Tears to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are the most common ligament injury that occur in the knee joint. Each year in the United States alone, approximately 125,000-200,000 patients require surgery for this injury. Thousands more try to deal with an “ACL-deficient” knee by avoiding surgery. Whether you are active in sports or work in a job that requires a strong, stable, knee, an ACL tear may have devastating consequences for the activities you need and want to do on a routine basis.
Although there is a considerable amount of information available on the Internet about ACL injuries, not all comes from medical professionals with the clinical and research knowledge that “knee specialists” have. An ACL tear represents a major problem and the decision of how to treat this injury is not an easy one. It requires understanding all of the damage that exists in the knee and all of the treatment options available such as bracing, physical therapy, and surgery. After treating patients for nearly 4 decades with ACL tears, two medical professionals – Dr. Frank Noyes and Sue Barber-Westin – decided to write this eBook to try to help individuals understand this injury, treatment options currently available, and what to expect as a result of these options.
Dr. Frank Noyes, an internationally renowned orthopaedic surgeon and researcher, and Sue Barber-Westin, Director of Clinical and Applied Research at the Cincinnati SportsMedicine Research and Education Foundation, team up to provide information that is easy to read and understand regarding ACL injuries. Together, Noyes and Barber-Westin have conducted more than 60 clinical research projects and published 140 articles in the medical literature. They have edited two orthopaedic textbooks, which have been purchased by thousands of medical professionals involved with caring for patients with knee problems.
ACL tears usually occur in athletes who play high school, college, or league sports. This injury also happens in the workplace, in automobile accidents, and even during simple daily activities. Unfortunately, many people who injure their ACL also damage other parts of their knee such as the meniscus, joint lining, or other knee ligaments. The costs of treating this injury may be quite high, even with health insurance. An ACL tear may have damaging psychological effects as a result of not being able to play sports or resume normal work activities. This eBook provides information on basic knee anatomy, what the ACL does and why it is so important, how to find a surgeon, how an ACL tear is diagnosed, the treatment options for partial and complete ACL tears, and advice on what to do if damage has occurred to other parts of the knee. If you decide to have surgery, information is given on what type of graft to consider to replace the ACL, what to expect from the operation, how to prepare for the operation, how the operation is performed, and details regarding what to expect and do the first week after surgery. A separate eBook written by Noyes and Barber-Westin, “ACL Injury Rehabilitation: Everything You Need to Know to Restore Knee Function and Return to Activity”, provides detailed physical therapy programs after ACL injury and surgery.
