How are ACL Tears Repaired?
There are several ways to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), depending on the severity of the injury:
- Non-surgical treatment – If you have a partial tear and you can use conservative treatments such as physical therapy, using braces, modifying your activities etc. It is possible to strengthen the major muscles around the joint and avoid surgery.
- ACL Reconstruction Surgery – If you have completely torn the ACL it is likely you’ll need to have surgery. There are two ways your ACL can be reconstructed. You could have an autograft surgery or an allograft. Autograft is a tissue sample taken from the patient’s own body and an allograft comes from a cadaver donor. If the graft is taken from your body, it will typically be from your patellar tendon or hamstring. Either way, your damaged ligament is removed and replaced by a graft arthroscopically.
- Repair Surgery – If you have a partial tear and you decide to have it surgically repaired. The surgeon will use the arthroscopic technique to make small incisions and insert the camera and instruments into the joint. They will then suture the torn ends of the ligament together to allow it to heal.
In this case, massage can not really help you recover from a torn ligament. It can however help you recover from the soft tissue damage created during surgery. A lot of people experience burning and tingling pain after surgical procedures. Massage can help the tissue recover faster and reduce or resolve some of these symptoms.
When our joints are immobilized we see atrophy of the muscle and excess build up of trigger points in these tissues. This is due to lack of movement. Trigger point therapy applied to the affected tissues can and will improve the rate at which you recover should you decide to undergo a surgical procedure of any kind.
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