ACL Injury Review

ACL Tear in Review


    Overall, throughout my blog posts I found that the tearing of the ACL not only is painful, but the process of repairing it and living a normal life afterwards are both quite difficult.  The surgical process is not only expensive, costing a couple thousand, but the chances of the ACL being fully repaired are quite slim.  According to my own physician Dr. Dan Campbell, "The chances of a fully recovered ACL are less than 40%." So yes it may be repaired, but it won't be repaired to the way it was before.  More importantly, for a doctor to have the obligation to repair such an injury requires many years of schooling past an undergraduate degree, about 5 to 6 years  until one is ready to perform such a surgery.  The ACL is such a small but crucial part of the leg that once is torn, many other functions of the leg are jeopardized as well.  That is why athletes such as Derrick Rose are having a difficult time coming back from an ACL injury and performing like he used to.  Financially, it's America better to tear one's ACL then it will be in the future because statistically surgery payments, mainly in are increasing rapidly each year due to the economy.
     All in all, tearing of one's ACL may be one of the worst injuries out there no just because of the pain itself, but the terrible long-lasting affects athletically, and short-lasting affect financially.  If I were to ever tear my ACL, I'll have to maybe reconsider how to plan out my life athletically afterwards because I know that once I tear my ACL, there is a likelyhood of never going back to the same person I was physically.
   

Post ACL Surgery-The Aftermath

Post ACL Surgery-The Aftermath


For most, if not all people, a full recovery from an ACL surgery is almost impossible, that is why there are limits to what a person can do after he/she goes through ACL surgery.

Source Link: http://www.cleveland.com/tribe/index

According to AAOS(American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, http://www.aaos.org/news/aaosnow/nov13/cover1.asp) in their article "Impact of ACL Surgery", it is tough to slow down after an ACL tear and reconstruction, but it is important to allow the articular cartilage of the tibia and the tissue used to reconstruct your ACL to heal completely. It is not always easy to judge when those tissues are ready to handle the stress and strain of running. Pain is a good marker, but not always precise for judging tissue readiness. I had a cadaver graft for my reconstruction, so it was a given that it would take about a year to revitalize the graft tissue to the level that I could consider it a functioning part of me. Ligaments like the ACL are dynamic tissues and when stressed to the level of injury will repair and maintain length. When a ligament is not “vital,” a stretch will remain without recovering the original length, so you are stuck with a longer than intended structure and a less stable joint. 

As a result, the amount an ACL is torn, and based on the person and how their body is structured also play as factors into how well they're able to transition into playing sports/physical activity prior to ACL surgery.  Athletes such as Derrick Rose struggle to maintain a perfect ACL recovery because he plays basketball at the most elite level, so re-injury is more likely to occur therefore making his ACL more fragile.

Future Research:  Is an athlete able to return to playing sports/should return to playing sports after re-injuring an ACL?

Dunphy-Tearing of the ACL

-Payment Costs for Repairing an ACL

The procedure for repairing an ACL is quite a long process, taking up to 7 to 10 hours.  As a result, the doctors drive a hard bargain to repair such a difficult procedure. The cost of ACL surgery varies across the country and from facility to facility. The average cost of ACL surgery in 2010 was about $5,000 to $6,000. But this cost did not include the surgeon's fees or the anesthesiologist's fees. That may add to another 1000 to 2000 dollars.  

According to the medical website Health Grade (http://www.healthgrades.com/procedures/how-much-does-acl-surgery-cost) Coverage for ACL surgery typically includes: 

• An evaluation appointment with an orthopedic surgeon
• Pre-surgery appointments including diagnostic studies and lab tests
• The surgery including fees for the doctor, anesthesia, graft, and hospital operating room
• Rehabilitation and physical therapy appointments

If you don’t have insurance and will be paying for your ACL surgery, do a little research. The cost of ACL surgery varies across the country and from facility to facility. The average cost of ACL surgery in 2010 was about $5,000 to $6,000. But this cost did not include the surgeon’s fees or the anesthesiologist’s fees. The total cost of ACL surgery can be as high as $11,500.

All in all, ACL surgeries are very expensive, and not having any insurance for such a procedure can really hurt one's family financially.  Also, surgical procedures really seem to be more expensive because our economy continues to falter. 

weknowyourdreams.com

Blog Post 3: Dunphy-ACL Injuries

 What Heals an ACL Injury

   For an ACL to be fully healed, it takes a long-term process including surgery, rehabilitation and medication.  However, there are few medications out there that have the ability to relieve of such a painful injury, therefore rehab is more reliable when relieving of ACL pain.

Based on information addressed by OrthoInfo in their article “Repairing of the ACL”(http://www.OrthoInfo/utm_campaign=cdhproton_fy15&utm_source=webmd&utm_medium=300x250&utm_content=banner&utm_term=target), approximately 50 percent of ACL injuries occur in combination with damage to the meniscus cartilage, or other ligaments. Additionally, patients may have bruises of the bone beneath the cartilage surface.  Simply put it, an ACL injury is one that affects multiple areas inside the knee.  

The simple route would be surgery.  The surgery usually begins with an examination of the patient's knee while the patient is relaxed due the effects of anesthesia. This final examination is used to verify that the ACL is torn and also to check for looseness of other knee ligaments that may need to be repaired during surgery or addressed postoperatively. If the physical exam strongly suggests the ACL is torn, the selected tendon is harvested (for an autograft) or thawed (for an allograft) and the graft is prepared to the correct size for the patient.  After the graft has been prepared, the surgeon places an arthroscope into the joint. Small (one-centimeter) incisions called portals are made in the front of the knee to insert the arthroscope and instruments and the surgeon examines the condition of the knee. Meniscus and cartilage injuries are trimmed or repaired and the torn ACL stump is then removed.

In terms of rehabilitation, an ACL won’t be fully healed, but the patient will have the ability to stabilize it and be relieved of the pain.  The goals for rehabilitation of ACL reconstruction include reducing knee swelling, maintaining mobility of the kneecap to prevent anterior knee pain problems, regaining full range of motion of the knee, as well as strengthening the quadriceps and hamstring muscles.  The patient may return to sports when there is no longer pain or swelling, when full knee range of motion has been achieved, and when muscle strength, endurance and functional use of the leg have been fully restored.  The patient's sense of balance and control of the leg must also be restored through exercises designed to improve neuromuscular control.  This usually takes four to six months. The use of a functional brace when returning to sports is ideally not needed after a successful ACL reconstruction, but some patients may feel a greater sense of security by wearing one.

The goals for rehabilitation of ACL reconstruction include reducing knee swelling, maintaining mobility of the kneecap to prevent anterior knee pain problems, regaining full range of motion of the knee, as well as strengthening the quadriceps and hamstring muscles.

The patient may return to sports when there is no longer pain or swelling, when full knee range of motion has been achieved, and when muscle strength, endurance and functional use of the leg have been fully restored.

The patient's sense of balance and control of the leg must also be restored through exercises designed to improve neuromuscular control.  This usually takes four to six months. The use of a functional brace when returning to sports is ideally not needed after a successful ACL reconstruction, but some patients may feel a greater sense of security by wearing one. -So

Finally, though there are few medications out there that relieve the pain of an ACL, medications such as Tylenol, nonsteroidal antiflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen and naproxen.  

All in all, repairing an ACL injury requires a long process, and there are mutliple solutions as to do so, but it can never be fully recovered.  Further research needs to be done in order for doctors/physicians/therapists to know how to fully-repair and fully-heal a torn ACL.

Source Link:http://www.compelvisuals.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/ACL-2013-1.jpg

cus, articular c

Are ACL Injuries the Worst Type of Injury in Sports?

Image Source:https://www.google.com/search?q=ACL+Injury+tear&espv

Source:http://grantland.com/features/derrick-rose-rob-gronkowski-rise-acl-tears/

Main Idea: What Makes an ACL Injury a Dangerous Injury?

Lead Sentences: ACL Injuries are becoming an epidemic in sports.  Over the last ten years, ACL injuries have increased by over 30 percent, and are continuing to be on the rise.
   
     
      The Source I used was an article written by Neal Gabler, and it discusses an analysos on different athletes who have or have had an ACL injury, and how an ACL tear is difficult to recover from. Based on the article, ACL Injury, the Nastiest Injury, I'd have to agree that the tearing of the ACL is the most dangerous injury in sports.  According to the article, "If an athlete tears his/her ACL, the chances of it ever being fully repaired and fully recovered is 60 percent."  This is unlike most injuries where the percentage of full recovery is much higher, almost 100 percent for most body-tear injuries.  This exemplifies the fact that ACL injuries have a drastic impact on an athlete's overall recovery.

     Furthermore, the article also indicates that the tearing of the ACL creates the most vivid reaction with the leg that, according to the article, "is too gruesome to watch."  For instance, Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose tore his ACL in the 2011-2012 season, when he over-extended his legs on a cross-over that the rest of his body, especially his knees, could not catch up to.  Ever since then, it seems as he has never fully recovered from his ACL injury, considering the fact that he has tore it once again when he returned in the 2013-2014 season.  This shows how fragile the ACL is, and how painful it is, where it is so painful that a full-recovery is incredibly difficult.

Future Research: What makes the tearing of the ACL so painful?

The Pain Revealed

Source: https://www.google.com/search?q=ACL+Injury+tear&espv

• Briefly explain why you are interested in studying your topic:  

I’ve taken an interest in studying this topic because I’m trying to pursue medicine in college.  In other words, I’m trying to major in medicine in college so I’ll be learning about topics such as an ACL tear.

• The overall question I plan on answering by the end of the project:

Surgery/Medical/ACL (What overall education you need to have to perform this surgery? How is the surgery performed?

-Sub questions I will need to answer in order to answer the overall question:

        What type of doctor performs this procedure? How many years in his profession should he have before he performs a surgery such as this?

• My plan of research (what specific Library Databases, specific websites, names of authors, people, etc. will I pursue to find the answers to the questions above):

In order to get the most amount of research possible, I’ll most likely use different websites such as Mayo Clinic and Web MD, and use Proquest Research Library.  I may want to talk to my physician, Dr. Bush-Joseph, who works at Rush Hospital in Chicago.

TEST BLOG POST

TEST BLOG POST