How Do You Know if You Injured Your Acl

Topic Overview

What is an inductive cruciate ligament (ACL) injury?

An anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL, injury is a tear in ane of the human knee ligaments that joins the upper leg bone with the lower leg bone . The ACL keeps the knee joint stable.

Injuries range from mild, such as a small tear, to severe, such as when the ligament tears completely or when the ligament and role of the bone split up from the remainder of the bone.

Without treatment, the injured ACL is less able to control human knee move, and the bones are more than probable to rub against each other. This is called chronic ACL deficiency. The abnormal os move tin can also damage the tissue ( cartilage ) that covers the ends of the bones and can trap and tear the pads ( menisci ) that cushion the genu joints. This damage tin lead to osteoarthritis .

Sometimes other knee joint ligaments or parts of the articulatio genus are also injured. This includes cartilage such every bit the menisci, or bones in the genu joint, which tin be broken.

What causes an ACL injury?

Your ACL can be injured if your knee joint is aptitude backward, twisted, or bent side to side. The chance of injury is higher if more than than 1 of these movements occurs at the same time. Contact (being hitting by another person or object) as well can cause an ACL injury.

An ACL injury ofttimes occurs during sports. The injury can happen when your foot is firmly planted on the ground and a sudden forcefulness hits your knee while your leg is direct or slightly bent. This tin happen when you are changing direction speedily, slowing down when running, or landing from a jump. This type of injury is common in soccer, skiing, football, and other sports with lots of cease-and-go movements, jumping, or weaving. Falling off a ladder or missing a step on a staircase are other likely causes. Like any other body part, the ACL becomes weaker with age. And so a tear happens more easily in people older than age xl.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms of an acute ACL injury include:

• Feeling or hearing a pop in the knee at the time of injury.
• Hurting on the outside and back of the knee.
• The articulatio genus swelling within the starting time few hours of the injury. This may be a sign of bleeding inside the knee joint. Swelling that occurs suddenly is usually a sign of a serious knee joint injury.
• Limited knee motility because of pain or swelling or both.
• The articulatio genus feeling unstable, buckling, or giving out.

After an acute injury, you will probably have to stop whatever you are doing because of the hurting, simply you may exist able to walk.

The main symptom of chronic ACL deficiency is the knee joint buckling or giving out, sometimes with pain and swelling. This can happen when an ACL injury is not treated.

How is an ACL injury diagnosed?

Your doctor can tell whether you lot have an ACL injury by asking questions about your past health and examining your knee. The doctor may ask: How did you lot hurt your knee? Have you had any other human knee injuries? Your physician volition check for stability, movement, and tenderness in both the injured and uninjured knee joint.

You may need X-rays, which can show harm to the knee bones. Or you may need other imaging tests, such as an MRI . An MRI can show impairment to ligaments, tendons , muscles, and knee cartilage. Arthroscopy may also be done. During arthroscopy, your doctor inserts surgical tools through one or more than modest cuts (incisions) in the genu to look at the inside of the articulatio genus.

How is it treated?

Commencement showtime assist right abroad. These showtime-assistance tips will reduce swelling and pain. Employ the RICE method. The letters stand up for R est the knee, put I ce on it, employ an rubberband bandage to give gentle C ompression to the knee, and Due east levate the leg by propping it upwardly in a higher place the level of your heart. And at first it'southward also important to motion your leg as little equally possible.

Take over-the-counter pain medicine. Exist safe with medicines. Read and follow all instructions on the label.

Y'all may demand to walk with crutches and use a human knee immobilizer to go on your knee still for the outset few days afterwards the injury.

Your knee will demand to exist checked by your dr.. Information technology's of import to get treatment. If you lot don't, the injury may become a long-lasting problem. There are two ways to treat the injury:

• Exercises and training, besides called rehab. It takes several months of rehab for your knee to get better.
• Surgery. You and your md can decide if rehab is enough or if surgery is right for you lot.

If you have surgery, you will also have several months of rehab after.

Your treatment will depend on how much of the ACL is torn, whether other parts of the knee are injured, how agile you are, your age, your overall health, and how long agone the injury occurred.

There are iii main treatment goals:

• Brand the knee joint stable if it is unsteady, or at least make it stable enough to practise your daily activities.
• Make your knee strong plenty to practise all the activities you used to do.
• Reduce the hazard that your human knee will be damaged more.

How can you foreclose ACL injuries?

The best way to forestall ACL injuries is to stretch and strengthen the leg muscles, particularly the front and back muscles of the thigh (quadriceps and hamstrings).

Here are other things you tin do that may help prevent ACL injuries:

• Avoid wearing shoes with cleats in contact sports.
• Avoid wearing high-heeled shoes.
• Avoid sports that involve lots of twisting and contact.

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Source: https://www.cigna.com/individuals-families/health-wellness/hw/medical-topics/anterior-cruciate-ligament-injuries-hw124401

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