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.

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.

The ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) is a ligament in the center of your knee. The ACL gets damaged when twisted too far, which makes it a common injury in relation to sports or other physical activity. ACL Reconstruction is performed using a combination of open surgery and arthroscopic surgery. Before ACL reconstruction process begins, your surgeon will examine your knee arthroscopically, and repair any additional damage to the knee, such as a torn meniscus, or worn articular cartilage.

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

When the ACL tears, the person feels the knee go out of joint and often hears or feels a "pop". If he or she tries to stand on the leg, the knee may feel unstable and give out. The knee usually swells a great deal immediately (within two hours). Over the next several hours, pain becomes more severe and it becomes difficult to walk.

If no structure other than the ACL is injured, the knee usually regains it range of motion and is painless after six or eight weeks. The knee can then feel completely normal. However, it can be a "trick knee". If a knee does not have an ACL it can give way or be unstable when the person pivots or changes direction. The person can usually run straight ahead and ride a bicycle without a difficulty.

In most cases, yes. A torn ACL renders the knee unstable in pivoting and jumping. This can lead to cartilage damage and arthritis. ACL reconstruction helps prevent these problems and restore an active lifestyle. If you are older or content with a more sedentary lifestyle, non-surgical treatment may be suitable.

The initial treatment of the injured joint is to apply ice and gentle compression to control swelling. A knee splint and crutches are used. Medical attention should be sought to confirm the diagnosis and to evaluate the entire extremity. X-rays are taken to rule out a fracture. Sometimes an MRI is needed, but usually the diagnosis can be made by physical examination.

Not all dogs require TPLO to restore knee function. Dogs weighing less than 40 pounds may have a different technique, often referred to as a "lateral suture technique", that will work equally well. This technique is not for overweight dogs. The recovery is slower but most dogs acheive almost normal function in the limb. This procedure does not work as well in larger dogs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The surgery is at our offices or at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, at 2nd Avenue and 14th St. in Manhattan.

Most ACL reconstruction surgeries are done using a single-bundle reconstruction. A single-bundle ACL reconstruction uses a tendon graft to replace the torn ACL. Unfortunately, ACL tears cannot be repaired, or sewn together, and a graft must be used to reconstruct the ligament. When the ACL is reconstructed, the graft is placed in the position of the anteromedial bundle. Grafts are held in place by making a hole in the bone called a tunnel. One tunnel is made in the femur and one in the tibia.

There are four ligaments in the knee: the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), medial collateral ligament (MCL), and lateral collateral ligament (LCL). The ACL and PCL stabilize front-to-back knee movements, while the MCL and LCL stabilize side-to-side movements. The ACL can be sprained or torn if the knee is straightened beyond its normal limits (hyperextended), twisted, or bent side-to-side.