ACL: The Anterior Cruciate Trauma

Imagine you are going along playing the sport you love, when all of a sudden you hear a pop, your knee gives out, and you are on the ground in pain. This is what happened to me not once, but twice. After going to the doctor both times, they figured out I tore my ACL. The ACL is like a rubber band that holds your knee together enabling you to bend, jump, cut, and run. Without it, your knee could give out at any given time. The first time I experienced it, I was playing soccer in P.E. The second time I was playing volleyball. I had to have knee reconstruction surgery after both. The second time I had the reconstruction surgery plus fixing my meniscus. Tearing an ACL is a very vigorous process. Following surgery, I had to endure 6-8 strenuous months of physical therapy followed by athletic training, which is just another therapy but aimed to get you back to sports. Tearing my ACL has affected me positively and negatively by changing my athletic career, my school year, and my character.

This short and round ligament, like all other ligaments, prevents slippage within the joint and allows the joint to properly pivot when performing an action (Duff 300). Without this particular ligament, the knees would be fragile and more susceptible to injury. Therefore, it would be impossible to do the simplest movements that are done by humans everyday, like walking and even sitting. This is one reason why many athletes should be aware of the physical indications that arise if they have torn their ACL while participating in athletic activities.

The Anterior Cruciate Ligament “…is a primary restraint to anterior drawer of the tibia” (Halewood & Amis, 2015, p. 2790) which means that it keeps the tibia from moving too far forward. Providing controlled extension, it is also a primary player in knee stability (Kisner & Colby, 2012, p. 803). It

There are many important parts in your body, and the anterior cruciate ligament(ACL) is one of the most important part to your leg and fitness. The ACL gives the knee its stability and many injuries can happen to this part of the body, so people with these injuries often visit rehabilitation(rehab) therapy for faster recovery. This is one of the most common athletic injuries. Mostly teens, who play sports, get these injuries. A pop usually indicates that the ACL is torn. Many people come to rehab therapy, and even with this special treatment, it takes a very long time for full restoration. The torn ACL not only affects certain parts of your body, but also affects several parts that can cause more severe injuries.

In the sports world the word ACL brings absolute horror and cringe with it. That’s because when an ACL tears it can be one of the most painful experiences an athlete can have, especially with the surgeries and recovery it brings with it. Along with that, the ACL is in the deep part of the middle of the knee, so most of the time when you damage your ACL you most likely have damaged something else. Women especially have to worry about the overall health of their knees as they have a 4.8% greater chance of tearing their ACL than men (Musgrave). ACL tears are one of the worst injuries in the sports world and in order to recover to full health it takes time, patience, and a hard-work ethic.

This randomized study included Twenty-six patients with an acute ACL injury or ruptures of ACL grafts. To be involved in the study patients had to have a unilateral ACL injury, be free of other ligament or meniscal damage that would requiring surgical repair, and pass an examination designed to identify patients who would had the potential to return to a high-level physical activity with nonoperative treatments. Patients also have regular participation in some level I activities (eg, soccer, footbof all, basketball) or some level II activities (eg, racquet sports, skiing, construction work). Patients were randomly assigned to either a group that received the standard

A torn ACL is one of the most serious and common knee injuries. Many aspects play a role in the treatment and rehabilitation of this injury. This paper will discuss the anatomy of the knee, describe a torn ACL, and the rehabilitation.

The anterior cruciate ligament “is a ligament that connects the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (lower leg bone) and is one of four major ligaments in the knee” (Putukian 1). It is responsible for stabilizing the knee, especially in sports/activities that require cutting, pivoting, turning maneuvers, landing, sudden deceleration, and planting. It is this ligament that is responsible for also preventing tibial translation onto the femur. Injury to the ACL usually happens when

An ACLR can be caused by many mechanisms with 70% being reported with a noncontact nature and 30% reported with the involvement of contact from an outside force such as an opposing player. Of the non contact mechanisms, common movements involved in an ACLR include cutting movements, landing from a jump with inadequate hip and knee flexion close to full extension (Silvers & Mandelbaum, 2011). Female athletes are at a greater risk of ACL injuries when compared to their male counter parts, with a two-to tenfold higher incidence rate (Silvers, Mandelbaum, 2011). Females are predisposed to ACL injuries due to intrinsic factors. Compared to males, females have a smaller ACL cross sectional area as well increased quadriceps angle (Sutton, Bullock & Montgomery, 2013). However, although

An anterior cruciate injury is described as the over stretching or tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) (Ma, 2016). It is one of the most common knee injuries in active athletes, (Agel, Arendt, & Bershadsky, 2005) and it is characterized by the symptoms of joint instability, severe pain and swelling, and a loss of range of motion. The treatment options for an individual with an anterior Cruciate injury can vary depending on the severity of the injury, socioeconomic class, and the area where the person lives. The preferences of the physician, and even the preferences of the patient can influence the outcome of treatment. The number of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstructions completed in the United States of America

Biomechanics is a field that looks into the structure and function of biological systems such as humans; it can be used in numerous fields. It ranges from aiding in sports performance to helping people with daily tasks such as walking. Majority of sport related occur in the lower extremities. Lower extremities include the hip, knee and ankle joints and the femur, tibia, fibula, and multiple foot bones. This paper will focus on the role of the ACL, how it is injured, and the rehabilitation process. While each component of the lower extremity has its own role, the knee is the most complex. The knee joint performs various functions and carries most of the weight of the upper body. There are four ligaments in the knee joint: the anterior

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is crucial to knee stability as its function is directly related to the anatomical morphology.9 The ACL is one of the two ligaments that interconect the femure and tibia in the intercondylar sector of the knee.4 It consists of two bundles: antromedial (AMB) and postrolatral (PLB). Both bundles originate from the postero-medial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle and run in an oblique manner to insert on the anterior region to the intercondylar tibial eminence.17 The ACL is comprised of multiple collagen fascicles, mainly type I collagen, surrounded by connective tissue and covered by the synovial membrane.17 The average width of the ACL is 11mm and the mean length of the AMB is 33mm, while it is 18mm for the PLB.14

The following is a review of literature pertaining to the anterior cruciate ligament, ACL, reconstruction and the rehabilitation used for it. First, an overview of the anatomy and physiology of the anterior cruciate ligament, ACL, will be given. The process by which the ACL is the ACL injury is managed through reconstruction, repair, and rehabilitation will be seen from previous literature. There are two types of exercises types that will be focused on and that is closed kinetic chain exercises, open kinetic chain exercises, and using the two in combination.

The purpose of the clinical commentary is to provide a good understanding on how anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is loaded during weight bearing and non-weight bearing exercises. Thus this article compared the most commonly utilized weight and non-weight bearing exercises in ACL reconstruction rehabilitation. Both weight bearing and non-weight bearing showed increased load on ACL between ten to 30 degree of knee flexion. The load on ACL decreases beyond 50 degree of knee flexion. However, the load is greater when performing open kinetic chain exercise such as seated knee extension compared to the close chain exercises. In order to decrease the force on the ACL with seated knee extension, the resistance pad should be placed proximal to the

For patients who opt for nonsurgical treatment, rehabilitation intended to strengthen the muscles surrounding the knee, especially the quadriceps and hamstring, is often the chosen course of action.2 Through such rehabilitation, the general goal is for patients to achieve an optimal functional level while ensuring new injuries or degenerative changes to the knee are not at risk of occuring.3 In addition to rehabilitation, functional knee braces are often used following an ACL injury with the intent of improving knee stability.2 Currently the overall benefit of knee braces is unknown for the majority of ACL patients, yet it has been determined that patients who choose not to undergo surgery and do not cope well with their injury would benefit from bracing while also demonstrating improved awareness body