Has anyone here injured the 'ol ACL?
I seem to have a nagging injury with the ACL. I don't think it's a tear, because I've never heard a "pop." I do think I must have a stretch-prone ACL, which apparently isn't uncommon. Does anyone have any advice?
I could go through the health-care rigamarole, part with some cash, and be given commodity advice. This has happened before. If anyone can offer some clues as to how to make my knee stronger or whatnot, I will be very grateful. I may even donate some money -- that would otherwise go into the healthcare black hole -- to any recommended worthy cause if the advice is good.
Thanks.
I could go through the health-care rigamarole, part with some cash, and be given commodity advice. This has happened before. If anyone can offer some clues as to how to make my knee stronger or whatnot, I will be very grateful. I may even donate some money -- that would otherwise go into the healthcare black hole -- to any recommended worthy cause if the advice is good.
Thanks.
Comments
My ACL was sore for about 2 days because I strained it. No doctor, I just kept it stretched, iced and rested. Cleared right up.
Stretching it is really the key. Stretch it really well and stay the hell off it.
ACL is a rat bastard. Luckily, with all my knee injuries, I never got around to tearing that particular ligament.
You need to have it X-rayed and have an OSTEOPATH look at the results, you'll probably want one that does sports medicine.
If it's not an ACL, it may be corrected through non-surgical treatments which you're more likely to find with osteopathy.
I fully dislocated my patella 3 times in 3 years.. each time, my DO got me walking almost normally in 2 weeks. I now mountain-bike daily. Surgery (what the average MD would've recommended) may have crippled me.
So, heads up and good luck!
That's fine, but every now and then it crops up again, especially if I reach out and end up mildly hyper extending it. It seems, though, like it's way too easy for me to hyperextend my knee now, and I need a way to account for the problem instead of having to rest it all the time.
Doctors are worthless in this regard, but I will look into the osteopath thing.
Hope you haven't torn it. I was told if I had to have surgery on it, it'd take 9 months to heal. Luckily for me it healed on its own.
Oh well, I may give in and have in X-rayed again.
I seem to have a nagging injury with the ACL. I don't think it's a tear, because I've never heard a "pop." I do think I must have a stretch-prone ACL, which apparently isn't uncommon. Does anyone have any advice?
I could go through the health-care rigamarole, part with some cash, and be given commodity advice. This has happened before. If anyone can offer some clues as to how to make my knee stronger or whatnot, I will be very grateful. I may even donate some money -- that would otherwise go into the healthcare black hole -- to any recommended worthy cause if the advice is good.
Thanks.
The ACL is the most common ligament in the knee that gets torn. It's very possible after you got your MRI's you could have gotten a microtear. I had a teammate 3 years back that got a microtear in his sleep, due to the fact you often sleep different on it to favor it at times. Nevertheless, he said it was very easy to injure the ligament even more after the first injury. You don't necessarily have to hear a pop. Luckily, he chose not to have surgery and instead did rehab.
Take ibuprofen twice a day. This will help the swelling DRAMATICALLY. (Hopefully you don't drink, ibuprofen and alcohol don't like each other, and your liver hates them even more...)
Here's a couple exercises you can do, as well as your usual icing and elevation of 20 minutes on 20 minutes off, repeat...
If you have stairs, you can do lunges on the bottom level. Just use the first two steps. Make sure you do both legs though. You don't want to get one leg stronger than the other. Do 3 sets of 15.
You can also do flat lunges on the ground with dumbells. Just be sure to keep your back straight and stay low. 3 sets of 15 again. Go side to side as well...
If you have a gym membership, you can do sitting leg presses. 3 sets of 15 again, light weight. These might hurt, but they will strengthen your knee considerably. If you don't have a gym, you could go to any community college/university near you and use theirs for free. They are never overseen by staff and if they are they're usually students who could care less.
Last exercise but most important. Standing bike. You don't want to run because it will put too much pressure on the knees. The bike eliminates this completely. If you don't have access to a standing bike, you can always use a regular. The reason the standing bike is better is you don't have to stop at times, and you won't put unneeded pressure on the knee due to undulated streets and bike trails. Go about 20 minutes to a half an hour.
Once again, ice and take ibuproven. It will take about 2 weeks to see results (you might even hurt more the first week), but as each week passes thereafter, your knee will keep getting stonger. Good luck...hope this helped...
Aaron
I would say you almost certainly haven't torn it. When you tear it, you KNOW. Tearing your ACL involves really pretty brief, but intensely agonizing pain (and the popping sound you noted earlier).
That was my experience anyways. Best of luck. Knees suck. I've had two surgueries. One for a torn ACL/meciscus, and micro-fracture surgery for degenerating articular cartilage exposing my femur at the joint. I can't do any running related activities anymore because of mine (bike riding is OK) and I'm still pretty bitter about it sometimes.
P.S. X-rays are worthless, as X-rays only pick up the bones, not the ligaments or cartilage. It's just something to run up the bill. A basic physical exam, or go whole hog with an MRI are the options.
P.P.S. To add to Guybrush's post, inclined leg press good, leg curls BAD.
Splinemodel,
P.P.S. To add to Guybrush's post, inclined leg press good, leg curls BAD.
Leg curls, very bad...
edit: (a little unclear) the gunk in my knee kept it a little loose, which put extra strain on the ligaments. But my knee is cleaner and tighter now, so the ligament soreness doesn't creep in anymore.
Hi out there. I wanted to introduce myself to everyone. I've been searching the web for info about ACL injury and found this board. I've never thought about joining a board before, but after reading through some posts, I'm happy I did. I just want to say thanks to everyone for the support you offer here.
Great to have you here, welcome to the American Medical Association's Good Health Blog.