What is ACL ?
Anterior cruciate ligament or ACL is a thick ligament that sits in the middle of your knee joint and connects the thigh bone femur to shin bone tibia.
It's primary function is to prevent the tibia from sliding forward relative to the femur and thus without the ACL your knee would inherently feel more unstable.
The ACL is at the risk of rupture when the angle on the inside of the knee increases- this is called values
Most ACL ruptures occur during cutting or stepping movements.
The absence of an ACL following traumatic injury would result in 1. increased episodes of instability
2. increased risk of developing secondary osteoarthritis 3. reduced knee related quality of life
Do I need to repair my ruptured ACL?
The discussion of whether or not you need to repair your ACL is not a simple one by any means.
It depends on many questions like - what do you actually need your ACL for? Are you a high level athlete that relies heavily on cutting and pivoting to perform at an elite level in their given sport? and do you experience knee instability or frequent falls or knee pain and swelling? Is your ACL injury associated with injuries to other knee structures like meniscus injuries?
If you relate to this group of population then you will most likely need an ACL reconstruction.
on the other hand if you are a desk worker who ruptured their ACL playing over the weekend and don't have any real desire to return to sport and you do not really experience major instability episodes or knee pain and swelling or can manage with some restrictions in activity, then you can give a trial to non-operative approach to your knee rehab.
Whatever you are situation maybe you are most likely to need a strong physical rehab for recovery.
At face value the conclusion from studies is that 50% of the people in no surgery group ended up requiring surgery down the track due to episodes of recurring pain and instability. If you opt to go conservatively, there is a chance that you will need to have the surgery letter on if your knee is feeling painful and unstable.
so you have two options here
one repair your ACL and spend the money time and effort coming back from surgery.
to avoid the knife and undergo strict rehab to improve the strength stability and balance of your injured leg.
If you choose the latter, you must keep in mind that there is a chance that conservative rehab won't work as planned and that you will need a knee reconstruction in future.
The decision of whether or not to go through with conservative rehabilitation or a ACL surgery must take into account every factor of your life and most importantly your future goals for sport and physical activity. Other factors like age and whether or not you have sustained any other injuries to your knee also play a large role in your decision.
Expert orthopaedic surgeon and specialist should be consulted to help you make decision, given there clinical expertise and ability to take into account every persons many individual factors.
Meet one of the best orthopaedic and arthroscopy surgeon in Pune Dr. Atul Sonawane at
Dr Sonawane orthocare clinic, Hirabag Business Centre, Hirabag chowk, Tilak road, Shukrawar peth, Swargate, Pune.
contact us at 9527 500 576 / 020 29511 536
visit www.sonawaneorthocare.com
