Share
The ACL or the anterior cruciate ligament is one of the four major ligaments in the knee. This ligament is important for the stability of the knee. People who have hurt this ligament have found their knees giving way and falling off. Thus there are many who have had this injury and prefer to have an ACL injury treatment with surgery.
How is an ACL injury caused?
ACL injuries are seen to commonly occur in people who are involved in sports. A sport is an activity that requires sudden changes of motions, with a lot of twists and turns. ACL injury mostly occurs when it involves a sport where the surface is hard. ACL injury is seen to strike a girl more than a boy. This is because there is a lot of difference between the physical changes in a boy and a girl. The process through which a boy goes through changes is different from how a girl goes through.
ACL Injury Treatment
Before understanding about the ACL injury treatment, it is necessary to understand how to prevent an ACL injury.
Athletes can reduce this injury by performing various drills that need power, balance and speed. Besides this, there are many pylometric exercises which can be performed to improve neuromuscular conditioning thus decreasing the risk of an ACL injury. These pylometric exercises include activities such as jumping, balancing drills etc.
ACL Injury Treatment –Non Surgical
This term is used for management of this injury in a coservative manner. It is inclusive of treatments like physical therapy, using a knee brace etc. Anterior cruciate ligament protects the knee from getting injuries like a torn meniscus. Such patients are requested to abstain from sports activities which include turning and twisting actions.
Rest
A person who has torn his anterior cruciate ligament should know that tearing this ligament damages the cartilage within the knee. This in turn would make the tibia and the femur rub against each other. So the person who has happened to tear his anterior cruciate ligament should relax immediately. He could apply ice every fifteen minutes thus providing the knee with some compression. Then the foot should be put up. This reduces the swelling and the pain. The kind of ACL injury treatment depends on the kind of tear that has occurred. A minor tear would require rest as the immediate treatment. This strengthens the hamstring and the quadriceps thus helping in the recovery of the torn ligament.
Surgery
When the tear is severe and serious, then the patient has to go in for a surgery. This is because with surgery the anterior cruciate ligament is treated well and is made ready to perform other activities. First the patient has to wait for the swelling to reduce. The surgery that is used in ACL injury treatment is of two types:
- Patella tendon-bone auto graft
- Hamstring auto graft
The graft selection for ACL injury treatment can be of two types:
- Allo graft
- Autograft
Autograft
This is done when the patient’s own tissues are taken. A portion of the tissue is taken from a healthy body part of the patient and then grafted in the injured place.
Allograft
This is when the graft is taken from a tissue bank.
Patellar grafts are stronger but the surgery is very painful. The patient finds it difficult to bear causing a condition called tendonitis.
Treatment Involving Care
There are other ways of dealing with the injury. This could be done by ensuring that sufficient care is given to the injure knee.
The R.I.C.E treatment is applied immediately after the injury. This stands for:
- R for Rest
- I for Ice
- C for compression
- E for elevation
Rest
The individual should take as much rest as possible and give rest to the knees. The patient should abstain from weight bearing activities. This eases the swelling.
Ice
A cold compress or an ice pack on the knee helps to reduce the pain. This is the second thing to be done after an injury.
Compression
After rest and putting ice, it is a good idea to use an ice wrap for compression around the knee. This helps in reducing the swelling.
Elevation
With the legs elevated at a higher level, the swelling reduces thus reducing the rush of blood to the place of inflammation. This gives relief to the injured knee.
Thus the ACL injury treatment broadly deals with resting the injured knee and giving it a lot of rest.
