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Acl injury
ACL Injury
The ACL injury is one of the most common problems with the knee joint. The Anterior Cruciate Ligament or ACL is one of the four ligaments that are very important to the stability of the knee joint. It can greatly affect the person’s ability to perform some physical activities. The ACL injury is very common among athletes who are involved in physical and high impact sports such as basketball and football. This type of injury is categorized in 3 different levels or degrees.
- First degree – This pertains to the stretching of the ligament. Tenderness and swelling may be experienced even without some tears in the fibres. People who have first degree injury are still able to walk and may even participate in some physical activities without compromising the knee.
- Second degree – it is when the ligament is partly torn. The swelling and tenderness is worse than that of the first degree since there is a tear in the ligament. Walking can be quite difficult.
- Third degree – this would cause the knee to swell a lot. Walking can be completely hard to do sometimes with this degree of injury. People who suffer this kind of ACL injury is advised to use crutches and may be recommended to go under surgery.
There are some symptoms or signs that would tell you that there is something wrong with your knee that is associated with the injury to the ACL.
- Feeling or hearing a “pop” in the knee at the time of the injury after a jump or sudden change in direction.
- Knee instability is when the knee is wobbly or gives out.
- Pain on the back or the outside of the knee.
- Swelling in the knee within the first few hours of the injury. This would mean that there is bleeding inside the joint.
- Limited movement of the knee because of pain and swelling.
These kind of injuries happens while playing sports or doing other fitness activities. Ligaments tend to tear when changing directions, pivot your foot that is firmly planted, or twisting and overextending your knee. This is one of the most common injuries that NBA players would encounter. You can prevent this injury from happening by using proper techniques while playing sports or even when exercising.