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Surgery is almost always recommended to repair a torn ACL, which involves replacing the ligament with a new one called a graft made of tissue from a patient’s kneecap tendons or hamstrings, or ...
One person can have severe pain with a single small defect while another person can have very little pain with several large full thickness defects. [2] Since articular cartilage does not have a blood supply and chondrocytes (cells in articular cartilage) have limited mobility, the articular cartilage has very limited ability to heal itself.
The torn ligament can either be removed from the knee (most common), or preserved (where the graft is passed inside the preserved ruptured native ligament) before reconstruction through an arthroscopic procedure. ACL repair is also a surgical option. This involves repairing the ACL by re-attaching it, instead of performing a reconstruction.
The rehabilitation is often long and demanding. The main reason is that it takes a long time for the cartilage cells to adapt and mature into repair tissue. Cartilage is a slow adapting substance. Where a muscle takes approximately 35 weeks to fully adapt itself, cartilage only undergoes 75% adaptation in 2 years.
While the future of artificial ligaments is unknown, leading researchers in tissue engineering aim to regenerate and repair the ligament to restore normal function. [2] ACL tissue engineering will be based on the healing of the medial collateral ligament (MCL), since the ACL does not heal naturally. [2] A seed cell will be used in tissue ...
Treatment could involve anything from rest and physical therapy to surgery to replace the torn ligament, followed by physical therapy. Training programs exist to help reduce the risk of an ACL injury.
An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. [1] The most common injury is a complete tear. [ 1 ] Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during injury, instability of the knee, and joint swelling . [ 1 ]
An arthroscope allows a complete evaluation of the entire knee joint, including the knee cap (patella), the cartilage surfaces, the meniscus, the ligaments (ACL & PCL), and the joint lining. Then, the new ligament is attached to the bone of the thigh and lower leg with screws to hold it in place. [22] PCL repair can also be undertaken.