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ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) Injuries

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com. Last updated on Mar 27, 2024.

What are ACL injuries?

Harvard Health Publishing

Ligaments are tough bands of fibrous tissue that connect two bones. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) are inside the knee joint. These ligaments connect the thigh bone (femur) and the large bone of the lower leg (tibia) at the knee joint. The ACL and PCL form an "X" inside the knee that stabilizes the knee against front-to-back or back-to-front forces.

ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) Injuries

An ACL injury is a sprain or tear, in which the ligament is stretched beyond its normal range. When the ACL is torn, it's almost always due to at least one of the following patterns of injury:

Like other types of ligament injuries, ACL injuries are classified by the following grading system:

Overall, most ACL injuries are severe Grade IIIs, with only 10% to 28% being either Grade I or Grade II. Currently, between 100,000 and 200,000 ACL injuries occur each year in the United States, affecting approximately one out of every 3,500 Americans. Although most of these injuries are related to athletic activities, especially contact sports, about 75% occur without any direct contact with another player.

Women who play contact sports injure their ACLs about seven times more often than men who play such sports. So far, sports medicine experts have not been able to determine why women athletes have a higher risk of ACL injuries. Some researchers believe it's related to a slight difference in the anatomy of the knee in males and females. Others blame it on the effects of female hormones on body ligaments. Still others point to differences between females and males in skill, training, conditioning or even athletic shoes.

Symptoms of ACL injuries

Symptoms of an ACL injury can include:

Diagnosing ACL injuries

In diagnosing an ACL sprain, your doctor will want to know exactly how you hurt your knee. He or she will ask about:

Also, if you are an athlete who hurt your knee while you were training or competing in a sport, your doctor may want to contact your coach or trainer to get an eyewitness account of your injury.

The doctor will examine both your knees, comparing your injured knee with your uninjured one. He or she will check your injured knee for signs of swelling, deformity, tenderness, fluid inside the knee joint, and discoloration. The doctor also may check your knee's range of motion if it's not too painful or too swollen, and will pull against the ligaments to check their strength. To do this, the doctor will ask you to bend your knee and he or she will gently pull forward on your lower leg. If your ACL ligament is torn, when your lower leg is moved it will create the appearance of an "underbite" or a protruding "lower lip" of the knee. The more your lower leg can be displaced forward from its normal position, the greater the amount of ACL damage and the more unstable your knee.

If your symptoms and physical examination suggest that you have a significant ACL injury, your doctor may order a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of your knee joint or perform camera-guided surgery (arthroscopy) to inspect the damage to your ACL.

Expected duration of ACL injuries

How long you have problems depends on the severity of your injury, your rehabilitation program and the types of sports you play. In most cases, full recovery takes 4 to 12 months.

Preventing ACL injuries

To help prevent sports-related knee injuries, you can:

Treating ACL injuries

For Grade I and Grade II ACL sprains, initial treatment follows the RICE rule:

Your doctor also may suggest that you wear a knee brace, and that you take a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, such as ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin and others), to relieve pain and ease swelling. As your knee pain gradually subsides, the doctor will have you start a rehabilitation program to strengthen the muscles around your knee. This rehabilitation should help to stabilize your knee joint and prevent it from being injured again.

Treatment depends on your activity level. Surgery may be used for those needing to return to sports that involve pivoting and jumping. Initially, Grade III injuries are also treated with RICE, bracing and rehabilitation. Once swelling subsides, the torn ACL may be reconstructed surgically using either a piece of your own tissue (autograft) or a piece of donor tissue (allograft). When an autograft is done, the surgeon usually replaces your torn ACL with a portion of your own patellar tendon (tendon below the kneecap) or a section of tendon taken from a large leg muscle. Currently, almost all knee reconstructions are done using arthroscopic surgery, which uses smaller incisions, causes less scarring and allows faster recovery than traditional open surgery.

When To Call A Professional

Call your doctor immediately if your knee becomes swollen or deformed, even if it is not painful. This is especially important if you cannot bear weight on your injured knee or if the knee feels as if it will buckle or "give out."

Prognosis

About 90% of patients with ACL injuries fully recover, as long as they faithfully follow a good rehabilitation program. As a long-term complication, some patients with Grade III ACL injuries may eventually develop symptoms of osteoarthritis in the injured knee joint. Approximately 15% of patients who suffered a severe ACL injury showed X-ray evidence of knee osteoarthritis within the following 10 years.

Additional Info

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
http://www.niams.nih.gov/

American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine
http://www.sportsmed.org/

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
http://www.aaos.org/

National Athletic Trainers' Association
http://www.nata.org/

American Physical Therapy Association
http://www.apta.org/


Further information

Always consult your healthcare provider to ensure the information displayed on this page applies to your personal circumstances.