wearing a brace. Younger folks who wish to maintain an active lifestyle or want to return to competitive sports can opt for surgery. Reconstruction surgery is the most common technique used to treat a torn ACL where a new ligament is taken from an organ donor or one of your tendons around the knee.
 Arthroscopic surgery is then performed by making small incisions in the leg using a pencil-shaped instrument that holds a camera called the arthroscope. Once the camera guides the surgeon, he drills holes in the thigh bone and shin bone, passing it through the new ligament to anchor it in place with screws and other devices. The incisions are then closed with stitches, tape, or staples. As time goes on, the new graft becomes a living ligament in your knee.
Note:
This Content Was Originally Published By Orthomed Hospital In Chennai https://www.orthomedhospital.com/blog/an-insight-into-acl-tear-and-what-it-is-all-about/

No comments:

Post a Comment