As our bodies age, the water content in our cartilage will decrease – which makes it vulnerable to various knee injuries. Find out more about cartilage issues and repair treatments at OrthoSports centre by reading on.
The anterior cruciate ligament or ACL is one of the most common injured ligaments of the knee, especially in sports such as basketball and football at all ages. The ACL stabilizes the knee for cutting, twisting and jumping and pivoting activity. The anterior cruciate ligament is in the centre of the knee joint.
When you tear an ACL due to cartilage damage, you will often feel or hear a pop. You will also feel the knee shift out of place and develop significant swelling in just a few hours. The initial repair treatment should consist of ice to the knee, leg elevation and crutches. A sports physician, orthopaedic surgeon or physiotherapist in Singapore should evaluate the injury.
If the ACL has been torn because of cartilage damage, surgical reconstruction of the ligament may be indicated, as the ligament rarely heals by itself. In this type of repair surgery, the most common procedure is to take either the hamstring tendons or the patellar tendon of the same leg and place it in the original location of the injured ACL. After a period of proper rehabilitation following surgery in Singapore, the athlete can return safely to active participation in four to six months.