If you play sports, any sudden stop or change in direction may lead to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, which can keep you sidelined for quite some time. The experienced team at McKenna’s Orthopedics & Biologics, with offices in Decatur and Trophy Club, Texas, specializes in sports medicine offering revolutionary treatments, including stem cell therapy, for ACL injuries. For a consultation, call the office today or book an appointment online.
What is the ACL?
The ACL is the ligament that connects your tibia to your kneecap. It provides stability for your knee while preventing your tibia from sliding out in front of your femur. Your ACL also allows you to move your knee back and forth.
Unfortunately, the ACL is also prone to injury, especially in athletes who participate in sports that place a lot of pressure on the knees, such as soccer, football, and basketball.
What symptoms would I experience from an ACL injury?
You may experience a popping sensation or sound at the time of your ACL injury, followed by pain and rapid swelling of the knee. Other indicators of an ACL injury include:
- Inability to put weight on the affected knee
- Tenderness in the joint
- Loss of the back and forth range of motion
It’s possible that your pain and swelling may improve on its own over time. But in order to prevent further damage to your ACL, you need to have your knee evaluated right away.
Ligament injuries are referred to as sprains and are graded based on the extent of the injury.
- Grade 1 sprain: ligament is mildly stretched
- Grade 2 sprain: ligament is stretched and loose
- Grade 3 sprain: complete tear of the ligament
The grade of your ligament sprain may determine the type of treatment you need.
How is an ACL injury treated?
Treatment for your ACL injury may depend on the degree of your sprain, as well as your overall health and activity. If you’re an athlete, you may require surgery to repair your ACL.
The team at McKenna Orthopedics offers stem cell therapy to help heal your ACL and get you back to doing the things you love. The stem cells used for treatment combine your own bone marrow stem cells with amniotic membrane tissue to reduce inflammation and accelerate your body’s natural healing process to regenerate new, healthy tissue to replace the damaged tissue.
Your stem cell therapy treatment at McKenna Orthopedics may be combined with your surgery to speed up the healing process or used as a treatment in place of surgery. Your specialist at McKenna Orthopedics determines the treatment that would offer the most benefits based on your injury and future activity plans.
To learn more about the cutting-edge treatment options for ACL injuries available at McKenna Orthopedics, call the office today or book an appointment online.