What does it mean to have a "torn ACL" in your knee? Is this something you could walk on??
Question: How is it fixed? Surgery?
A friend said this was the doctor's diagnosis so I'd just like to find out more!
Answers: The ACL is a ligament in your knee. It keeps the lower part of your leg (below the knee) from sliding forward, relative to the upper part of your leg (above the knee).
The ACL is a critical ligament for anyone who is physically active or who participates in sports. Without this ligament, it is difficult to stop abruptly when running, cut, turn, or plant your leg.
Initially, it may be difficult to walk, however without surgery a person will regain that ability in a matter of days to weeks, depending on the person and severity of the injury. Running or doing the activities listed above would not be possible without surgery.
Furthermore, a person who chooses not to surgically repair their ACL may have an increased chance of developing Arthritis in their knee.
If a person has surgery, the severity of the injury, the type of repair performed, and the physician's personal beliefs will impact the recovery. Some people are walking with a week of surgery, while others are on crutches up to six weeks.
Typically, the surgery is performed arthroscopically (through holes in the knee; no major incisions). An artificial ligament is created using either 1) a cadaver's old ACL, 2) part of your hamstring, or 3) part of your patellar tendon. A course of rehab is always required after surgery. A full recovery usually takes between 6 months to one year, depending on the complexity of the case.
Good luck!
no u cant walk on it ur acl is in ur leg
I torn my ACL in high school. The ACL is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in the knee, it is under your knee cap. As you probably know from jr high biology, a ligament attaches bones to bones. The ACL attaches the femur and the tibia, your thigh bone to your big shin bone.
You can live without an ACL, i played high school basketball without one in my left knee for two seasons. The problem is if you undergo too much activity the knee is unstable and can 'buckle', which is awkward and VERY painful!
It is repaired by drilling a hole through your femur and tibia, pulling a small chuck of tendon from the patella or hamstring or graft ligament from a cadaver, dead person, and then securing it in place with screws and bone chips. This is why i had to wait to have mine repaired, i wasn't done growing yet and the doctor didn't want to drill through my bones.
It is a painful process, but i was running 3 months after surgery and that knee hurts less now that my 'good' knee.
I'm sure it would be painful to walk on. Who's diagnosis is it?
a torn acl is bad, and painful. its a ligament in your knee. if its badly torn it may require surgery, but if its just a minor tare you may be able to walk on it. dont strain it or exercise with your legs for a while. check with ur doc before you do any physical activity.
ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament, when torn it is very painful and difficult if not impossible to walk on, and it is repaired surgically.
ACL is anterior cruciate ligament - it's a ligament that is on the front of the knee that helps your knee bend. I don't know if you can walk on it or not... I'm thinking you just need to stay off it for a while to let it heal, then just take it easy on the knee.
Check out ACL Resources here: http://www.healthbase.com/resources/medi...
Most people that tear their ACLs can still walk and do most things normally except work out really hard and do anything with quick movements, especially side to side. If it is a partial tear, then your friend might not need surgery. The only way to repair a complete tear is with surgery though some people elect not to have it for various reasons.
With an injury like that you can walk with crutches after a few weeks, but it will be months before you walk without crutches. (after surgery)
The anterior cruciate ligament (or ACL) is one of the four major ligaments of the knee.
It connects from a posterio-lateral part of the femur to an anterio-medial part of the tibia. These attachments allow it to resist anterior translation of the tibia, in relation to the femur. More specifically, it is attached to the depression in front of the intercondyloid eminence of the tibia, being blended with the anterior extremity of the lateral meniscus.
Non-contact tears or ruptures are the most common cause of injury to the anterior cruciate ligament. They often occur when athletes decelerate rapidly, followed by a sharp or sudden change in direction (cutting). In jump sports, ACL failure has been linked to heavy or stiff landing as well as twisting or turning the knee while landing, especially when the knee is in the valgus ( knock-knee ) position. Studies indicate that women in jumping and cutting sports such as football, basketball, or volleyball, are significantly more prone to ACL injuries than men; this is generally believed to be due to differences between the sexes in knee joint anatomy such as the intercondylar notch and/or ligament size and strength, ligament laxity, general muscular strength, reaction time of muscle contraction and coordination, and possibly training techniques (a new study suggests hormone-induced changes in muscle tension associated with menstrual cycles may be an important factor [1]). Others have shown that high risk knee loads large enough to injure the ACL stem primarily from the hip [2]. Female athletes are being taught safer jumping and landing techniques to better protect them from cruciate injury [3].
Damage to the ACL also occurs with lateral blows to the knee (as happens with a tackle from the side in American football or rugby) and often is accompanied by injuries to the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and the medial meniscus, which is attached to the MCL; physicians are taught ...knee injuries come in threes - anterior cruciate, medial collateral, medial meniscus. Clinical studies, however, have noted that a lateral meniscal tear occurs more commonly than the classic terrible triad noted previously. . A damaged ACL can be confirmed (clinically) by a physician with the anterior drawer test, the Lachman test, or an MRI.
It is one of the most common serious injuries in Association Football and Australian rules football. ACL injuries are also common in alpine skiing, partially because of improvements in boots. Today's boots have been successful in preventing many of the ankle and leg fractures once caused by accidents; however, the tradeoff has been that the stresses have been transferred to the knees, resulting in many ACL tears.
Symptoms of an ACL injury include the hearing of a sudden popping sound at the time of the injury, swelling, and instability of the knee (i.e., a wobbly feeling or a feeling that the knee is not solid). Continued athletic activity on a knee with an ACL injury can have devastating consequences, resulting in massive cartilage damage, which is likely to lead to osteoarthritis later in life.
An ACL injury can often be debilitating for far longer than a broken leg, often taking professional sportsmen one year or more to fully recover physically.
A completely torn ACL has the slight potential of regrowth.[citation needed] The ACL primarily serves to stabilize the knee in an extended position and when surrounding muscles are relaxed, so if the muscles are strong, many people can function without it. The term for non-surgical treatment for ACL rupture is conservative management , and it often includes physical therapy and use of a knee brace. Lack of an ACL generally increases the risk of other knee injuries such as torn meniscus, so sports with cutting and twisting motions are strongly discouraged. For patients who frequently participate in such sports, surgery is often indicated.
[edit] ACL surgery
There are two main options for ACL graft selection (see ACL reconstruction), allograft and autograft. Autografts are the patients' own tissues, and options include the hamstring tendons or middle third of the patella tendon. Allograft is cadaveric tissue sourced from a tissue bank. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages; hamstring and middle third of patella tendon having similar outcomes. Patellar grafts are often incorrectly cited as being stronger, but the site of the harvest is often extremely painful for weeks after surgery and some patients develop chronic patellar tendinitis. Replacement via a posthumous donor involves a slightly higher risk of infection. Additionally, donor grafts eliminate tendon harvesting which, due to improved arthroscopic methods, is responsible for most post-operative pain.
The surgery is typically undertaken arthroscopically, with tunnels drilled into the femur and tibia at approximately the original ACL attachments. The graft is then placed into position and held in place. There are a variety of fixation devices available, particularly for hamstring tendon fixation. These include screws, buttons and post fixation devices. The graft typically attaches to the bone within six to eight weeks[citation needed]. The original collagen tissue in the graft acts as a scaffold and new collagen tissue is laid down in the graft with time. Hence the graft takes over six months to reach maximal strength.[citation needed]
After surgery, the knee joint loses flexibility, and the muscles around the knee and in the thigh tend to atrophy. All treatment options require extensive physical therapy to regain muscle strength around the knee and restore range of motion (ROM). For some patients, the lengthy rehabilitation period may be more difficult to deal with than the actual surgery. In general, a rehabilitation period of six months to a year is required to regain pre-surgery strength and use.[citation needed] This is very dependent on the rehabilitation assignment provided by the surgeon as well as the person who is receiving the surgery. External bracing is recommended for athletes in contact and collision sports for a period of time after reconstruction. It is important however to realize that this type of prevention is given by a 'surgeon to surgeon' basis; not all surgeons will prescribe a brace for post surgery recovery. Whether the ACL deficient knee is reconstructed or not, the patient is susceptible to early onset of chronic degenerative joint disease.
It passes up, backward, and laterally, and is fixed into the medial and back part of the lateral condyle of the femur.
TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR ACL DAMAGE AND PAIN
When faced with the ACL treatment decision, a patient will usually weigh two options, surgery or no surgery. There are a lot of opinions offered as to which path the patient should take. Every ACL injury is unique to the patient, so this question is best asked of your physician and better yet, a second opinion physician. ACL surgery is an elective surgery and many athletes have chosen not to have it.
If the no surgery alternative is chosen, then the patient will then try to determine a course of action that will allow them to continue running or participate in other sports. Generally, you will know if you can run on your damaged knee or not by the amount of knee strength you still have and the level of pain you experience. Because the ACL is mostly used in supporting the knees in movement such as those found in playing tennis and basketball, (jumping, quick stopping, fast change of directions), these activities are usually stopped for fear of further damage. For the most part, many ACL damaged individuals are able to continue running or jogging and participating in certain sport activities.
Another option
Unfortunately doing nothing to a damaged ACL can also lead to physical problems later. Studies have shown that left untreated, knee weakness, arthritis, and other structural damage that may lead to a need for knee replacement may occur. Of course, in this situation, running will no longer be an option.
A very conservative treatment we specialize in is Prolotherapy because it works on most knee problems with excellent results. Prolotherapy is a simple injection of dextrose and a local anesthetic, like those used in dentistry work. What the dextrose does is start a very small inflammatory response in the body. Inflammation kicks up the immune system, the immune system brings up fibroblasts which are small cells that produce collagen. In other words the collagen metabolism spoken of before is stimulated. A few injections is of course a lot less invasive than surgery, not to speak of the rehabilitation effort following surgery in comparison.
Only in the case of a completely torn ligament is Prolotherapy somewhat limited. If there is a partial tear (sometimes on MRI these may look like complete tears) Prolotherapy maybe able to reconstruct the ligament and strengthen the joint. But even with a complete tear, Prolotherapy is extremely beneficial because an impact with enough force to completely rupture a ligament will also loosen the entire knee structure. Prolotherapy in this situation can strengthen the surrounding tissues giving the patient a better chance of long-term success.
There you go. Now I did the research for you! See links below for more details! Now use that knee and jump over here and choose me best answer! LOL.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Otto
PS I have elected not to get surgery on mine and it is doing alright but still pops 10 years later!
ok
surgery. Someone I knew had it in the back of the neck.
yes
my cousin did
she lives in north carolina
i live in maryland
i didnt really get the details
but she couldnt play soccer
Yes you can walk on it, The ACL is the ligament that connects the upper leg bone to the lower leg bone. If it is torn you can still walk, all the other ligaments maintain the ability to walk, but you really have no chance of competing in sports running, jumping, stop and start, etc.
I tore my ACL and they used a patella tendon graft.
It required surgery and took about 8-10 months before I felt somewhat normal.
Not sure why I got the thumbs down, but that was my experience.
A friend said this was the doctor's diagnosis so I'd just like to find out more!
Answers: The ACL is a ligament in your knee. It keeps the lower part of your leg (below the knee) from sliding forward, relative to the upper part of your leg (above the knee).
The ACL is a critical ligament for anyone who is physically active or who participates in sports. Without this ligament, it is difficult to stop abruptly when running, cut, turn, or plant your leg.
Initially, it may be difficult to walk, however without surgery a person will regain that ability in a matter of days to weeks, depending on the person and severity of the injury. Running or doing the activities listed above would not be possible without surgery.
Furthermore, a person who chooses not to surgically repair their ACL may have an increased chance of developing Arthritis in their knee.
If a person has surgery, the severity of the injury, the type of repair performed, and the physician's personal beliefs will impact the recovery. Some people are walking with a week of surgery, while others are on crutches up to six weeks.
Typically, the surgery is performed arthroscopically (through holes in the knee; no major incisions). An artificial ligament is created using either 1) a cadaver's old ACL, 2) part of your hamstring, or 3) part of your patellar tendon. A course of rehab is always required after surgery. A full recovery usually takes between 6 months to one year, depending on the complexity of the case.
Good luck!
no u cant walk on it ur acl is in ur leg
I torn my ACL in high school. The ACL is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament in the knee, it is under your knee cap. As you probably know from jr high biology, a ligament attaches bones to bones. The ACL attaches the femur and the tibia, your thigh bone to your big shin bone.
You can live without an ACL, i played high school basketball without one in my left knee for two seasons. The problem is if you undergo too much activity the knee is unstable and can 'buckle', which is awkward and VERY painful!
It is repaired by drilling a hole through your femur and tibia, pulling a small chuck of tendon from the patella or hamstring or graft ligament from a cadaver, dead person, and then securing it in place with screws and bone chips. This is why i had to wait to have mine repaired, i wasn't done growing yet and the doctor didn't want to drill through my bones.
It is a painful process, but i was running 3 months after surgery and that knee hurts less now that my 'good' knee.
I'm sure it would be painful to walk on. Who's diagnosis is it?
a torn acl is bad, and painful. its a ligament in your knee. if its badly torn it may require surgery, but if its just a minor tare you may be able to walk on it. dont strain it or exercise with your legs for a while. check with ur doc before you do any physical activity.
ACL is the anterior cruciate ligament, when torn it is very painful and difficult if not impossible to walk on, and it is repaired surgically.
ACL is anterior cruciate ligament - it's a ligament that is on the front of the knee that helps your knee bend. I don't know if you can walk on it or not... I'm thinking you just need to stay off it for a while to let it heal, then just take it easy on the knee.
Check out ACL Resources here: http://www.healthbase.com/resources/medi...
Most people that tear their ACLs can still walk and do most things normally except work out really hard and do anything with quick movements, especially side to side. If it is a partial tear, then your friend might not need surgery. The only way to repair a complete tear is with surgery though some people elect not to have it for various reasons.
With an injury like that you can walk with crutches after a few weeks, but it will be months before you walk without crutches. (after surgery)
The anterior cruciate ligament (or ACL) is one of the four major ligaments of the knee.
It connects from a posterio-lateral part of the femur to an anterio-medial part of the tibia. These attachments allow it to resist anterior translation of the tibia, in relation to the femur. More specifically, it is attached to the depression in front of the intercondyloid eminence of the tibia, being blended with the anterior extremity of the lateral meniscus.
Non-contact tears or ruptures are the most common cause of injury to the anterior cruciate ligament. They often occur when athletes decelerate rapidly, followed by a sharp or sudden change in direction (cutting). In jump sports, ACL failure has been linked to heavy or stiff landing as well as twisting or turning the knee while landing, especially when the knee is in the valgus ( knock-knee ) position. Studies indicate that women in jumping and cutting sports such as football, basketball, or volleyball, are significantly more prone to ACL injuries than men; this is generally believed to be due to differences between the sexes in knee joint anatomy such as the intercondylar notch and/or ligament size and strength, ligament laxity, general muscular strength, reaction time of muscle contraction and coordination, and possibly training techniques (a new study suggests hormone-induced changes in muscle tension associated with menstrual cycles may be an important factor [1]). Others have shown that high risk knee loads large enough to injure the ACL stem primarily from the hip [2]. Female athletes are being taught safer jumping and landing techniques to better protect them from cruciate injury [3].
Damage to the ACL also occurs with lateral blows to the knee (as happens with a tackle from the side in American football or rugby) and often is accompanied by injuries to the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and the medial meniscus, which is attached to the MCL; physicians are taught ...knee injuries come in threes - anterior cruciate, medial collateral, medial meniscus. Clinical studies, however, have noted that a lateral meniscal tear occurs more commonly than the classic terrible triad noted previously. . A damaged ACL can be confirmed (clinically) by a physician with the anterior drawer test, the Lachman test, or an MRI.
It is one of the most common serious injuries in Association Football and Australian rules football. ACL injuries are also common in alpine skiing, partially because of improvements in boots. Today's boots have been successful in preventing many of the ankle and leg fractures once caused by accidents; however, the tradeoff has been that the stresses have been transferred to the knees, resulting in many ACL tears.
Symptoms of an ACL injury include the hearing of a sudden popping sound at the time of the injury, swelling, and instability of the knee (i.e., a wobbly feeling or a feeling that the knee is not solid). Continued athletic activity on a knee with an ACL injury can have devastating consequences, resulting in massive cartilage damage, which is likely to lead to osteoarthritis later in life.
An ACL injury can often be debilitating for far longer than a broken leg, often taking professional sportsmen one year or more to fully recover physically.
A completely torn ACL has the slight potential of regrowth.[citation needed] The ACL primarily serves to stabilize the knee in an extended position and when surrounding muscles are relaxed, so if the muscles are strong, many people can function without it. The term for non-surgical treatment for ACL rupture is conservative management , and it often includes physical therapy and use of a knee brace. Lack of an ACL generally increases the risk of other knee injuries such as torn meniscus, so sports with cutting and twisting motions are strongly discouraged. For patients who frequently participate in such sports, surgery is often indicated.
[edit] ACL surgery
There are two main options for ACL graft selection (see ACL reconstruction), allograft and autograft. Autografts are the patients' own tissues, and options include the hamstring tendons or middle third of the patella tendon. Allograft is cadaveric tissue sourced from a tissue bank. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages; hamstring and middle third of patella tendon having similar outcomes. Patellar grafts are often incorrectly cited as being stronger, but the site of the harvest is often extremely painful for weeks after surgery and some patients develop chronic patellar tendinitis. Replacement via a posthumous donor involves a slightly higher risk of infection. Additionally, donor grafts eliminate tendon harvesting which, due to improved arthroscopic methods, is responsible for most post-operative pain.
The surgery is typically undertaken arthroscopically, with tunnels drilled into the femur and tibia at approximately the original ACL attachments. The graft is then placed into position and held in place. There are a variety of fixation devices available, particularly for hamstring tendon fixation. These include screws, buttons and post fixation devices. The graft typically attaches to the bone within six to eight weeks[citation needed]. The original collagen tissue in the graft acts as a scaffold and new collagen tissue is laid down in the graft with time. Hence the graft takes over six months to reach maximal strength.[citation needed]
After surgery, the knee joint loses flexibility, and the muscles around the knee and in the thigh tend to atrophy. All treatment options require extensive physical therapy to regain muscle strength around the knee and restore range of motion (ROM). For some patients, the lengthy rehabilitation period may be more difficult to deal with than the actual surgery. In general, a rehabilitation period of six months to a year is required to regain pre-surgery strength and use.[citation needed] This is very dependent on the rehabilitation assignment provided by the surgeon as well as the person who is receiving the surgery. External bracing is recommended for athletes in contact and collision sports for a period of time after reconstruction. It is important however to realize that this type of prevention is given by a 'surgeon to surgeon' basis; not all surgeons will prescribe a brace for post surgery recovery. Whether the ACL deficient knee is reconstructed or not, the patient is susceptible to early onset of chronic degenerative joint disease.
It passes up, backward, and laterally, and is fixed into the medial and back part of the lateral condyle of the femur.
TREATMENT OPTIONS FOR ACL DAMAGE AND PAIN
When faced with the ACL treatment decision, a patient will usually weigh two options, surgery or no surgery. There are a lot of opinions offered as to which path the patient should take. Every ACL injury is unique to the patient, so this question is best asked of your physician and better yet, a second opinion physician. ACL surgery is an elective surgery and many athletes have chosen not to have it.
If the no surgery alternative is chosen, then the patient will then try to determine a course of action that will allow them to continue running or participate in other sports. Generally, you will know if you can run on your damaged knee or not by the amount of knee strength you still have and the level of pain you experience. Because the ACL is mostly used in supporting the knees in movement such as those found in playing tennis and basketball, (jumping, quick stopping, fast change of directions), these activities are usually stopped for fear of further damage. For the most part, many ACL damaged individuals are able to continue running or jogging and participating in certain sport activities.
Another option
Unfortunately doing nothing to a damaged ACL can also lead to physical problems later. Studies have shown that left untreated, knee weakness, arthritis, and other structural damage that may lead to a need for knee replacement may occur. Of course, in this situation, running will no longer be an option.
A very conservative treatment we specialize in is Prolotherapy because it works on most knee problems with excellent results. Prolotherapy is a simple injection of dextrose and a local anesthetic, like those used in dentistry work. What the dextrose does is start a very small inflammatory response in the body. Inflammation kicks up the immune system, the immune system brings up fibroblasts which are small cells that produce collagen. In other words the collagen metabolism spoken of before is stimulated. A few injections is of course a lot less invasive than surgery, not to speak of the rehabilitation effort following surgery in comparison.
Only in the case of a completely torn ligament is Prolotherapy somewhat limited. If there is a partial tear (sometimes on MRI these may look like complete tears) Prolotherapy maybe able to reconstruct the ligament and strengthen the joint. But even with a complete tear, Prolotherapy is extremely beneficial because an impact with enough force to completely rupture a ligament will also loosen the entire knee structure. Prolotherapy in this situation can strengthen the surrounding tissues giving the patient a better chance of long-term success.
There you go. Now I did the research for you! See links below for more details! Now use that knee and jump over here and choose me best answer! LOL.
Hope this helps.
Sincerely,
Otto
PS I have elected not to get surgery on mine and it is doing alright but still pops 10 years later!
ok
surgery. Someone I knew had it in the back of the neck.
yes
my cousin did
she lives in north carolina
i live in maryland
i didnt really get the details
but she couldnt play soccer
Yes you can walk on it, The ACL is the ligament that connects the upper leg bone to the lower leg bone. If it is torn you can still walk, all the other ligaments maintain the ability to walk, but you really have no chance of competing in sports running, jumping, stop and start, etc.
I tore my ACL and they used a patella tendon graft.
It required surgery and took about 8-10 months before I felt somewhat normal.
Not sure why I got the thumbs down, but that was my experience.
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