ACL Reconstructions - 3 Knee Surgery Options Available If You Have a Torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament

For those that have been diagnosed with a torn Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL), there may be a need for further explanation, the options may appear limited, and the future may seem bleak.

However, this experience is not uncommon as some studies estimate that 250,000 people in United States tear their ACL every year with 175,000 ACL reconstructions done each year.

This cruciate ligament is one of the main ligaments in the knee joint. It provides almost 90% of the stability to the knee joint and if it is completely torn, it won't heal and it can't be repaired.

While some refer to the necessary surgery as an ACL repair, it is more accurately called an ACL reconstruction. There are three options available in this day and age for having an ACL reconstruction. I will spell them out here.

Most Common Ways to Tear your ACL

Whether you have had an Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction or have lived with a torn ACL for many years or have heard so much about it that you want to avoid ending up with one, there are a number of ways that you can tear your ACL.

Having torn the Anterior Cruciate Ligament on both my knees and been through two complete ACL Reconstructions, I'm going to share a a bit about the most common ways that you can tear your Anterior Cruciate Ligament from personal experience and from hearing the experiences of others.

Knee Cap Issues after ACL Surgery

It may be surprising to know that many people actually experience issues with their knee cap after an ACL reconstruction and this interferes with the overall motion in your knee joint as well as causing pain and making disturbing cracking noises.

After ACL Surgery, the knee cap usually pulls towards the outside of the knee due to the ITB (ie. the large quad muscle on the outside of your upper leg) being too tight.

You may find that your Physio needs to give some attention to your knee cap (loosening, massaging) to help it “move in its groove” properly as well as massage of the ITB quad muscles. You will also find it helpful to tape the knee cap in a certain way that helps to pull the knee cap back across into it's proper place. I found taping the knee cap incredibly helpful after both ACL reconstructions. Here's some further detail on the knee cap issue if you want to have a read:

The other important area in addressing this problem is to strengthen the quad muscles. For most people, this will mean strengthening the VMO which is the quad muscle on the inside of your leg. In fact, this is one of the muscles that receives the most focus during your recovery after ACL surgery. There are specific exercises which target this muscle which any complete physio program or ACL recovery guide will spell out for you.

Anyone else got knee cap experiences to share?
Ben

Knee Reconstruction Experiences...

Hi
Not sure about you, but if you've ever wondered what it's like to have a knee reconstruction, there's nothing better than talking to someone who has actually been through it. Yes, the doctors can describe all the medical stuff to you and prepare you a little bit, but there's nothing like hearing it first hand from someone who has had knee surgery themselves.

I've had 2 knee reconstructions (both legs) in the last 7 years...