When the knees of a person get twisted harshly or are stretched further than its usual extent of motion, ACL injury occurs. Basically, the injury is classified into three phases ranging from mild to very critical. While the strain in your ligament is quite minor in the first stage, it turns out to be very severe in the 3rd Grade as the fibers present in your tendon are completely tattered. This terrible injury is commonly observed among the individuals participating in sports or carrying out other physical activities that give strain to your joints. For instance, skiing, basketball, baseball, and football, to name a few are the major sports that could tear the ligament of the player leading to ACL injury.
What are the causes of ACL injury?
Research suggests that the chances of developing this serious injury escalate while skiing. The firmness, as well as the length of the ski boot, leads the pressure to be passed on to your knee joint. The ACL is also considered to be vulnerable to injury while getting engaged in contact sports. Moreover, it is worth noting that women playing soccer and basketball are 4-5 times more prone to develop knee injury comparing to the men counterparts. However, the reason why female tends to get this severe injury quicker than men isn’t yet confirmed. It might be because of the variation in volume and strength of the femur in female and male.
So do you want to learn more about ACL injury? Welcome! You’ve come to the right place. This article will help you ascertain some chief symptoms and risk factors associated with ACL injury. Here you’ll also get to know the best possible treatment for the same. So let’s have a look:
ACL injury Signs:
If the muscles of your knees are twisted sharply or if there is any damage occurred in the same, here is all that you’ll experience:
- A majority of the people would hear a ‘pop’ sound while your ACL rips.
- You tend to develop the instant beginning of swelling that further hints that your wounded ligament is bleeding.
- You’ll undergo a terrible pain in your knees.
- You may observe a crumpling sensation in the affected section.
What to do if you notice ACL injury signs:
As soon as you spot any of the above-listed symptoms, it is worth approaching your nearest clinic and getting your issue diagnosed and treated before it turns out to be very critical. Basically, your doctor would take your physical knee tests to evaluate the seriousness of the crack in your ligament. The diagnosis mainly includes the Anterior Drawer test, Lachman test, and the Shift test to determine your knee movements.
Treatment of ACL injury:
If you’re diagnosed with an ACL injury, you should immediately allow adequate rest to your knees, keeping off all sorts of force and weight on the same and massage the affected area with cold compress 2-3 times a day to get relief from intolerable pain. Although the listed approaches could help you avail some relief from swelling, you would definitely require visiting the joint specialist to get appropriate treatment for your knees. In addition to the home-based treatment, if the seriousness of the issue reaches 3rd Grade, your surgeon would recommend surgical treatment to fix your torn ligaments. However, some patients often notice amazing results without undergoing medical surgery. Here’s how:
Surgical & Non-surgical treatments for ACL tear
According to the studies, ACL injury isn’t that minor which could get fixed on its own, however, research proves that around 1/3rd of the people got relief from the issue without needing to have surgery. These patients usually involve people who aren’t willing to participate in any sort of physical sports thereafter. For the young and active players that have once experienced an ACL injury are apt to develop the damage again to their cartilage if they constantly practice physical activities or sports that involve twisting movement of the knee joints. Now the question arises ‘is there any other possible measure to treat your ACL injury without having to opt for a reconstruction? Let’s discuss more the best treatment for ACL injury:
Which treatment is worth opting?
For the patients preferring direct repair, the edges of your broken ligament would be fixed together. But, this process isn’t advisable since the edges of your cartilage aren’t cured reliably. Besides that, extra-articular treatment is another procedure that works on the outer section of your joints and enhances the stability of the knee. However, this procedure has not proven to be effective enough in fixing the torn ACL in your knees. What’s more? The replacement of the torn ACL with a synthetic graft is another treatment but is now abandoned because of the inappropriate results and a lot of side-effects reported post surgery. Hence, the only possible yet effective rehabilitation for damaged ACL is its reconstruction in which the leftover of the torn ACL is taken out through a surgical procedure and is replaced by a smooth tissue commonly known as a graft.
Though ACL injury isn’t very common, the individuals involved in sports, physical exercise, and other activities that add force to the knees are likely to develop the damage to their ACL. This way the fact that ‘ACL is so vulnerable to injury’ justifies. If you have been suffering from this issue, you should aim to consult a doctor and get a surgical rehabilitation rather than relying on the natural home-based remedies. Good Luck!
