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Knee Injuries |
ACL Surgery
Options
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. |
Accuracy of MRIs?
Diagnosis of knee injuries is, in my
opinion, too dependant on many large
machines and invasive techniques. Your knee
hurts so you visit the orthopedist, here he
uses his tools to figure out why your knee
hurts. While some of these tools are very
impressive indeed, are they accurate?
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Arthroscopy
To understand the theory (and
folly) of this seemingly "harmless"
procedure, one needs to understand the
physiological composition of the joint. Most
of the joints in the body are synovial
joints, which are flexible and
self-lubricating.
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Cartilage
Damage
Removing
tissue from your knee through surgical
intervention can only make your knee weaker
in the long run and prone to arthritis
because removal of tissue decreases the
shock absorption capabilities built in to
protect the knee. |
Chondromalacia patella
It is easy to twist a knee, bang a knee,
land the wrong way, there is a lot of reasons, arthritis comes up, those
are some of the reasons. Also a lot of Chondromalacia patella, that is
where the knee bone kind of cracks a little bit against the femur, the
thigh bone. |
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Knee Pain Alternatives
When the doctor says: "I am recommending
surgery, ultimately you will probably need a knee replacement due to the
damage in there." There are two choices to make when the doctor says
these words to you. One, accept your destiny and continue to live with
an unstable and painful knee until the surgeon calls, or find a solution
to your pain now.
To someone wearing a knee brace, who regularly tapes ice on their knee
and takes prescribed and over-the-counter pain medication, what else
could there be but surgery? How about
Prolotherapy?
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How Do You
Tell A Patient Their Knee Brace Won't Work For Them?
There are many ways to treat a knee
injury, surgery, rehabilitation, and less evasive techniques such as
acupuncture, trigger point injections, prolotherapy, exercise and
specialized training. These therapies and treatments are carried out by
a wide range of medical professionals and while many rehabilitation
specialists do not agree on which method is best, the one thing that
most agree on is that the use of a knee brace to either prevent a knee
injury or help support and provide comfort will not work for everyone.
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Patellofemoral pain syndrome
(PFPS)
Researchers writing in the medical journal American Family
Physician say Patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) is the most
common cause of knee pain in the outpatient setting...There is little
evidence to support the routine use of knee braces or nonsteroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs. Surgery should be considered only after failure
of a comprehensive rehabilitation program. Educating patients about
modification of risk factors is important in preventing recurrence. |
Glucosamine, acetaminophen,
placebo for knee osteoarthritis symptoms
Researchers writing in Arthritis and Rheumatism say
glucosamine sulfate at the oral once-daily dosage of 1,500 mg is more
effective than placebo in treating knee osteoarthritis symptoms.
Although acetaminophen also had a higher responder rate compared with
placebo, it failed to show significant effects on the algofunctional
indexes. |
Woman and ACL Injury
Researchers in the American Journal of Sports Medicine
say that variations of the menstrual cycle and the use of an
oral contraceptive do not affect knee or hip joint loading
during jumping and landing tasks...injury rates is more likely
attributable to persistent differences in strength,
neuromuscular coordination, or ligament properties. |
Waist Circumference and Knee
Pain
Researchers writing in the French medical journal Annales de
réadaptation et de médecine physique say waist circumference
appears to be a factor associated with the presence of knee pain
and osteoarthritis in obese patients. Furthermore, a high waist
circumference is associated with significant functional
repercussion. |
Woman and ACL Injury
Researchers writing in the medical journal Knee surgery, sports
traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA say
that estrogen fluctuations had no significant effect on anterior
knee laxity, however, the effects on MTS (musculotendinous
stiffness) over the 28-day cycle were considerable. |
ACL Injury and Menstrual
Cycle
Researchers writing in the American Journal of Sports
Medicine say that female athletes may be more
predisposed to anterior cruciate ligament injuries during
the preovulatory phase of the menstrual cycle.
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Factors leading to ACL reconstruction failures
Researchers writing in the Chinese Journal of Surgery say
"There are many reasons leading to failure of ACL
reconstruction. Nevertheless, malposition of the bone
tunnel, invalid fixation, rejection to allograft and other
complications such as the enlargement of the bone tunnel,
postoperative infection and adhesion are the major factors
that predispose the primary construction to failure." |
Second-look arthroscopy of
reconstructed ACL
Researchers writing in the medical journal Knee Surgery, Sports
Traumatology, Arthroscopy say "second-look arthroscopy of
reconstructed ACL in good clinical outcome patients showed
approximately 10% partial graft tear, 5% poor synovial coverage,
20% cyclops-like lesion, and 40% some notch reformation" |
ACL Reconstruction and long-term joint degeneration
Researchers writing in the medical journal Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research say Anterior cruciate
ligament reconstruction failed to restore normal rotational
knee kinematics during dynamic, functional loading and some
degradation of graft function occurred over time. These
abnormal motions may contribute to long-term joint
degeneration associated with ACL injury and reconstruction. |
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ACL Reconstruction Failure and MCL
Researchers writing in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related
Research say treating anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
lesions combined with a torn medial collateral ligament (MCL) is
controversial because residual laxity may lead to stretching of
the ACL graft and eventual failure of the reconstruction.
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Increased tibial rotation found in
anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-deficient patients
Researchers writing in the Clinical Journal of Sport
Medicine investigated if the increased tibial rotation
found in anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)-deficient patients
before surgery is restored 2 years after the reconstruction,
during 2 high-demanding activities. |
Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction
via anterior tibialis tendon allograft
Researchers writing in the medical journal Arthroscopy
evaluated the outcome of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)
reconstruction via anterior tibialis tendon allograft.
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Knee Osteoarthritis and Fracture Risk
Researchers writing in the medical journal Arthritis and
Rheumatism say "Patients with a clinical diagnosis of knee OA
(osteoarthritis) and with knee pain have an increased risk of
nonvertebral and hip fracture. This is not explained by the
increased risk of falls, but is more likely to be due to the
severity of falls sustained. Knee pain and OA should be regarded
as independent risk factors for fracture. |
Knee Bracing?
Researchers writing in Clinical Orthopaedics and Related
Research report on the effectiveness of knee braces
after ACL reconstructive surgery.
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Meniscal
Tear and Osteoarthritis
Researchers writing in The Journal of rheumatology say Meniscal
tear at specific sites shares risk factors with knee OA.
Importantly, meniscal tear is associated with cartilage defect,
loss of cartilage volume, alteration in bone size, and
prevalence of radiographic (osteoarthritis), suggesting that
meniscal tear in non-OA (osteoarthritis) subjects appears to be
an early event in the disease process, and may be a risk factor
for knee cartilage damage and articular structural changes. |
Meniscal Injury: Arthrosocopy and Conservative Care
Researchers writing in the medical journal
Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy: official journal of the ESSKA
say arthroscopic partial medial meniscectomy followed by
supervised exercise was not superior to supervised exercise
alone in terms of reduced knee pain, improved knee function and
improved quality of life. |
Meniscus Surgery
Researchers writing in the medical journal Arthroscopy say "the
protective benefits of meniscus allografts remain debatable."
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Effect of ACL Injury
on Football Performance
Researchers writing in the American Journal of Sports Medicine say about
professional football players who sustain ACL injury and return to the
game, that "player performance of injured players is reduced by one
third." |
Obesity and Knee
Pain
Researchers writing in the medical
journal Annals of the rheumatic diseases say that
"Meta-regression analysis indicated that physical disability of
patients with knee OA and overweight diminished after a moderate
weight reduction regime." |
PCL injuries and ACL reconstruction
Researchers writing in the medical journal Arthroscopy say "A considerably high
number of overlooked or underestimated posterior cruciate ligament (PCL)
injuries led to isolated ACL reconstruction." |
Inflammatory Arthritis Following Total Knee Arthroplasty
researchers writing in the Journal of biomedical materials
research. Part A; say "Joint effusion after total knee
arthroplasty (TKA) is considered as a manifestation of
certain inflammatory reactions within prosthetic joints,"
and investigated causes of joint effusion following TKA. |
Radio
Blogs
Discussions with
callers to our radio program about
ACL problems |
