Repair to tendon



There are four different types of ligaments in the body which are responsible for keeping together the joints in the bones. The anterior cruciate ligament is one of the most crucial types of joints which works on the thigh bone and keeps the knee joint in place. Since it’s the most used bone, it is the most injured ligaments of the knee area. These sorts of injuries are quite common in nature and can happen during any game like skiing, squash and tennis. There are lot of other ways by which this bone is rendered vulnerable. Referring to injury would normally mean a tear which happens in the ligament and causes the condition. The tear can happen due to any accidents or any sporting activity where either the bone is stretched to around 10 degrees more than what it can go up to, or the knee and lower leg are twisted which causes this condition. The extent can also vary up to complete tear and partial tear.

Diagnosis

The person or individual may hear a cracking sound when the tear happens due to the extent to which a leg can be stretched, is exceeded. This condition is quite painful and leads to swelling soon after. One may not be able to balance properly and also any weight put onto the knee area results in more pain. Most of the cases, person would find it very painful and tough to walk and may start to limp. Small or minor tears would heal by itself when the individual rests the knee and take care of it. A major tear, can worsens with time and lead to even more pain and fatal consequences. To diagnose the condition, the doctor would be able to make a judgment on the exact location where the tear happened, by assessing the ACL. That assessment can be done by ligament stability test. They can also use some physical movements to test the extent of the damage. They would also want to do some x-rays and MRI scans for finding the actual degree of damage.

Surgery

The statistics show that more than 17,000 such cases happen through the year. The surgeon would use the improved techniques today to accomplish the surgery, and normally would pick up tendons from other part of the body for filling the tear. This surgery would be conducted under the effect of general anaesthesia. The term used for this type of surgery is called keyhole surgery and arthroscopy would be used to conduct the operation by way of magnifying the surgery point.

Risks

The risks are normally quite low in this procedure and there are very few complications which have been seen out of it. There are some common risks which are associated with the procedure, since it is an operation. There can be blood clotting, risk of getting infected during the operation, long term stiffness in rare cases, and surgery not being successful or more sessions needed after few days, as the common risks involved.

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