ACL injury (commonly known as เอ็นไขว้หน้าขาด in Thai) is one of the most common types of injuries in Thailand. However, research suggests that most Thai patients think that their injury is just a simple sprain that would heal itself with rest. Unfortunately, anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury is a serious condition that should be treated properly.
About ACL Injury
Here’s everything you need to know about ACL injury and how seeking professional help gives you the best outcomes:
- An ACL injury happens when the anterior cruciate ligament that connects the thigh bone to the shin bone is sprained or torn. This type of injury usually occurs because of sports or due to vehicular accidents and its severity is graded by doctors from 1 to 3. In worse cases, the medial collateral ligament (MCL) is also torn with the ACL injury, which makes the condition more complex.
- Most patients who experience an ACL injury hear a loud “pop” on the affected area during the time of injury, followed by severe pain and inflammation on the knee. There’s also a feeling that the knee is almost “giving way” or being loose, and the patient will not be able to move or stand up, especially when the swelling begins.
- When an ACL injury happens, first aid will help keep the condition controlled and reduce the pain felt by the patient. When doing first aid to anyone with an ACL injury, you should remember the “RICE Method” that means Rest, Ice, Compression and Elevation. Of course, the patient should be taken straight away to the hospital for further evaluation and diagnosis.
- The doctor will evaluate the severity of the ACL injury, and a treatment plan is recommended. For patients who suffer from severe ACL injuries, it could take a long time to heal the tear, and some even don’t heal on their own. This is why reconstruction surgery is usually done, especially if the patient is an athlete who wants to get back to playing sports.
- Physical therapy is crucial to the healing and recovery of patients who suffer from ACL injuries. This helps to reduce the pain and swelling in the affected area, restore the patient’s range of motion and rebuild the strength of the muscles and ligaments around the knee. Physical therapy can even address mild ACL injuries that don’t require surgery.
Conclusion
Finally, it’s very important to give yourself time to rest and recover if you experience an ACL injury. Aside from going to physical therapy sessions religiously, you also need to stop doing strenuous activities to help the torn ligaments heal properly.
And when you do heal and plan to get back to your physical activity, you have to practise proper warm-up and do exercises that improve coordination on the lower extremities to ensure that the injury won’t happen again. This is because a lot of patients who experience ACL injuries have a higher chance of getting the same injury without proper preventative measures. So if you’re still looking for therapists to help you recover from an ACL injury, get in touch with us right away.
