ACL Injury Treatment without Surgery: Is it Possible?
 

Usually when someone injuries their ACL, the first thing that pops into our head is surgery. Many people go to surgery as their last option. However, it is possible to treat an ACL injury without surgery, but only in certain cases.

What is an ACL?

The ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) is a ligament in your leg that stabilizes your knee. Most injuries to the ACL occur in athletes who participate in sports in which you pivot and twist to rapidly change direction such as football, basketball, and soccer.

Usually when an ACL is injured, you hear a “pop” sound accompanied by some swelling in your knee for a few hours. The knee will also feel unstable and uncomfortable to walk on.

Upon seeing a physician, a physical examination with imaging will be completed to evaluate the injured knee to confirm the tear and to see what the next step to recovery is. When the ACL is completely torn, it is unable to repair itself and the ligament function in the knee is completely lost. In these certain cases, people tend to seek surgical treatment right away because the instability of the knee will eventually lead to more damage if it is untreated.

The individuals that are recommended for non-surgical treatment are usually older patients who are less active and don’t play tough sports. This is a very small percentage of patients with an injured ACL. Before any action is taken to do nonsurgical treatment, the physician needs to make sure that there is no other damage to the meniscal cartilage pads or other ligaments. They will usually do an MRI scan to determine if they need to do surgery. If there is significant damage to the menisci, surgery is usually recommended.

Non-Surgical Treatment for an ACL Injury: Physical Therapy

However, patients that can pass for non-surgical treatment go through delayed ACL reconstruction with intense physical therapy for about 7 months to a year. This includes extensive flexibility exercises, strengthening exercises, endurance activities, and agility training. These therapies are designed to bring back the function of the muscles in the injured leg to strengthen it, before you return to normal activities.

Even after physical therapy it is important to keep an eye on your recovery process. How quickly you recover from it depends on how severe the injury originally was and also how consistent you were with your therapies. People who dedicate themselves to this extensive non-surgical treatment plan have fewer knee problems in the future.

f surgery is eventually needed in their future, you will be better prepared for the surgery as well as the rehabilitation that follows shortly after.

If you've experienced a recent ACL injury in Jacksonville, FL, call us today to schedule an appointment with our chiropractor, Dr. Vesce!