Bone & Joint Clinic

Here are health-related tips of Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Hello everybody! I am Dr. Kaushik Reddy, arthroscopic and sports medicine specialist, working at the Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad.

Today will be talking about anterior cruciate Ligament injuries of the knee joint. Anterior cruciate ligament is one of the Major ligaments of the knee joint that provides rotational stability mechanical stability and proprioception and it is one of the most common ligament injuries which is affected in sports persons especially in people playing football, basketball, tennis, badminton it can also occur in people who have been Injured in road traffic accidents or recreational activities like dancing. So any patient while playing sports or during dancing if he experiences sharp Pain in the knee joint and pain while movement of the knee joint and if he hears a Popping sound from the knee joint if he feels any instability in the knee joint that is any giving way of the joint then you have to suspect that it would be an ACL injury of the knee joint. ACL injuries generally occur during sports whenever playing sports if there is any sudden stoppage from running or any direct blow to the knee joint during tackles or if there is any unsteady landing from a jump or any sudden shifts in the Direction can cause an ACL injury.

Whenever any ACL injury occurs during field or anywhere first medical attention needs to be given this is followed by rest and ice pack compression bandage and elevation of the leg needs to be done and once this first aid is given patient needs to be given Some analgesics and anti-inflammatory medication painkillers to reduce the pain and swelling and later after few days then he needs to visit an orthopedic surgeon where an orthopedic surgeon does a few clinical examination or test to diagnose whether it is an ACL injury then few investigations needs to be done to confirm an ACL injury like an x-ray to see if the injury of the ligament has occurred along with a bone fragment or an MRI to confirm the diagnosis of ACL injury whether it is a sprain or a partial ACL injury or a complete ACL injury.

The treatment for an ACL injury of where there is only a sprain of the ACL is usually conservative management where the doctor gives the patient a brace and he needs to be on Good physiotherapy and rehabilitation program in cases of complete ACL tear or injury conservative treatment doesn’t all good in that cases surgery needs to be done where an arthroscopic is ACL reconstruction needs to be done for these patients in which it is a small Dk surgery keyhole surgeries where the patient’s own hamstring tendons are taken and these are kept in the place of the ligament by making tunnels and fixed by various methods following an ACL reconstructive surgery the patient needs to be on good rehabilitation program and he can return back to sports within four to six months.

If you have any queries related to anterior cruciate ligament injuries of the knee joint you can contact me through lybrate or visit me at my clinic at Apollo hospital, Jubilee Hill, Hyderabad or at Bone and Joint Clinic, Swapna Hosptial Chaitanyapuri. Thank you.