ACL Tear

ACL Tears are common and can happen in a wide range of situations. More often than not, however, they occur during sports. For example, when you have your foot firmly planted on the ground and you are suddenly hit by someone or something. This might also happen when you abruptly change directions or land from a jump, which might also lead to ankle injuries. While this is a common sports injuries, they may happen at any time.

Here is a complete look at its causes:

• Stopping abruptly
• Direct blows to the knee or collisions
• Slowing down abruptly
• Awkward landings from a jump
• Changing direction abruptly
• Overextension of the knee joint
• Pivots with the foot firmly planted

If you are also experiencing pain in your ankles, perhaps it is time to visit our orthopaedic doctors for ankle injury treatment.

Did you know that female athletes are two to eight times more likely than male athletes to have an injury? Since a female pelvis is wider than a male pelvis, there is a difference in the structure of the leg. This changes the thigh bone, tibia, and femur bones in a woman’s body in a way that causes more stress on the soft tissues.

As women have less testosterone, they also have less muscle density as well as more laxity in their joints and ligaments, which can increase the odds of a tear.

There are five common movements that we often find that cause ACL tears. These include the collisions and hard impacts that happen during sports; changing directions quickly; stopping suddenly; jumping and then landing badly; and slowly moving suddenly. If your knee pain came on shortly after one of these actions, it is essential to look for other signs. Here are some common symptoms of a torn ACL:

• Swelling later in the day
• Knee pain that gets worse when you put weight on it
• Loss of full range of motion
• Knee tenderness
• Weakness in your knee when walking

Other knee injuries include damage to knee cartilage or another ligament. For that reason, it is crucial to have a healthcare professional check your knee.

We also recommend doing warm-up and stretches before sports to improve mobility and prevent muscle cramps. 

We often talk about two different types of injuries: tears and sprains. When your ACL is stretched out but not torn, it is a sprain. When the knee ligament is torn, it is known as a tear. Within the spectrum of tears, there are full and partial tears.

It can be difficult to gauge the difference between a tear and a sprain without testing. Generally speaking, your pain level will go up with each grade of injury, but the level of severity is not always immediately obvious. For this reason, it is essential to have a doctor fully assess your knee pain.

Your doctor will take a closer look at your knee during a physical examination and compare both injured and uninjured knees for tenderness and swelling. Your doctor will move your knee into several different positions for them to evaluate the joint’s range of motion and general health.

A physical examination is often sufficient to make the diagnosis, but sometimes other tests are necessary to check for other possible causes and to fully assess the severity of your knee injury. The test your doctor chooses will be based on the specifics of your injury and will be one of the following:

• X-rays: To check for a possible broken knee, X-rays may be required. It’s important to note that soft tissues like tendons and ligaments aren’t visible on X-rays so another check may be needed to pinpoint injuries.
• MRI test: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses strong radio waves and magnetic field to create images of your body's tissues. An MRI can show the full extent of a tear and check for cartilage damage and any other kind of knee tissue deterioration.
• Ultrasound: Using sound waves to see internal structures, an ultrasound is able to detect injuries in the tendons, muscles, and ligaments of your knee.

Check out our guide on the differences between X-rays, MRI scans and CT scans.

While it is essential to see a doctor for an examination, there are some at-home treatments that you can use before you get to the doctor’s office.

For immediate pain relief and to reduce swelling, look to the RICE method. Here’s what to do:

• Rest: Resting helps you heal and prevents the problem from getting worse (and, remember, ACL tears rarely heal on their own and will get worse without treatment).
• Ice: During the first couple of days, try to ice your knee once every two hours for around 20 minutes at a time.
• Compression: Your knee should be wrapped in an elastic bandage to keep down the swelling.
• Elevation: Lie down with your knee raised on pillows as often as possible.

While ACL injuries are incredibly common, there is a range of steps that you can take to reduce your odds of a tear or sprain. Let’s look at a few of the top tips that you can follow to prevent injuries.

• Exercise consistently: By maintaining the muscles around your knees in good shape and flexibility with a regular exercise programme, you can avoid a lot of injuries. Exercise keeps us in shape, enhances our balance, builds muscles, and makes us more conscious of our bodies. When you are exercising outdoors, remember to stay hydrated to avoid heat injuries.
• Pay attention to your movements: Your joints and ligaments are put under a great deal of stress when you land a jump on stiff legs. Your risk of injury rises as a result of the ACL's increased force absorption. By bending at the knees and hips as you turn, you can lessen this stress. Knee bending also lines them up with your feet. Your core, glutes, quadriceps, and hamstrings are therefore working in tandem when you land to provide stability and prevent the ACL from taking the full force of the impact.
• Rest when you’re tired: When you're tired, it's more difficult to keep your form in check. Making sure you get enough sleep and being aware of when to call it a day when it comes to exercising can help you avoid suffering an injury. Pushing yourself past your physical limits can also lead to muscle fatigue, which affects your muscles' capacity to produce force. Numerous factors, such as obesity, ageing, and intense exercise, can lead to muscle weakness.
• Build up your leg muscles: Your legs are able to bend and straighten thanks to your quadriceps and hamstring muscles. These muscles are found on the front and back of your thighs, respectively, and play a major role in preventing knee injuries. Exercises like a Romanian deadlift are some of the best prevention exercises you can do.
• Having a solid foundation is equally important: Your body moves more smoothly when you exercise your core. Additionally, it aids in gaining control over bodily motion. As you support your weight with your arms or forearms, the basic plank is an effective exercise that tones your core, as well as your arms, shoulders, back, glutes, and legs.