Anterior cruciate ligament is one of the commonest knee injuries in sports and day-to-day life. It is estimated that around 1,00,000 to 2,00,000 ACL injuries occur per year in United States and roughly around 70,000 ACL reconstructions are performed.

No. Many ACL tears can be treated non-operatively. Many factors go into the decision making process. Some patients have ACL tears and no instability symptoms. Others are profoundly symptomatic, even with simple stair climbing, turning and twisting. We do not know why some people are more symptomatic than others, which is why surgery is not the right answer for everybody.

No. Some knees function almost normally despite having a torn ACL. Good knee function is more common in patients who are over thirty years old who are relatively inactive in sports. Patients who are less than twenty-five years old, regardless of activity level, tend to have problems with instability and have frequent episodes of giving way. Therefore, surgical reconstruction of a torn ACL is usually recommended for patients who are less than age twenty-five years.

Most ACL tears can be detected by experienced examiners as the knee joint will undergo abnormal movements when stressed. There is a variation in the normal range of these tests so the amount of movement is compared to the other knee. Sometimes these tests can be inconclusive immediately after an injury, due to excessive swelling.

ACL injury is associated with multidirectional sport (football, basketball, netball and skiing particularly), so refraining from these sports is a way to prevent injury, but often not acceptable to athletes. The mechanism of injury is often getting the foot caught in the ground while the body moves in another direction. In football, wearing boots with shorter stops helps prevent the foot getting caught in the turf. In all sports, a stabilising knee brace may offer some protection.

There are two types of cartilage in the knee. One type of fibrous cartilage is called the meniscus. Each knee has two crescent shaped menisci that act as a shock absorbers between the femur and tibia. There is a medial (inner) and lateral (outer) meniscus. The menisci are attached to the tibia. The ACL prevents excessive forward tibial motion at the knee joint. When the ACL tears, the knee can partially dislocate (subluxate).

A key feature of a serious ACL injury is a feeling of instability (i.e. that the knee may collapse from underneath you).

Recovery from an ACL injury varies with each individual. Your treatment should continue until your knee is stable and strong, not for a certain length of time. ACL injuries in children and teens are less common than in adults, but they do occur, especially in teens. An untreated or unsuccessfully treated ACL injury in children or teens may result in future knee problems. The knee may become more and more unstable and, over time, osteoarthritis may develop.

No. Many degenerative or attritional tears can be managed non-operatively and allow you to return to your "normal" lifestyle.

ACL tears do not have the capacity to heal by themselves. This is because of the poor blood supply and the presence of joint fluid. Similarly the torn edges of the ligament cannot be sutured together, as this procedure has very high failure rates and has been given up. The ideal way to get back the function of ACL is to have reconstrucion of ACL. Even though patient can manage activities like walking climbing stairs, without ACL.

a general rule, the body cannot repair a torn ACL if the tear is complete. Partial tears may sometimes heal but often will progress to becoming complete tears. If surgery is needed, the surgeon will not repair the ligament directly, as this has a low success rate, but will instead use a nearby tendon to reconstruct the original ligament. Your future demands in multi-directional sport.

Dr. Prodromos has developed a mini-incision, primarily arthroscopic technique that produces excellent results. The procedure takes roughly 90 minutes and patients go home on the day of surgery.

Dr. Prodromos recently completed a long-term follow-up study of over 200 of his ACL reconstruction patients. There were no instances of graft failure in this study.

The damaged ACL cannot be sewn back together as it will not heal. A torn ACL will require a reconstructive procedure using transplantable tendons from your body (autografts) such as the hamstring, bone-patella-tendon-bone (BTB) or quadriceps tendons, to reconstruct this torn ligament. Allograft (tissue bank cadaver tissue) tissue is often used with less pain to you and earlier return to function. Both autograft and allograft tendons are acceptable to use for ACL reconstructions.

Not always. Some people are able to function normally without surgery, so long as they have physiotherapy, but others need reconstructive surgery no matter how much physiotherapy they have. Whether or not you have your ACL reconstructed also depends on how active you are, and how your injury impacts on your daily and sporting activities.

It is best to wait for the pain and swelling to subside and to allow associated injuries to heal before performing surgery for the ACL. If surgery is done too soon after injury, rehabilitation is difficult. The knee may get stiff and have permanent loss of motion. The athlete will usually get back to sports much more quickly if the knee is allowed to recover from initial injury and to regain its full painless range of motion (usually at least six weeks) before performing surgery.

Any injury that involves the knee being twisted while the foot is planted on the ground can result in a serious ligament injury. Key features of a serious knee injury include a feeling of instability (i.e. a sense that the knee may collapse from underneath you). Recurrent episodes of the knee collapsing with associated swelling and pain are an obvious sign that all is not well, and that medical attention should be sought.

I see in the newspaper there are ads for a specialty orthopedic hospital in our community now. If I go ahead and have my knee replaced, is there any advantage to going to such a place? My regular doctor just uses the local hospital.

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are caused when the knee is straightened beyond its normal limits (hyperextended), twisted, or bent side to side. Changing direction quickly or cutting around an obstacle or another player with one foot solidly planted on the ground (as can happen in sports that put high demand on the ACL such as basketball, football, soccer, hockey, and gymnastics).

No. Degenerative Rotator cuff tears, which develop gradually, are part of aging process. Many tears remain asymptomatic. Rehabilitation will result in good range of movement and pain improvement. But the strength will not improve. On the other hand, large cuff tears, profound weakness and an acute traumatic event causing the tear will give bad results if treated non-operatively. The surgeon will consider all these factors and will suggest the appropriate treatment for each patient.

Many different surgical approaches have been tried for the ACL injured knee. Years of experience have shown that simply stitching the ligament together is rarely successful. Therefore, current techniques involve reconstructing the ACL by building a new ligament out of tissue harvested from one of the other tendons around the knee or from a cadaver. This tissue is passed through drill holes in the thigh bone and shin bone, and then anchored in place to create a new ACL.

Before having a total knee replacement, my doctor insists that I go to physical therapy. This is called preoperative treatment. Why is this necessary? I'm really ready for the operation. What is a bone bruise? After a car accident that dislocated my hip, I found out I also had a bone bruise around my knee. I'm 62 years old and have very bad knees from arthritis. I make my living cleaning other people's houses.

ACL healing cannot be achieved by any internal medicine or external oil massage. Similar attempts to compensate the ACL deficiency by exercising the muscles have also been futile. The dynamic stability offered by the muscle cannot compensate the static stability afforded by the ACL.

Absolutely. The hips are rarely the cause of acute limping. If the ACLs are torn, your pet is only going to get worse.

Depending on how serious it is, you may want to consult with your physician before starting yoga. Be sure to tell your yoga teacher about your condition, and he/she will adapt the yoga poses to your abilities. Many people find that yoga helps relieve lingering symptoms of surgery or injury.

Infection is the most common complication of any surgical procedure. In laparoscopic surgery rate of infection is very less than open surgery but many statistical studies shows that infection is still the most common complication after laparoscopic surgery. This complication is not related to the laparoscopic technique itself but depends on the sterilization and theatre environment of the hospital.

The most common eye injury is a corneal abrasion, which occurs when the surface layer of the eye is scratched. Corneal abrasions usually heal on their own within 24 hours of the injury but must be kept clean to prevent infection.

Your ACL can be injured if your knee joint is bent backward, twisted, or bent side to side. The chance of injury is higher if more than one of these movements occurs at the same time. Contact (being hit by another person or object) also can cause an ACL injury. ACL injury often occurs during sports. The injury can happen when your foot is firmly planted on the ground and a sudden force hits your knee while your leg is straight or slightly bent.

Your doctor can tell whether you have an ACL injury by asking questions about your past health and examining your knee. The doctor may ask: How did you injure your knee? Have you had any other knee injuries? Your doctor will check for stability, movement, and tenderness in both the injured and uninjured knee. You may need X-rays, which can show damage to the knee bones. Or you may need other imaging tests, such as an MRI. An MRI can show damage to ligaments, tendons, muscles, or knee cartilage.

At this time, no. If there is compression on the spinal cord or the spine needs to be stabilized, surgery can be performed in an attempt to correct these problems. After surgery, some function may be restored, but surgery is currently unable to restore all lost function from a spinal cord injury. Spinal cord injuries are devastating and have life-long consequences.