I don't know if anyone will be able to help me but I have a couple of questions.

If you rupture your Anterioir Cruciate Ligament do youneed an operation and if so is it serious? Also do you know how long you would be out for?

Thanks for any help.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Answers

IAm Panicking a little....

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

From a sports injury site: 2) Cruciate Ligament Tears The cruciate ligaments are two strong bands which bind the shin- bone to the thigh-bone, across the centre of the knee. It takes a strong force to damage them; they can be torn in a severe twisting injury, for instance in a blocked kick or a sliding fall in a tackle during football; or by excessive pressure forcing the knee to 'bend backwards' when it is straight, for instance if an opponent falls across your extended leg in rugby or hockey.

A major shearing force can tear both cruciates together, usually tearing one or both of the cartilages at the same time. A moderate injury may tear one of the cruciates completely, without damaging the second, and with or without accompanying cartilage damage. At the moment of injury, it is totally impossible to assess the extent of the internal damage through outward signs. The only certainty is that, if your knee has swollen painfully, some of its internal structures have been damaged. If you do not have an accurate diagnosis at the time of injury, it may only become apparent that the cruciate ligaments have been damaged much later when you have started doing sport again. Then you may find that in certain positions your knee feels loose and instable. It may feel as though it is 'rolling' on itself, backwards or forwards, usually giving a 'clunking' sound, with a sharp pain. This makes running and turning difficult. This unstable feeling is an external indication that there is some damage to the cruciates. If your knee locks as well, then there is also likely to be cartilage damage.

At the moment of injury, the knee should be made comfortable in applying the first-aid measures for the swollen knee. It is essential to obtain a specialist opinion as quickly as possible. If the surgeon finds that both cruciate ligaments are completely torn, he will probably perform an immediate operation to try to repair the damage. If there is partial damage to one or both of the cruciates, the surgeon will choose whether to operate, or whether to allow the knee to recover enough for you to resume sport, and see whether there is any residual disability when you use the knee.

Whether the repair is done straight away, or after residual disability has shown up, there are various methods which the surgeon may choose to mend the damage. Some procedures involve mending the cruciates themselves, either by re-attaching a torn end to the bone from which it has snapped off, or by replacing the whole ligament with a synthetic substance. Other methods of stabilizing the knee involve tightening up the capsule and tissues around the joint, to compensate for the internal instability. Whichever method the surgeon chooses, rehabilitation is a slow process; full recovery may take up to a year. It is vital to follow the surgeon's rehabilitation programme to the letter, as recovery phases differ according to the particular operation done.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Thanks Dougal - looks like I should wait till I see the specialist on Wednesday then.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Ooooh. That sounds painful. I hie it;s just a sprain Kegsy - for your sake. Good luck.

-- Anonymous, October 21, 2001

Hope it's not too serious, hurt my knee in July but thankfully it only put me out of sport for a month. obviously not as serious as yours might be.

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

Kegsy.

I'm no doctor so i would wait and see what the spcialist has to say and go with it. However, it's pretty bad news mate. i did my ACL playing football just before the 99 Cup Final. Unfortunately, the hospital didn't tell me that's what i had done - just told me to rest and not play football. so i went back 6 months later and EVERY time i turn sharply, it b****rs up and i'm in agony and can't carry on. The Sydney clique will vouch for that!

Anyway, you can get an operation done - about 80% success rate i think but it means replacing the cartilage and it depends on how old you are. I was 28 when i did my ACL so never really thought it worth having the op [a mate had and still has pain]. It depends on how active you are, deperate to play again and how it fits in with your lifestyle. Be a long, long road to recovery.

All the best mate and let me know what the specialist says - i hope it works out. Believe me, i know how it feels and it ain't nice.

;-((

-- Anonymous, October 22, 2001

The more I read about it and the more I hear about it I get depressed. Everybody who know something about ACL just screws their face up when I tell them. I am hoping it is just a strain (like I did before) and physio will be the cure but I suppose I will find out tomorrow.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

The main thing to ask is did you hear a loud 'popping' sound from the back of your knee when you did it? And when it happened, did it take a few seconds before the pain really 'hit'?

If that happened, then it's almost certainly your ACL. If there's been no 'pop', you may have torn/strained your ligaments [v.painful] but your cruciate might be okay...

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

You have a great way of cheering people up Min

It happened very quickly but I did hear something. At the time I thought it was just the sound of my knee hitting the other one as I fell over but that is probably unlikely. Not sure how quickly I felt the pain. I knew at the time I had done something inside my knee and I wouldn't play again but I don't know about the pain.

What actually happened (if it makes a difference Dr. Min :-)) was, I was sprinting after the ball (possibly turning) and had my foot fixed to the floor and another player caught my knee with his knee - so basically I had all my weight (about 100kg) on my knee at the time of impact and it was possibly twistied at the time.

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

On behalf of the Sydney clique I can indeed confirm that Min plays like a Knacker......

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

i played like a knacker before the injury Andy - it didn't make much difference... ;-)

Kegsy - sorry mate - don't mean to get you down. Like i said, i'm no doctor and the consultant/specialist will be able to work out what's wrong and fix - they were on TV the other day with a new treatment - where they're able to grow new cruciate cells outside of the knee, inject it into the old one to fix it - so you don't even have to have an op. It's incredible what science can do!

I'd just passed the ball out of the centre of defence and was turning in a wide arc of a semi-circle. I thought someone had caught my knee - a bit like when you stand on a coke can and someone taps it, it crumples up. Most of my weight was on my left knee when it happened, but it's my right knee that's knacked - so work that one out!

I vaguely remember reminiscing with Clarky about ACL injuries, so he may have a few ideas...clarky?

Whatever the diagnosis [and we don't know YET], don't give up - IF it is the ACL - keep pestering the doctors/specialist to get it fixed - especially if playing sport is a big part of your life. You don't know how much you miss your knee til its gone! No football, skiing, squash, tennis - any sport that involves sharp turns on your knee [just about all of them]. But! Like Steve Austin [Six Million Dollar Man] - they have the technology. Just make sure they use it.

Yours therapeutically,

Dr Kildare

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

Sounds like it's donald ducked to me - that's a medical term!

Keep your chin up Kegsy 'ol son - your far too old to be playing footy anyway.

;o{)

-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001

Sorry Min - I missed the smiley thing off my first line. I appreciated all your help and experience.

I went to the hospital on Wednesday. The doctor drainbed some blood off my knee and examined it for oil (apparently if there is oil it means a complete rupture). Thankfully there wasn't any oil so he thinks that I have a partial tear to my ACL. I have to have an MRI in 2 weeks and follow up in 3 when the support cast and bandage will come off. Then, if the MRI is clear, I wear a knee support for two months in the hope that the scar tissue attaches itself to the tear and strengthens it. If this works I will then have three months of physio. If it doesn't work I need an operation.

Personally I think I want an op so I will probably have a second opinion with a sports doctor.

Clarky - what do you mean I'm too old................

-- Anonymous, October 25, 2001