Introduction
Injuries to the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) are one of the most frequent and devastating knee injuries that occur during sporting activities, accounting for one fifth of all sport related knee injuries ¹ ². Injury estimates have been reported in current literature to be between 1.5% - 1.7% per year within a healthy athletic population ³ ⁴. However, incidence rates for ACL injury prove difficult to access as not all individuals with ACL injuries seek medical attention ⁵. Current trends show a direct correlation between the rising incidence of ACL injury and increased sporting participation ⁶. In spite of increasing incidence rates, ACL injuries remain fairly uncommonly in relation to the amount of individuals participating in sporting activities ⁷ ⁸. Nevertheless, they still prove to be a frequent source of disability for those individuals affected ⁷ ⁸. Individuals affected with ACL injury may suffer from a number of adverse effects including dynamic knee instability, altered movement patterns, reduced functional performance and debilitating pain ⁷⁻¹⁰.
The majority of ACL injuries can be defined as ‘non-contact’ (without direct trauma to knee joint), which occur during various sporting activities involving high risk dynamic movements ⁶ ¹¹. The mechanism involved in non-contact ACL injury during sporting activities is commonly attributed to foot planting, pivoting, decelerating or side cutting movements ¹². The need for further investigation into the aforementioned non-contact ACL injury mechanisms and risk factors is facilitated by continuing high incidence rates, long recovery periods and economic burdens ³ ¹¹. The remainder of the current review will primarily look into the association between biomechanics and ...
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...cient knee during activities of daily living, as they have yet to be determined ⁷². In understanding the factors contributing to the mechanism of non-contact ACL injury, investigators should consider whether the kinematics, kinetics and muscle activation strategies observed are the cause of increased ACL strain or compensation for other kinetic chain insufficiencies ²⁹. Further knowledge on how movement patterns and other kinetic chain structures affect ACL loads prove critical in enhancing future prevention strategies ²⁹ ³⁴. As with reconstruction, rehabilitation should aim to aid the knee in attaining its near-normal function ⁵⁵. Through producing rehabilitation programmes built around existing knowledge on the biological and mechanical properties of the ACL, objectives such as reduced pain, greater ROM and improved muscle function can be achieved ⁵⁵.
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most important of your four major knee ligaments. The function of the ACL is to provide stability to the knee and minimize stress across the knee joint. It restrains excessive forward movement of the lower leg bone (the tibia) in relation to the thigh bone (the femur). It also limits rotational movements of the knee. “Greater external knee valgus and internal rotation moments have been shown to increase loading on the ACL in vitro and are thought to be associated with the increased risk of noncontact ACL injury” (Effects 2011). A tear to the anterior cruciate ligament results from overstretching of this ligament within the knee. It’s usually due to a sudden stop and twisting motion of the knee, or a “...
Tearing the ACL is now considered an epidemic in the United States over 100,000 recorded incidences are reported each year (Moeller). While such a finding may be good for orthopedic doctors and surgeons, this is not good for millions of athletes’ competing these days in high intensity sports. This is especially a problem for female athletes who are two to four times more likely to tear their ACL than men (Moeller). This is one of the biggest mysteries about ACL tears is the difference between the number of injuries seen in women and men. Women tend to tear there ACL far more frequently then men. While not everyone agrees that gender itself is the source of the problem, evidence is growing that females are learning too late that participating in sports can also become the first step to ruining an active lifestyle.
The most common knee injury in sports is damage to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) through tears or sprains. “They occur in high demand sports that involve planting and cutting, jumping with a poor landing, and stopping immediately or changing directions” (University of Colorado Hospital). The ACL is a ligament that runs diagonally in the middle of the knee and found at the front of the patellar bone. Its function involves controlling the back and forth motion of the knee, preventing the tibia from sliding out in front of the femur, and providing rational stability to the knee. Interestingly, women are more prone to ACL injuries than men. The occurrence is four to six times greater in female athletes.
In November of 2010, I was playing basketball in the fifth game of my senior season. It was just like any other game. However, I would soon find out otherwise. It was late in the game; I drove into the lane and got fouled hard. I was knocked so off-balance that I speared the floor with my knee. As soon as my knee hit the floor I heard a “snap” that I will never forget for the rest of my life. Little did I know at the time, that would be the last shot of my high school basketball career. Not long after my injury, I consulted a doctor. After getting an x-ray and an MRI, the doctor informed me that I had completely torn my ACL and would need to have surgery. An ACL tear can be a very devastating injury. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the four major ligaments within the knee. The ACL is one of the most commonly injured ligaments, injured by an estimated 200,000 patients each year. Of the 200,000 annual ACL injuries, surgery is performed in approximately 100,000 cases. There are many types of reconstructive surgery on the ACL. However, there is an alternative to surgery in the form of physical therapy.
The anterior cruciate ligament is the reason that the knee only has one pattern of movement. Instead of moving sideways and up and down, the knee only serves as a pivot for flexion (bending) and extension (straightening); it holds the tibia and femur in place (northstar). In the northstar web page it is stated that, “The anterior cruciate ligament is one of the most important ligaments to athletes because of its main function, stabilization of the joint while decelerating.” In other words, it is the reason that we can stop abruptly without our leg collapsing. Obviously this asset makes it an essential to have a functioning ACL while playing sports. It is an especially common injury in soccer, which is a game of constant abrupt stops. Not only is soccer a danger to the ACL because of its constant stops and starts, it is also a...
The Anterior Crucient Ligament also known as the ACL is usually injured in a forceful twisting motion of the knee. It also may be injured by hyper extending the knee witch is when the femur is forcefully pushed across the tibia such as a sudden stop, while running or a sudden change in weight. The person will feel or here a sudden pop in the knee. The knee may or may not get very swollen, but the knee will be very unstable so you can not walk and it is painful especially when it is moved after the accident.
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of four major ligaments of the knee joint: anterior (front) cruciate ligament, posterior (back) cruciate ligament (PCL), medial (inside) collateral ligament (MCL), and lateral (outside) collateral ligament (LCL). The ACL primarily works to coordinate function, promote overall stability of the knee, and prevent any unnecessary forward movement of the tibia. Many studies have attempted to determine why the ACL is associated with a high incidence of tears. There are nearly 200,000 annual cases of knee injury, with roughly 100,000 of these knees reconstructed (9). According to the Journal of Sports Medicine Orthopedic Surgery, injury to the ACL is most predominant in populations aged
There are many injuries in general, but sports injuries? Sprains and Strains are the most common injuries in sports. “Sprains are injuries to ligaments, the tough bands connecting in a joint. Suddenly stretching ligaments past their limits deforms or tears them” (Hoffman 1). Ligaments are like springs in a sense that when you stretch a spring, it will return to it’s normal state unless they are
Everyday an athlete goes to practice or game, putting on a possibility of getting injured. A common one of those injuries is the tear of the anterior cruciate ligament, better known as the ACL. When sports that require quick pivoting and harsh landings became more popular such as soccer and basketball, ACL injuries quickly multiplied. Since kids, teens, and even adults usually focus on one sport it often occurs that they can overuse and exert their body causing injury to the ACL (Young Athletes 10).
Athletics are sometimes blamed completely for knee injuries, but athletics are not always the main cause of knee injuries. Knee inju...
One group that has a high occurrence of ACL injuries is female athletes. This is in part due to the rise in women’s athletics, but studies have shown that female athletes are more likely to suffer this injury when compared to their male counterparts. The exact reason is unknown, but there are several theories. One theory is that women’s athletics are becoming more intense and this is putting female athletes at higher risk (Robertson Personal Interview). The women’s sports are trying to catch up to the intensity men’s sports are now played and women are suffering injuries trying to get to that level of competition. Other reasons thought to be contributing to women’s higher risk are the anatomy of their knee differing from that of a man’s (Lamb 142). Tests have shown that the female ligament is weaker than males due to the effects of the female hormone estrogen.
“In this surveillance study of injuries among US high school athletes participating in boys' football, girls' and boys' soccer, girls' volleyball, girls' and boys' basketball, boys' wrestling, boys' baseball, and girls' softball during the 2005–2006 school year, ankle injuries accounted for 22.6% of all injuries, with a total ankle injury rate of 5.23 injuries per 10 000 A-Es.”(Nelson 2007) As shown, ankle injuries are very common in sports. Football is one of the most accountable sports for ankle injuries for males with a percentage of “33.6% of all ankle injuries.” (Nelson
...usceptibility to ACL injuries. Factors such as different anatomical structures, neuromuscular imbalance, and hormonal changes during the menstrual cycle are generally known as the potential causes for higher occurrences of female ACL injuries. However, those factors are just hypothetical and still being studied by many researchers and experts. The fact is that ACL injuries among female athletes are a still growing problem in the nation. What researchers and experts must do is not only to discover the cause, but also design a special preventive program for female ACL injuries. Many researchers have found that different anatomical structures and neuromuscular imbalance makes females more susceptible to ACL injuries. A special training program emphasizing hamstring strengthening could be effective to reduce the risks of acquiring ACL injuries for female athletes.
The majority of ACL injuries suffered during athletic participation are of the noncontact variety. Three main noncontact mechanisms have been identified planting and cutting, straight-knee landing and one-step stop landing with the knee hyperextended. Pivoting and sudden deceleration are also common mechanisms of noncontact ACL injury. Basketball, soccer, and volleyball consistently produce some of the highest ACL injury rates across various age groups. Other activities with a high rate of injury are gymnastics, martial arts, and running. In most sports, injuries occur more often in games than in practice. Many injuries have occurred during the first 30 minutes of play. One-reason physicians are seeing more ACL injuries in female patients that more women play sports, and they play more intensely. But as they continued to do more studies, they are finding that women's higher rate of ACL is probably due ...
ACL injury is quite prevalent in the United States. About every 1 in 3,000 people suffer from an ACL injury in their lifetime, and approximately 95,000 new incidences of ACL injury occur each year. The largest amount of these injuries occurs during sports which involve twisting, cutting, jumping and deceleration. The mechanisms that can cause an ACL injury are excessive valgus (outside of knee) stress, forced hyperextension, or forced external rotation of the femur on the a fixed tibia (Evans, 2001). Many associate the tearing of the ACL with a large impact or collision, however 80% of all ACL injuries are non-contact injuries. This statistic shows that ACL injuries are mostly caused by the individual themselves as opposed to an opponent or other person. The exact mechanism of noncontact ACL tears consists of poor knee positioning (e.g. landing with an extended knee) and a strong, unopposed quad contraction (Murray, 2013).