ACL or Anterior Cruciate Ligament injuries are quite common in athletes of all skill levels and ages. This is seen most commonly in sports where you need to execute sudden pivots, stops and changes in direction. Your ability to participate in physical activities will be significantly affected by an ACL injury so it is important to understand what causes this, how to treat it and prevent it.
You can learn more helpful information by visiting orthopaedic blogs. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is one of the four major ligaments that can be found in your knee joint. This helps support you and provide stability when you are carrying out movements such as jumping, running and cutting. This ligament runs diagonally in the middle of your knee. This is what connects your thigh bone to the shin bone and it will help prevent excessive forward movement of the tibia. When your knee is subjected to a lot of force or stress when you are engaged in high impact activities such as deceleration, changes in direction, landing from a jump etc. it can cause ACL injuries. This can happen when you don’t follow proper technique and land awkwardly. Direct collision or impact to the knee can also cause this so it is a quite common injury in high impact sports. Sudden changes in direction or suddenly stopping can also cause this. When you have sustained an ACL injury, you will have sudden onset of intense pain in your knee. Your knee joint will be swollen and inflamed. You will then lose range of movement in your knee and experience stiffness. Another symptom is feeling unstable in your knee and not being able to bear weight on it properly. You may also hear an audible popping sound when the injury occurs.
You will need to go for immediate medical assessment
And diagnosis from a qualified healthcare provider whether it is a sports medicine specialist or orthopaedic surgeon. They will conduct a comprehensive physical examination to find out what has happened and review your medical history. They will also order imaging tests like MRI so that they can understand the extent of the injury. Depending on your activity level, severity of the injury and overall health, the treatment options will differ. Common treatment options are conservative management and surgical reconstruction.
When it comes to conservative management,
The RICE strategy will be followed which includes rest, ice, compression and elevation. This will be combined with physical therapy so that the surrounding muscles can be strengthened. They will help improve our stability and restore the range of movement in the knee. In order to stabilise the knee, bracing and supportive devices will be used. In severe ACL injuries, surgical reconstruction will be recommended where the torn ligament will be replaced with a graft. Physical therapy and rehabilitation are essential when it comes to recovering from this surgery. While you cannot always prevent ACL injuries, there are some strategies you can use to reduce your risk of injury. You need to properly warm up before engaging in physical activity. You can engage in dynamic stretching. You also need to build strength and flexibility in the muscles that surround the knee joint by engaging in strengthening exercises that target your entire lower body.
