Preview

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
935 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Analysis
Introduction:
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important stabilizer of the tibiofemoral joint. The ACL has a proximal attachment on the posteromedial portion of the lateral condyle of the femur and creates an anterior medial vector to reach its distal attachment at the anteromedial tibia. The anteromedial vector the ACL makes allows it to prevent primarily anterior translation of the tibia on the femur and secondarily tibial rotation subluxation on the femur and both valgus and varus forces at the tibiofemoral joint. In the United States, there are 200,000 acl injuries per year, making the ACL the most commonly injured ligament in the body (1). ACL injuries are typically due to sports related activities or trauma patients (1).
The
…show more content…
If the ACL is torn completely, a grade 3 sprain, the blood supply is damaged (2). If the blood supply is damaged the ACL will not be able to heal correctly as it will not be able to receive the required nutrients. When extracapsular ligaments are damage a local hematoma is formed due to a more robust blood supply that is protected by a thick, strong, soft tissue sheath (3). The hematoma is the first step in the healing process. The hematoma has a mesh of fibrinogen that inflammatory cells can attach to and begin secreting cytokines and growth factors (3). The cytokines and growth factors attract fibroblasts and stems cells to the area of damage where granulation tissue and then scar tissue will be formed (3). The problem is the ACL is not an extracapsular ligament, it is intracapsular. The ACL receives its blood supply …show more content…
The tensile strength of the BPTB graft has been shown to be four times that of a normal ACL (6). The ends of the patellar tendon still have bone attached so integration into the tibial and femoral tunnels is much faster in the BPTB graft (1). The issue with BPTB grafts are the complications. The BPTB graft has an increased incidence of patellar fractures, anterior knee pain, patellar tendon rupture, patellar tendonitis, weakened quadriceps-leading to significant loss of knee extension and osteoarthritis compared to the HS graft (5 and 4). Anterior knee pain can be especially problematic and occurs with up to an incidence of 55% of those that receive a BTPB graft

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    --The 4 ligaments of the knee are the ACL, LCL, MCL, and PCL. The Anterior cruciate ligament is located in the center of the knee. This ligament controls rotation and forward movement. Lateral collateral ligament is located on the outside side of the knee, giving stability to the outer knee. Medial collateral ligament is located on the inside of the knee, giving stability to the inner knee. Posterior cruciate ligament is located in the center of the knee, and controls backward movement of the tibia.…

    • 2000 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    10.7.2

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages

    7. How does compression, which is provided by an elastic (Ace) bandage wrapped around the damaged ankle, decrease inflammation?…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Knee Lab

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Conclusion: The knee that our lab created was successful in the take of making the movement of the knee, but the quality was not as great as a normal knee. It didn't move as smoothly and had a hard time keeping the knee in place, but as said before it still created the movement of the…

    • 271 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Acl Tears Research Paper

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages

    This article is explaining how bad ACL tears truly are and why they are difficult to heal. An acl cannot heal itself, thus making it difficult to try and heal it. Many times when someone tears their ACL, their MCL is also torn. But the ACL does not reknit itself after an injury while the MCL does. Harvard Medical School doctors researched on a better way to heal an acl tear and they learned that using blood clots is a good method. When an MCL is torn, blood clots are created automatically which will help heal the tissue, but this does not happen in ACLs. So these doctors tried to repair ACLs by doing the blood clot scaffolding. They tested these methods on pigs and it was successful. It took about twelve months for the pigs to be as…

    • 286 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The amount of knee ligament injuries has been on the rise in recent years. Over the last 15 years, ankle sprains have decreased by 86% and tibia fractures by 88%, but knee ligament injuries have increased by 172%. These knee injuries usually occur while the person is either falling in a slow twisting motion, their knee is suddenly hyperextended, or there is a…

    • 1285 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Now this surgery is a very difficult and long process operation. Because there are three ligaments ruptured you have options on how they can be repaired. For the ACL, your options for the graft are the patellar tendon autograft, hamstring tendon autograft, quadriceps tendon autograft, and allografts. The reason these options are considered is because in the past doctors used to just sew the ACL back together, but didn’t have a high recovery rate. For the meniscus you have three options. Meniscectomy, which is the removal of the torn section of the meniscus, a suture repair of the torn section, or an implantation of a cadaver meniscus. The MCL is very unique, unless it is a very severe tear, the MCL will heal on its own once the torn ligaments are repaired. The knee will once again be stabilized after surgery and the MCL will begin to heal. This surgery is arthroscopic meaning that it is done using a small camera inserted into your joint area with a picture being presented on a screen to help surgeons see. The most crucial damage of the ligaments is the ACL and does require reconstructive…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Surgery of Tommy John

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction surgery, which is its medical name, is a grafting procedure in which doctors take tendons from another part of the body, like the forearm, hamstring, hip or knee and replace the ligament in the elbow with the other grafted ligament. Two holes are drilled into the arm bones and the replacement “ligament” is woven between the two holes like a figure 8. This injury is caused by a repetitive throwing or over head motion such as throwing a baseball or swinging a tennis racquet.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Senior Project Sample

    • 4500 Words
    • 18 Pages

    The knee can be subjected to multiple injuries such as the disruption of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), disruption of the medial collateral ligament (MCL), and a wide range of other injuries. This paper will describe the anatomy of the Posterior cruciate ligament and focus on injuries associated with it. It will also describe the causes of PCL injuries and what kind of examination and treatment of the PCL, as well as ways to avoid this kind of injury. It will also describe the degree of…

    • 4500 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    If the athlete looks like they have a enough stability then they will just be able to rehabilitate it back to full strength and also it may indicate that the ligament is not fully torn. Unfortunately, if they do not show these signs then the surgeon is going to let them know that surgery is going to be the best option. But there are things that they are going to want the athlete to do before they are ready for surgery. The surgeon is going to want them to reduce the swelling, get their range of motion back, and be able to walk normally, if they do these it helps when it comes to start the rehabilitation process after the surgery. There are two different kinds of surgery that they are able to perform. For an ACL reconstruction the most common surgeons use either the patella graft or the hamstring graft. The patella graft uses the middle third of the person’s own patella tendon and is referred to as a bone-tendon-bone or BTB graft. The surgeon will make two small incisions for the arthroscopic tools are placed on either side of the tendon. Then a two inch cut is made over the patellar tendon on the front of the knee, the middle of the tendon is carefully removed; next, two tunnels are drilled into the bones on both sides of the joint where the ACL attaches to the bone. Lastly, the graft is then passed into the joint and placed into the same position of the original ACL and then it is secured with special headless screws. An advantage of this surgery is that the tendon replacing the ACL is as strong as or even stronger than the original. A disadvantage is that there may be a little discomfort at the front of the knee where they took the graft from but it usually goes away within a year. The other form of graft that they could do is a hamstring graft. This procedure uses the person’s own hamstring tendon from the same leg as the…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    One of the most common knee injuries is an ACL tear and each year 100 000 ACL reconstructions are needed in the United States (10). Current ACL reconstruction options include using either an autograft, which is a graft from another part of the patient’s body, or an allograft, which is a graft from a cadaver. Both of these options have their disadvantages; the biggest one being it takes approximately a year to recover from surgery. When I was in grade 11, I tore my ACL and this prevented me from getting a soccer scholarship to the US because I was unable to compete in the showcase tournaments that were taking place a few months later. Because of this long recovery time, there is a need for a stronger ACL repair that will allow patients to return…

    • 220 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Hours of physical therapy to rehabilitate the knee take lots of patience for recovery time. Starting physical therapy before and after ACL surgery is a great way to recover faster but remembering to take it slow, day by day is also as important. “The next four to six months are used to restore knee function to what it was before the injury. Strength, agility, and the ability to recognize the position of the knee are increased under the guidance of the physical therapist and surgeon. There is a balance between exercising too hard and not doing enough to rehabilitate the knee and the team approach of patient and therapist is useful (Buchholz, 2006).” Certain exercises like a simple knee bending increases mobility. Standing on a mini trampoline helps to retain knee balance. Practicing leg lifts upkeeps the torn ACL. Getting full knee range of motion before surgery limits complications. The goal is to get your knee back to normal. It is extremely important to keep up with daily physical therapy to move forward with the ACL process. Studies have shown, doing lots of treatment help women and their ACL tears to decrease the occurrence of it happening…

    • 746 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    ACL Injury Research

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page

    ACL injuries obtain a detrimental reputation regarding young athletes. Injuries concerning ACL ligament is common amongst high school athletes. However young female athlete’s unfortunate suffer from ACL injuries more frequently than male counterparts. In result of research, muscle diagram of a female may be the cause of ACL injuries. Without bias intent it is noticeable that men are physically stronger yet more muscular than women. Furthermore, ACL injuries perhaps are linked to lack of muscle surrounding the ligament for maximum stability as well as support. According to Gregory D. Myer author of “The effects of gender on quadriceps muscle activation strategies during a maneuver that mimics a high ACL injury risk position” claims, ” Muscle…

    • 148 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The MCL is the ligament on the inside of the knee, giving it support and keeping the knee from collapsing in. Luckily, for me, the MCL…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A few hours later when I went to the hospital, I discovered that I had torn my Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL). Initially, I did not know what to expect from the situation, but I came to realize how much it would affect my life. The ACL functions as a ligament that connects the tibia and the femur. It provides stability in the knee, and with this injury, I could not participate in competitive soccer for 10 months. To undergo this painful experience at such a young age is extremely difficult; however, I chose to embrace the situation rather than let it destroy me. I could no longer play the sport I loved, but I could not change anything about that; I could only control my attitude in this predicament. I went above and beyond at every physical therapy appointment, no matter how strenuous/painful the workouts were. Times frequently came…

    • 517 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One hazard to soccer players is a risk of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, also called the ACL. The ACL is a ligament that connects the thigh bone to the shin bone. A tear of the ACL is caused by the sudden twisting or jerking motion, like the action of a soccer player sliding…

    • 556 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays