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TREATMENT
OPTIONS
FOR ACL DAMAGE
AND PAIN
When faced
with the ACL treatment decision, a patient will usually weigh two
options,
surgery or no surgery. There are
a lot of opinions offered as to which path the patient should take.
Every ACL injury is unique to the patient, so this question is best
asked of your physician and better yet, a second opinion physician. ACL
surgery is an elective surgery and many athletes have chosen not to have
it.
If the no surgery alternative is chosen, then the patient will then try
to determine a course of action that will allow them to continue running
or participate in other sports. Generally, you will know if you can run
on your damaged knee or not by the amount of knee strength you still
have and the level of pain you experience. Because the ACL is mostly
used in supporting the knees in movement such as those found in playing
tennis and basketball, (jumping, quick stopping, fast change of
directions), these activities are usually stopped for fear of further
damage. For the most part, many ACL damaged individuals are able to
continue running or jogging and participating in certain sport
activities.
Another option
Unfortunately doing nothing to a damaged ACL can also lead to physical
problems later. Studies have shown that left untreated, knee weakness,
arthritis, and other structural damage that may lead to a need for knee
replacement may occur. Of course, in this situation, running will no
longer be an option.
A very conservative treatment we specialize in is
Prolotherapy because it works on most
knee
problems with excellent results. Prolotherapy is a
simple
injection of dextrose and a
local anesthetic, like those used in dentistry work. What the dextrose
does is start a very small inflammatory response in the body.
Inflammation
kicks up the immune system, the immune system brings up fibroblasts
which are small cells that produce
collagen.
In other words the collagen metabolism spoken of before is stimulated. A
few injections is of course a lot less invasive than surgery, not to
speak of the rehabilitation effort following surgery in comparison.
Only in the case of a completely torn
ligament
is Prolotherapy somewhat limited. If there is a partial tear (sometimes
on
MRI these may look like complete
tears) Prolotherapy maybe able to reconstruct the ligament and
strengthen the joint. But even with a complete tear, Prolotherapy is
extremely beneficial because an impact with enough force to completely
rupture a ligament will also loosen the entire knee structure.
Prolotherapy in this situation can strengthen the surrounding tissues
giving the patient a better chance of long-term success.
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