How can you tear acl

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. This may be a sign of bleeding inside the joint. For more information on knee injuries, see: Knee Problems and Injuries.

Patellar Tracking Disorder. What Happens If you have a sudden acute anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury, you typically know when it happens. This includes prior injuries, partial tears, ACL deficiency, and changes due to age. The general condition and health of the rest of your knee before this injury.

The amount of damage or injury to the ACL. Other injuries to the knee joint, such as to the cartilage or menisci , or to bones in the knee. Your age, how active you are, and how committed you are to treatment and rehabilitation rehab. The time of diagnosis. If the ACL diagnosis is not made soon after the injury, the knee may be further damaged with use. What Increases Your Risk Things that increase your risk of anterior cruciate ligament ACL injuries include: Playing sports that involve sudden changes in direction or cutting around other players or obstacles, such as skiing, football, soccer, basketball, baseball, and tennis.

Making accidental movements that may twist your knee. Examples include falling off a ladder, jumping from an extreme height, stepping into a hole, or missing a step on a staircase.

Losing muscle tone in legs from aging or inactivity. Having unbalanced leg muscle strength, such as if the muscles in the front of your thigh quadriceps are stronger than the muscles at the back of your thigh hamstrings.

When should you call your doctor? Call your doctor immediately if you have an injury to your knee and: You have severe pain in your knee. Your knee appears to be deformed. You have signs of damage to the nerves or blood vessels. Signs include numbness, tingling, a "pins-and-needles" sensation below the injury, an inability to move your leg below the injury, pale or bluish skin, or your leg feels cold.

You have severe swelling in your knee right after the injury. Call your doctor today if: Your knee begins to swell within 2 hours of the injury. You hear or feel a pop in your knee during an injury.

Your knee won't bear weight. You are unable to straighten your leg completely. Your knee is unstable, buckles, or gives out. Your knee "locks" in one position. You have had an anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury in the past, and you have reinjured your knee. Watchful waiting Watchful waiting is a period of time during which you and your doctor observe your symptoms or condition without using medical treatment.

Who to see Knee problems can be diagnosed by: Emergency medicine specialists for acute knee injury. Family medicine doctors familiar with knee injuries. Orthopedic surgeons. Sports medicine specialists. Exams and Tests An anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury is diagnosed through a medical history and a physical exam. A doctor who specializes in knee injuries for example, an orthopedic surgeon or sports medicine specialist will usually be able to accurately diagnose an ACL injury after: Taking your medical history.

You will be asked how you injured your knee, about your symptoms at the time of injury, whether you have had any other knee injuries, and general questions about your health. Checking your knees for stability, strength, range of movement, swelling, and tenderness. Tests for stability include a Lachman test and a pivot shift test. The Lachman test compares the degree of looseness laxity in your knees.

Looking at an X-ray , which is usually done for any knee injury if there is pain, swelling, or you cannot put your weight on the leg. Although an ACL injury cannot be directly diagnosed by an X-ray, an X-ray can show whether a bone is broken, any bone fragments are in the knee, the ACL is torn from the bone along with a little piece of the bone avulsion fracture , or blood is present in the knee effusion. More imaging tests Other tests that may help your doctor see how badly the knee is injured include: An MRI.

It can identify an ACL tear or other problems, such as meniscus tears or other ligament injuries. A CT scan. It can be done to see any small breaks in the bones. Looking at fluid in the knee If your knee looks red, feels warm to the touch, or is very swollen, a knee joint aspiration arthrocentesis may be done.

It is done to: Help relieve pain and pressure. This may make the physical exam easier and make you more comfortable. Check joint fluid for possible infection or inflammation. Look for blood, which may mean there is a tear. Look for drops of fat, which may mean there is a broken bone.

Local anesthetic may be injected to reduce pain and make the knee easier to examine. Other tests Arthrometric testing: In this test, your doctor uses a tool to measure the looseness of your knee.

This test is especially useful in people whose pain or size makes a physical exam difficult. An arthrometer has two sensor pads and a pressure handle that allows your doctor to put force on the knee.

Arthroscopy : This can be used to diagnose an ACL injury and as a method of surgery. It involves inserting tools through one or more small incisions in the knee, which allows your doctor to examine the structures inside the knee joint, including the ACL.

Treatment Overview The goals of treatment for an anterior cruciate ligament ACL injury are to: Restore normal or almost normal stability in the knee. Restore the level of function you had before the knee injury. Limit loss of function in the knee. Prevent injury or more damage to other knee structures. Reduce pain. Treatment right after an injury If you know you have injured your ACL , the first treatment consists of: First aid to reduce swelling and pain.

This may include resting the knee, applying ice , using gentle compression with an elastic bandage, elevating the leg, and taking pain medicines, such as acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs NSAIDs.

If crutches or splints are used for too long, the muscles will become weaker from too little activity. Then movement of the knee will become stiff and restricted.

Strength and motion exercises to help prepare you for treatment. When the injury occurred and how stable your knee is. Whether other parts of the knee are injured. If they are, it will be harder for the strong parts of your knee to compensate and protect the injured parts. Whether you had other knee problems before, such as injuries that caused long-term chronic ACL deficiency, or osteoarthritis.

How active you are. Your age and overall health. Your willingness and ability to complete a long and rigorous rehab. Treatment options include: Nonsurgical treatment only, such as a physical rehab program. The anterior cruciate ligament ACL is one of the ligaments in the knee joint. A ligament is a tough, flexible band of tissue that holds bones and cartilage together. The ACL connects the bottom of the thighbone femur to the top of the shinbone tibia.

The ACL helps keep the knee stable. The anterior cruciate pronounced: KROO-she-ate ligament can tear if an injury stretches it too much. Most people who tear their ACL feel pain and a "pop" in their knee when the injury happens. Their knee usually gets swollen soon after the injury. After the swelling goes down, someone with an ACL tear usually can walk.

But the knee may feel unstable and can "give way" and make the person stumble or fall. ACL tears happen most often during sports that have turning, cutting, and pivoting movements like skiing , soccer , football , basketball , and tennis. Girls tear their ACL more often than guys do. 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. Successful recovery from an ACL tear can take up to a year. You should have your knee examined by a physician before returning to physical activity to minimize the risk of reinjury.

Countryside Orthopaedics has been delivering compassionate treatment to our patients for more than 25 years. Our facilities offer on-site physical therapy and X-ray services, and we have three board certified, fellowship trained orthopedic surgeons on staff.

We take your well-being seriously and have built a reputation for excellence in our field. If you experience an ACL tear, contact us immediately and we will get you on the road to recovery. Facebook Twitter. Imran Khan, M. Adam J.