Common Knee Injuries

ACL Injuries
Injuries to the ACL are among the most common of all sports-related knee injuries. It's estimated that each year in the United States between 100,000 and 200,000 people — roughly about one in every 3,000 people — sustain a ruptured or torn ACL.

An ACL becomes torn when it's stretched beyond its normal range of elasticity. Generally, the injury occurs during exercise or sports, although a torn ACL doesn't usually result from contact between players. Once the ligament tears, it doesn't heal — it remains loose.

Women have ACL injuries more often than men do. The exact reason for this isn't clear. It may be due to differences in anatomy, hormones, strength or conditioning.
Wearing cleats during aggressive cutting or pivoting activities may increase the risk of ACL injuries.

What is an ACL?
Your knee contains four ligaments that connect the thighbone (femur) to the shinbone (tibia). These ligaments hold the bones in proper alignment and help control the way your knee moves.

  • Medial collateral ligament. This ligament, on the inner side of your knee, provides side-to-side stability.
  • Lateral collateral ligament. This ligament, on the outer side of your knee, also stabilizes side-to-side knee movement.

The other two ligaments are inside the knee and cross each other as they stretch diagonally from the bottom of the thighbone to the top of the shinbone.

  • Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). This ligament connects the thighbone to the back of the shinbone and provides front-to-back stability.
  • Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). This ligament crosses the PCL from the thighbone to connect to the shinbone near the front. The ACL controls the movement of your lower leg bone in several ways. It limits the side-to-side rotation of your lower leg and prevents the shinbone from moving too far forward in relation to the knee. It also keeps your knee from extending beyond its normal range of motion and stabilizes your knee's front-to-back movement.

Arthritis


There are three basic types of arthritis that may affect the knee joint.

  • Osteoarthritis- Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of knee arthritis. OA is usually a slowly progressive degenerative disease in which the joint cartilage gradually wears away. It most often affects middle-aged and older people.
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis- Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory type of arthritis that can destroy the joint cartilage. RA can occur at any age. RA generally affects both knees.
  • Post-traumatic Arthritis- Post-traumatic arthritis can develop after an injury to the knee. This type of arthritis is similar to osteoarthritis and may develop years after a fracture, ligament injury, or meniscus tear.

Surgical Treatment
If your arthritis does not respond to nonsurgical treatments, you may need to have surgery.
There are a number of surgical options, including the following:

  • Arthroscopic surgery uses fiber optic technology to enable the surgeon to see inside the joint and clean it of debris or repair torn cartilage.
  • An osteotomy cuts the shinbone (tibia) or the thighbone (femur) to improve the alignment of the knee joint.
  • A total or partial knee arthroplasty replaces the severely damaged knee joint cartilage with metal and plastic.
  • Cartilage grafting is possible for some knees with limited or contained cartilage loss from trauma or arthritis.

 

Joint Replacement

One of the most common and successful operations in orthopedic surgery..read more

 

Orthopedic surgery

Surgical and non-surgical methods of treating injuries and degenerative diseases..read more

 

Spine Surgery

Preventing, diagnosing and treating injuries relating to sports and exercise..read more