The anterior cruciate ligament, more commonly known as the ACL, is a ligament that helps connect your thigh bone (or femur) to your shin (tibia). High impact sports and physical labor are common causes for injury. If you hear a pop or feel a popping sensation in your knee and subsequently experience severe pain and a wobbly knee, there’s a good chance it’s an ACL tear or sprain. Your knee may also swell up very rapidly and lose some of its range of motion. In the event of an ACL injury (or any knee injury), you should seek medical attention as soon as you can to prevent further damage.
How do you treat an ACL injury?
The severity of your injury will be diagnosed via physical examination and, if necessary, medical imaging. Depending on the severity, your treatment regimen may range from following the R.I.C.E. protocol (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation) at home to active rehabilitation with a physical therapist or reconstructive surgery. In the case of surgery, a donor tendon (either from another part of your own knee or from a donor) will be grafted onto the ligament to repair it.
What does PT for an ACL injury look like?
The goal of physical therapy in the wake of an ACL injury is to restore mobility, strength and stability to your knee. Your physical therapist will guide you through a number of exercises designed to strengthen the muscles around your knee including the quadriceps and hamstrings which can help prevent your knee from “freezing” due to restricted range of motion. The range of exercises you perform will gradually increase as swelling in your knee subsides, especially if you are recovering from surgery.
Exercises your PT may use to improve your recovery include:
Heel slides
Prone Knee Flexion
Prone Hip Extension
Ankle Pumps
Eventually graduating to incorporate:
Half squats
Heel raises
Standing on one leg
Partial lunges
The timeframe for recovering from an ACL injury can be long. For athletes, it can take up to a year to receive medical clearance to resume playing sports after ACL surgery. Your doctors and therapists will evaluate your progress and make adjustments to ensure that your strength, stability and movement mechanics are optimized before you return to strenuous activity. But with time and perseverance, a strong recovery is very possible.
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