Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
Ross Hauser, M.D., Marion Hauser, M.S.,R.D.

Some of the most horrible words a competitive athlete could hear are, "You have an anterior cruciate ligament tear." In the best case scenario, athletes are told that a tendon can replace the ligament and the rehabilitation of this new structure takes a full year. Maybe the athlete will be able to compete again at a later date. In an international sports medicine journal, they put it this way, "The competitive elite athlete who sustains an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture has few options for treatment. If they wish to continue to compete at the preinjury level, then the only viable option is to undergo an ACL reconstruction. Otherwise, the athlete with an ACL deficient knee is at substantial risk of sustaining subsequent degenerative changes in the knee at a young age."(Shelbourne, K. Anterior cruciate ligament injury. Sports Medicine. 1994; 17:132-140.)

Ligament injuries in the knee should be treated as potentially serious since they provide for the stability of the knee. Ligament injuries in the knee occur mainly as the result of collisions with opponents during contact sports, but they also occur without body contact, with twisting and other movements that exceed the normal range of motion. The various ligaments of the knee joints cooperate in order to maintain the stability of the joint. The stronger the stresses put on the joint, the greater the degree to which the ligaments are engaged. A ligament combination is often injured because of this fact. Perhaps the most common injury involves the triad of ligaments: the medial meniscus (ligament), medial collateral (ligament), and anterior cruciate (ligament). This occurs because the knee is generally hit from the lateral (outside) side, which forces the knee to buckle inward, injuring those three ligaments.

ACL Tears: Some of the Worst Injuries Imaginable
ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears are some of the most common sports injuries. A typical scenario is this: An athlete involved in an agility sport decelerates and pivots on a planted foot especially when trying to pivot around an opponent, feels a pop in the knee, falls, and is unable to continue play. Within an hour, the knee swells. X-rays in the emergency room that night are read as negative. The athlete is prescribed RICE treatments and an anti-inflammatory medication. After several weeks, the swelling resolves, the pain subsides, and the athlete returns to play. The athlete thinks the doctors and therapists are incredible for the great treatment received. A short time later, the athlete reinjures the knee. The athlete again thinks that he must not be training enough. In reality, the second injury occurred because the original injury never healed. Remember pain relief is not the goal, a healed injury is the goal.

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