Ligament Injuries

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Term Paper Title	Ligament Injuries
# of Words	1236
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.94

Ligament Injuries

The volleyball match has been going
on for over an hour. Both teams have been trading
points and side-outs. The ball is set high outside so
that the big outside hitter can put the ball away.
She comes in hard, plants, leaps into the air and
smashes the ball down the line in a twisting motion.
As she lands on her right leg, a POP is heard and
down she goes. What has just happened is
occurring more and more often in athletics, the
athlete has just torn the anterior cruciate ligament
(ACL). In this paper I will describe ACL, how it
is injured and diagnosed, how it be repaired and
what is being done to prevent ACL injuries. The
Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) is one of the
two cruciate ligaments of the knee, the other being
the Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL). These
ligaments are the stabilizers of the knee. The ACL
is a strip of fibery tissue, which is located deep
inside the knee joint. It runs from the posterior
side of the femur (thigh bone) to the anterior side
of the tibia (shin bone) deep inside of the knee.
The ligament is a broad, thick cord the size of a
person's index finger. It has long collagen strands
woven together in a fashion that permits forces of
up to 500 pounds to be exerted. The function of
the ACL is to prevent the tibia from moving in
front of the knee and femur. The ACL also
prevents hyperextension (or extreme stretching of
the knee backward) and helps to prevent rotation
of the tibia. The amount of knee ligament injuries
have been on the rise in recent years. Over the last
15 years, ankle sprains have decreased by 86%
and tibia fractures by 88%, but knee ligament
injuries have increased by 172%. The injury
usually occurs in either a slow twisting fall, a
sudden hyperextension, or a sudden hyperflexion
as when landing from jumping. When the injury
occurs the athlete usually hears a "pop" and they
will have immediate swelling of the knee. When
the person tries to put weight on the leg it will feel
like the knee isn't underneath the athlete. With
most injuries the type of movement will help to
determine the injury: "I twisted to the right." etc.
When ACL injuries occur there is a "popping"
sound at the time of injury and swelling within six
hours. An experienced clinician can diagnose an
ACL tear with relative accuracy by a manual
examination. X-ray examination and Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) is also used in
diagnosing ACL injuries. The knee joint will be
instable and the athlete will have joint pain on the
inn...

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