If you have an acute sudden anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury, use the following first aid steps to reduce pain and swelling:. After diagnosis of an ACL injury, your doctor may suggest exercises that help strengthen your leg and increase your range of motion. They may be the start of your nonsurgical treatment program or be used to help prepare your knee for surgery.
Nonprescription pain medicines such as acetaminophen Tylenol, for example or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs , such as ibuprofen and naproxen, are commonly used. Usually an autograft tendon tissue taken from another part of the body is used. Repair surgery typically is used only in the case of an avulsion fracture a separation of the ligament and a piece of the bone from the rest of the bone.
In this case, the bone fragment connected to the ACL is reattached to the bone. Most ACL surgery is done by making small incisions in the knee and inserting surgical tools through these incisions arthroscopic surgery.
Open surgery cutting a large incision in the knee is sometimes required. Most people who have ACL surgery have favorable results, with reduced pain, good knee function and stability, and a return to normal levels of activity. But some still have knee pain and instability.
Athletes and those who take part in sports typically can return to their sports within months. But this may depend on how intense and sports-focused the rehab was. Before ACL surgery, strength and motion exercises are often done to help get the knee ready for surgery and for rehab after surgery. Surgery is followed by a short period of home exercises, increased activity, and the use of crutches for walking.
An intensive rehab program to strengthen the knee then begins. The rehab program often lasts up to a year. Surgery for ACL injuries in children and teens involves special concerns, because children's bones are still growing. Talk to your doctor about the benefits and risks of surgery.
Depending on how bad your injury is, surgery with rehab may offer the best chance of making your knee stable again. It also may help you return to an active lifestyle without further pain, injury, or loss of strength and movement in your knee.
If your injured knee gives out now and then chronic ACL deficiency and you continue to do activities that require a stable knee, you may injure your knee again. That may be another reason to consider surgery. You will need to follow a rehab program whether or not you have surgery. If you don't complete a rehab program, even with surgery you may not regain full stability and function in your knee. Other treatment for anterior cruciate ligament ACL injuries includes physical rehabilitation rehab to:.
You may choose to treat an ACL injury with rehab alone. If you have surgery, rehab will also be part of your treatment. Blahd Jr. Fu MD - Orthopedic Surgery. Author: Healthwise Staff. Medical Review: William H.
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information.
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What are the symptoms? Symptoms of an acute ACL injury include: Feeling or hearing a pop in the knee at the time of injury. Pain on the outside and back of the knee. The knee swelling within the first 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 injury.
Limited knee movement because of pain or swelling or both. The knee feeling unstable, buckling, or giving out. How is an ACL injury diagnosed? How is it treated? There are two ways to treat the injury: Exercises and training, also called rehab. It takes several months of rehab for your knee to get better. You and your doctor can decide if rehab is enough or if surgery is right for you. If you have surgery, you will also have several months of rehab afterward.
There are three main treatment goals: Make the knee stable if it is unsteady, or at least make it stable enough to do your daily activities. Make your knee strong enough to do all the activities you used to do.
Reduce the chance that your knee will be damaged more. How can you prevent ACL injuries? Here are other things you can 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. Health Tools Health Tools help you make wise health decisions or take action to improve your health. Decision Points focus on key medical care decisions that are important to many health problems.
Actionsets are designed to help people take an active role in managing a health condition. Cause Anterior cruciate ligament ACL injuries are caused when the knee is straightened beyond its normal limits hyperextended , twisted, or bent side to side.
Typical situations that can lead to ACL injuries include: Changing direction quickly or cutting around an obstacle or another player with one foot solidly planted on the ground. This can happen in sports that put high demand on the ACL, such as basketball, football, soccer, skiing, and gymnastics. Landing after a jump with a sudden slowing down, especially if the leg is straight or slightly bent such as in basketball. Falling off a ladder, stepping off a curb, jumping from a moderate or extreme height, stepping into a hole, or missing a step when walking down a staircase.
Injuries like these tend to be caused by stopping suddenly, with the leg straight or slightly bent. Symptoms Symptoms of a severe and sudden acute anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury include: Feeling or hearing a "pop" in the knee at the time of injury. Sudden instability in the knee. The knee feels wobbly, buckles, or gives out. This may happen after a jump or change in direction or after a direct blow to the side of the knee. Knee swelling within the first few hours of the injury. When the ligament is damaged, there is usually a partial or complete tear of the tissue.
A mild injury may stretch the ligament but leave it intact. There are a number of factors that increase your risk of an ACL injury, including:. People who experience an ACL injury have a higher risk of developing osteoarthritis in the knee.
Arthritis may occur even if you have surgery to reconstruct the ligament. Multiple factors likely influence the risk of arthritis, such as the severity of the original injury, the presence of related injuries in the knee joint or the level of activity after treatment. Proper training and exercise can help reduce the risk of ACL injury. A sports medicine physician, physical therapist, athletic trainer or other specialist in sports medicine can provide assessment, instruction and feedback that can help you reduce risks.
Training to strengthen muscles of the legs, hips and core — as well as training to improve jumping and landing techniques and to prevent inward movement of the knee — may help to reduce the higher ACL injury risk in female athletes. Wear footwear and padding that is appropriate for your sport to help prevent injury.
If you downhill ski, make sure your ski bindings are adjusted correctly by a trained professional so that your skis will release appropriately if you fall. Wearing a knee brace doesn't appear to prevent ACL injury or reduce the risk of recurring injury after surgery. Our patients tell us that the quality of their interactions, our attention to detail and the efficiency of their visits mean health care like they've never experienced.
See the stories of satisfied Mayo Clinic patients. Jesse Stewart with Bruce DeGrote Jesse Stewart couldn't understand why the seven orthopedic surgeries he'd had for pain in one knee and both hips hadn't done anything to improve his quality of life. Women tear their ACL more often than men. This is most likely due to different anatomy. To diagnose a torn ACL, health care providers ask about the injury and do a physical exam.
During the exam, the health care provider presses on the knee and legs and moves them in certain ways. These tests can show if the ACL is torn. Most partial tears can be treated with bracing and physical therapy PT. A person might need to use crutches during recovery. Some complete ACL tears will need surgery. Whether someone has surgery depends on many things, including:. The graft can be a tendon, with or without bones attaching to it, from the patient's own body called an autograft or from someone else who donated the tendon called an allograft.
ACL repair surgery is usually done arthroscopically. Because of this, ACL injuries can be painful and debilitating. There is a risk for an ACL injury in activities involving jumping and landing, sudden stops, or changes in direction like in football and soccer.
Typically the knee will swell, feel unstable, and be too painful to bear weight. For some, a mild ACL injury may be treated with rest and physical therapy. This combination may help you recover your knee stability and strength. In more severe cases, surgery may be needed to replace the torn ligament, followed by physical therapy. An ACL injury is either a tear or sprain. The tear can be complete or partial.
Grade 1: The ligament is intact, and the joint is stable, but there is minimal stretching and some microscopic tearing of the ACL. Surgery is typically not needed.
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