WHAT IS AN ACL SERIES

I hope this blog clears up a few things you need to know about ACL injuries. We will be covering this topic on surgery vs non-surgery on the next blog, so stay tuned. We will also give our opinion regarding whether to opt in for surgery or go through a conservative treatment. MRI scans are crucial to check for other injuries to in the knee (such as other ligaments or meniscus tear) as they commonly occur due to the traumatic mechanism of injury. So, we will guide you through your decision making and rehabilitation. Most importantly, see us the physios (this would be preferable, prior to seeing a surgeon). You can also elevate and put on compression tights. WellвЂ¦ Now what to do?Дefinitely stop sporting activities first, and ice your knee. As times goes, your quadriceps muscles (front thigh) will get skinnier as they get weaker. Sometimes, the knee would feel very unstable with walking, especially as you change direction.

Your knee movements will be restricted, and thus affect your walking. You might or might not feel pain the second that the injury occurs, but you will definitely feel it a couple of hours later. Firstly, youвЂ™d hear a вЂњpopвЂќ or вЂњcrackвЂќ, and your knee would give way. So, now that you know how ACL can get torn, you might be asking what are other signs and symptoms that can confirm this. What are the signs and symptoms of an ACL injury? These 2 positions put the ACL under a lot of tension that it can partially or fully tear. Another much less common way an ACL can tear is through hyperextension like how Zlatan Ibrahimovic did. Changing of direction, cutting, pivoting, getting tackled/pushed can put you in this position that we sometimes call вЂњpoint of no returnвЂќ. Most commonly, ACL is torn through valgus moment, where the knee goes inward in a slightly bent position (shown in the diagram below). Now letвЂ™s get into the physics of ACL injury mechanism. Hormones can play a part as well, as they can affect the laxity of ligaments, making joints less stable. We will explain more about this in the next section. Female pelvis is wider and thus increasing valgus moment in the knee (shown in the diagram). This is due to a number of reasons, anatomical alignment being one of them.

Unfortunately, females are 3x more prone to tearing their ACLs. It prevents the shin bone (tibia) from gliding forward and rotating too much. It is one of the most important ligaments in your knee that provides stability. ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament. What is an ACL?ДЇirst of all, in order to understand what is going on in this blog, I will explain to you what an ACL is. Since rehabilitation and prevention is going to be a crucial part of recovery, we will also be covering them. In the second blog, we will be covering that topic on the next blog. One of the most controversial conversation currently out there is whether or not to have surgery (ACL reconstruction) if there is an ACL tear.

WHAT IS AN ACL SERIES

We will be uploading a blog series that will cover what an ACL is and how does one tear their ACL. If youвЂ™re reading this, that means you yourself have done an ACL injury, or maybe it is your teammate or someone close to you, and youвЂ™re trying to help them. This is the first of four of our ACL Injury blog series. ACL INJURY BLOG SERIES вЂ“ PART 1 (What is an ACL injury?)