Whether you play sports or you’re just an active person, a common injury is a torn ACL. One of the signs that you’ve torn your ACL is a loud pop in the area of your knee followed by severe pain. The ACL is a ligament that helps to stabilize your knee joint. If it tears, you won’t have the support that your knee needs in order to walk comfortably or participate in other activities. There are a few treatment options that you can discuss with your doctor. Surgery is usually an option you may want to discuss if you are active and you want to decrease the number of issues that you experience with this area of your knee in the future. Physical therapy is an option to try as well to see if specified movements can give you the range of motion that is needed for a healthy knee.
There are a few ways that you can protect your ACL to decrease the risk that it’s torn. One is to make sure you’re landing properly. Slightly bend your knees instead of locking to keep pressure off of them. Try to do exercises that will strengthen your knees so that there is plenty of support for the joint. You also want to keep your hips as strong as you can as the impacts that are felt in your hips are often the same impacts that are felt in your knees.
If you know that you’re going to get back into your athletic activities, then surgery would likely be the best treatment for a torn ACL. It’s usually done arthroscopically. This means smaller surgical openings and shorter recovery time. Once surgery has been performed, you can still use physical therapy as a way to strengthen your knee. With the proper recovery time set aside, you can usually get back into the activities that you did before the tear occurred.
Once you’ve learned that you’ve torn your ACL, it’s important to seek medical treatment so that your knee can be stabilized until you reach a decision as to what you want to do for the injury. Try to keep your knee and the rest of your leg propped up as much as possible without putting unnecessary weight on it until you’ve completed the proper therapy that your doctor orders. Ice can help with swelling that occurs along with medications to help with any pain that you experience.
To learn more about what to do for a torn ACL and the best method of treatment, we warmly invite you to reach out and make an appointment with Plymouth Bay Orthopedic Associates. At our convenient locations in Plymouth, Duxbury and Sandwich, our caring and dedicated team of professionals will be pleased to answer any questions you may have. Contact us today to set up your consultation!