Frequently asked questions of interest to patients treated for ACL injuries

  With the advent of national sports fever, ACL injuries are becoming more and more common and are one of the most common diseases in sports injuries. The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is an important static stabilizing structure of the knee joint, which plays a key role in limiting the anterior displacement of the tibial plateau and controlling the rotational stability of the joint. Injury to the knee can lead to sexual damage to the knee cartilage, meniscus, and other structures, accelerating knee degeneration.  For ACL injuries, early reconstruction is recommended to restore the stability of the knee joint and improve the function of the knee joint. In the past, clinicians mostly used incisional surgery to treat such injuries, but with the advancement of arthroscopic technology, arthroscopic reconstruction of the ACL has now become the mainstream treatment method.  A. Whether ACL injury can heal on its own Some ACL injuries or injuries near the stop have a chance of self-healing, while complete rupture of the body has no chance of self-healing. This is determined by the anatomical and structural characteristics of the anterior cruciate.  What kind of grafts are used for anterior cruciate reconstruction At present, there are three kinds of grafts used in clinical application: autologous tendon, allograft tendon, and artificial tendon, and most doctors choose autologous tendon because it has no rejection, high survival rate, and cost saving. Allograft tendons have a risk of rejection, high cost, and a failure rate of about 10-20% reported in the literature, but many patients still choose allograft tendons because they do not have to take their own tendons. Artificial tendon is less used because it cannot be judged to be fully molded to the host yet.  Third, what level of recovery can be achieved after ACL reconstruction and what kind of complications will there be According to the latest statistics in the literature: only 40% of patients recover the pre-injury level of movement after ACL reconstruction, 60~80% of patients recover light exercise, 90% of patients recover ordinary walking function, and there is still a failure rate of about 10%. The efficacy of surgery depends on the surgeon’s technique, the patient’s own tissue shaping ability, and proper post-operative rehabilitation training. Although joint stability is restored after anterior cruciate reconstruction, there is still a possibility of joint degeneration in the long term. Therefore, how to maximize the function of the knee joint after ACL reconstruction is still a hot topic of research in sports medicine.