If you are a
sportsman, then once or many times during your professional period, you will
definitely undergo one or the other kind of injury. There are many types of
injury that happen to an athlete, but the most famous one is the ACL or
anterior cruciate ligament injury. It is painful but not that much if you take
proper care by following the doctor. Female athletes are more prone to ACL
injury because of their internal body structure which is different from
male.
So ACL is
located right between our knees. It is in the front part of the legs between
the lower(shin) bones and the upper knee(thigh) bones. This ligament helps in
bending of our legs properly. A tear to ACL can lock our legs and create
problems during walking, leading to twisting of legs. ACL helps in keeping up
knee joint stability.
ACL is one
of the ligaments in X shaped (cross-section) located with PCL in the backside
of the knee. ACL injury is a common injury nowadays with over 1 million cases
reported in India alone. But there is modern day surgery and proper medication
available which will make any person get back to that athletic guy with no
problems in the knee part. Footballers can play football and basketball players
basketball without any slight difficulty after the ACL surgery.
Causes:
1. Sudden
hit to the knee part like falling on the ground on the knee part.
2. Landing
from a jump the wrong way.
3. Suddenly
changing the direction of your knee after a fast run or walk.
4. Someone
hits or tackles you at the foot part like in football.
Symptoms:
1. Pain, the
first thing that happens when you hit your knee and have a ACL injury is the
severe pain that you feel when you start to stand or even walk. So avoid
pressure on the injured leg after the injury.
2. Swelling,
within few hours of the injury you will have swelling around the knee. Putting
ice pack around that part for the next few weeks will reduce the swelling.
3. Walking
and bending troubles, you will have to put less pressure on the injured leg by
not putting the leg on the ground and placing a knee brace around the knee part
so that the leg will be in straight position all the time till recovery.
Possible
treatments:
1. Knee
bracing, it is the first treatment that is done incase of ACL injury. It is a
kind of plastic brace that is worn around the knees to keep the injured leg in
straight position (stable) always and to prevent further damage to the knee.
They are used before the surgery and after the surgery too. It can help in
regaining the strength of the muscles near the knee.
2. Surgery,
it is done when there is complete tear of the ACL which mostly occurs. The
surgeons will take some part from the near regions like hamstring or groin
region and create a new ligament to be placed in the injured part as the new
ACL. It is done by creating a hole in the knee and placing the ligament and
screwing it the right place.
3.
Physiotherapy, it is done by qualified physiotherapist to make your leg work
properly through exercises and stretching. This helps in making your injured
part stronger so that you can walk, run, cycle and do other heavy activities
without any stress as you were doing before the ACL injury.
4. Rest, it
is the most important treatment that is needed before the surgery and even
after the surgery to make natural healing. It will help proper blood supply to
inured section.
There are
many athletes who have made major comebacks in various sports after undergoing
ACL injury. Some of them are:
1. Tom Brady
of the super bowl. In 2008 he had ACL and MCL injury. In 2015 he came back and
was awarded the MVP.
2. Zlatan Ibrohimavich,
the soccer player. The famous Swedish soccer player had undergone a major ACL
injury and made his comeback in 2015 with Manchester united.
3. Danny
Ings, Liverpool striker. His career was in doubt because of the injury he
suffered, but in 2018 he came back and scored 3 goals for Liverpool.
4. Cheteshwar
Pujara, Indian Cricketer. It took him 6 months to recover from ACL injury on
both his knees, but he came back and set many Test cricket records for India.
5. Tiger
Woods, American golfer. During 2007 British open, he had ACL tear issue in left
knee but still he came back and set many records winning 5-6 events.
6. Micky
Mantle, Baseball legend. He continued to play for 17 years after his ACL injury
in 1951.
7. Xavier
Hernandez or Xavi, well- known Spanish and Barcelona soccer player. In 2006 his
ACL injury left him out of the field for 6 months. But he came back and won
many trophies for Barcelona and even World Cup for Spain in 2010.
8. Derrick
Rose, American basketball player. He tore his ACL in 2012 which had been
treated and now he plays for New York knicks and is also a MVP.
9. Alan
Shearer, famous English soccer player. In 1992 he had ACL issue, but after few
months of proper medication and rest, he came back and scored around 260 club
goals and many more for the country.
So, finally
to end I would like to say that, Drive your two-wheelers carefully by looking
at all the possible obstructions that can come in your way like a hanging wire.
Avoid driving during stormy days which can lead to ACL injury.
