ACL is an important knee part. Its injuries can lead to severe mobility issues and intolerable knee pain. To treat the condition of a complete ACL tear, reconstruction surgery is performed through arthroscopy.
Learn more about the ACL reconstruction procedure in this post.
What Is Arthroscopy?
It is the least invasive joint surgery. It is performed with an arthroscope and other pencil-thin instruments. An arthroscope is a fibre-optic camera with a light source. It helps visualise knee interiors with ease. It doesn’t involve making large cuts or incisions.
Arthroscopy is used for both diagnosis and treatment.
It is categorised into the following.
- Knee Arthroscopy
- Hip Arthroscopy
- Shoulder Arthroscopy
- Wrist Arthroscopy
- Ankle Arthroscopy
Visit the following link to connect with the best arthroscopic surgeon in Delhi.
Knee Anatomy & ACL
The knee is made up of the following parts anatomically.
- Bone Ends
- Articular Cartilage
- Meniscus
- Ligaments
- Tendons
- Bursa
- Synovial Membrane
- Muscles
- Nerves
Each knee joint contains four ligaments.
- Anterior Cruciate Ligament
- Posterior Cruciate Ligament
- Lateral Collateral Ligament
- Medial Collateral Ligament
The Anterior Cruciate Ligament or ACL is one of the most crucial four knee ligaments. A ligament is a band of soft tissue that binds one bone to another. Ligaments keep a joint in place, offering stability.
As a result, all four ligaments stabilise the knee, allowing effortless motion and pain-free walking.
Causes, Types, Symptoms & Diagnosis
External traumas, direct blows and harmful leg movements like pivoting and cutting are the most common causes of ACL injuries.
Athletes in contact sports such as football, soccer, or basketball are often more at risk. Collisions during sports traumatise the knee, leading to ligament injuries.
There are three types of ACL injuries.
- Grade 1: stretching of a ligament
- Grade 2: partial tear
- Grade 3: complete tear
ACL reconstruction surgery is recommended for a patient who has sustained a grade 3 ACL injury.
The affected person faces the following symptoms.
- Popping sound at the time of injury
- Rapid swelling
- Severe pain
- Reduced range of mobility
- Inability to walk comfortably
- Knee giving way with weight
- Physical discomfort
ACL injuries are often diagnosed with an MRI test. However, the doctor can also recommend an X-ray examination to rule out the possibility of internal bone fractures.
ACL Reconstruction Surgery
The following is the process of ACL reconstruction surgery. The entire procedure is done arthroscopically.
Visualisation: The arthroscope is inserted inside the affected knee with small holes. It helps visualise internal structures and detect the injured ACL.
Ligament Removal: After detection, the completely torn ligament is removed from the knee.
Graft Preparation: A graft is a piece of soft tissue that is taken and prepared out of the patient’s body to be used in place of the injured ACL.
Tunnel Creation: A tunnel is drilled into the tibia and femur. This tunnel is later used to fix the graft tissue in place of the removed ligament.
Graft Placement: The graft tissue is threaded and passed through the tunnel and secured there with implants like screws, staples, etc.
Closing: Once the ligament is reconstructed, it is checked that the knee is working well and there are no issues.
After surgery, the patient is taken to the recovery room and kept there until full consciousness is regained.
Anaesthesia
There are usually three types of anaesthesia.
General Anaesthesia: This makes the patient totally unconscious.
Regional Anaesthesia: Only some of the parts or bottom half of the patient’s body becomes numb and unconscious.
Local Anaesthesia: This form of anaesthesia is only given to a specific part and thus it only makes that part unconscious.
Based on a patient’s conditions and other factors, a surgeon chooses between general and regional forms of anaesthesia.
For young patients, often regional anaesthesia is used.
Recovery
The recovery timeline varies from patient to patient. Multiple factors affect rehabilitation. Yet, on average, it can require up to 5-6 months for one to recover fully after an ACL reconstruction procedure.
After surgery, physiotherapy is ensured to increase muscle strength and improve overall joint function. However, the patient can start walking the next day to do essential things.
There might be some discomfort initially. The function will improve after a few weeks as the time progresses.
Complications
An ACL injury must not be neglected. Knee internal parts start to degrade faster without the right treatment. As a result, it increases wear and tear.
As a result, severe osteoarthritic conditions develop and progressively make the knee stiff, inflamed and immobile. It creates the circumstances for partial or total knee replacement surgery.
Prevention
ACL injuries mostly occur due to sudden & abrupt leg movements such as pivoting, cutting, twisting, landing awkwardly from a jump, etc. Such movements are most common during sports like football, soccer, basketball, etc.
Consider the following preventive measures.
- Learn proper techniques for pivoting and cutting
- Play your moves in sports mindfully
- Don’t be sleep-deprived. It decreases concentration capacity and makes one more prone to getting involved in accidents.
- Exercise regularly. It helps increase muscle strength and improve joint agility.
- Don’t forget to warm up and stretch before participating in sports or strenuous training sessions.
- Avoid overextension as much as possible.
- Follow all safety precautions.
- If you have hurt your knee already, don’t keep on using it. The condition will become worse. Consult a specialist as soon as possible.
Conclusion
ACL reconstruction surgery is a minimally invasive procedure. It is done without a long hospital stay postoperatively. The entire procedure is just completed with a few holes and pencil-thin instruments like an arthroscope.
The patient can start walking from the next day. There might be some discomfort though that will gradually go away.
Visit the following link to book an appointment with the top orthopedic surgeon in India.
