An unexpected turn of your knee, a poor landing or even just a minor stumble can alter how your knee feels for the rest of your life. That is often the way a tear of this structure known as an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) gets started. The ACL is one of several ligaments that help keep your knee stable, and when it’s torn, life can become complicated. Walking feels unsteady, stairs are difficult to climb and sports or even routine movements can feel out of the question.
How to Tell If It’s an ACL Tear
A popping noise in the knee heard at the time of injury is commonly reported. Within hours the knee swells and feels unstable, as if it might give way. It makes bending all the way over impossible, and for many, it is sharp enough that they stop doing whatever it was what they were doing.
Why Surgery Is Often Needed
Once torn, the ACL doesn’t heal by itself. But for young, active people who just want to return to running or sports or even just living without fear of their knee giving way when they plant it, surgery is usually the answer. Surgery traditionally involves reconstructing the ligament with tissue from a patient’s own body, or occasionally from a donor. It does the job, but it’s an extra wound in the body, extra pain and sometimes slower recovery.
A New Option: Synthetic Grafts
That’s where synthetic grafts come into the picture, as a kind of rugged artificial substitute for the ACL. They don’t require tissue taken from your leg so the surgery is shorter and less painful. The scars are smaller, recovery is quicker and the graft itself is designed to be far stronger than natural tissue — providing the knee with long-term stability.
A Real-Life Story
Consider the case of a 26-year-old woman who visited Manipal Hospital Varthur Road, Bangalore. She had already gone under the knife once for an A.C.L. surgery that didn’t take, her knee remaining unstable and her confidence hanging by a thread. On top of that, her weight meant she was more likely to sustain recurring injuries and she refused to have tissue taken from her healthy leg.
Senior Consultant in orthopaedics and robotic joint replacement surgery, recommended a synthetic graft. She said yes, albeit with a touch of dread and she was thrilled with the results. She could walk without much pain the day after the surgery. No donor site pain, no additional scarring, a good knee and the hope of going back home.
Synthetic grafts aren’t just a matter of technology, they’re about returning people to the movement, confidence and independence stolen by injury, especially when traditional solutions won’t do. And in a lot of instances, these procedures are covered by insurance, so they have become an actual option for more patients.
If you’re currently living with a timid knee, it’s reassuring to hear that there is more than one road to recovery and sometimes, it’s one that gets you back on your feet even sooner than you thought possible. |
