ACL INJURY (ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT) SHANNON CORRIDEAN

WHAT IS AN ACL INJURY? An ACL injury is a small or medium tear in the ligament. You can tear the ligament much worse also. When any of these happen the lower leg bone moves abnormally forward on the upper bone.

SYMPTOMS Feeling/Hearing a pop in the knee at the time of injury. Sudden instability Pain when putting pressure on the injured leg Knee swelling Severe knee pain

PREVALENCE Most athletes will be the ones to experience an ACL injury It is one of the most common injuries in athletes

CAUSES When there is a traumatic force being applied to the knee in a twisting movement, it can be a direct or indirect force. Most injuries are caused without contact of another person. Such as side-stepping, pivoting, or landing from a jump. The other half is caused by some type of contact mostly sports related contact. When the knee is straightened more than in should be. Also known as hyperextension. A sudden change in direction, landing weird while jumping, pivoting are all causes to an ACL injury.

TREATMENTS Treatments for ACL injury varies on how bad the tear is. You may need therapy or surgery. Either way you will definitely need therapy. Therapy will help with the muscle strengthening and stability in the knee and also help to regain the full knee motion of how it was before the tear. Surgery is mostly needed for athletes. The surgery helps speed up the recovery. But you will need therapy after the surgery. A good rehabilitation will help you recover from the surgery and be able to do your normal activities about six months after surgery. If surgery is needed, it is just a small incision in the knee, and the ligament is replaced with a piece of tendon from another part of your leg.

INTERESTING FACTS The ACL is about 90% of the stability in our knee joint. After surgery with good rehabilitation about 90-95% of people can return to sports in about 6 months. About 5 people tore their ACL in our school. About 150,000 ACL injuries occur in the United States every year. These injuries account for more than $500 million in United States health care costs each year.

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