What Is the Anterior Cruciate Ligament?
The anterior cruciate ligament, also known as the anterior cruciate ligament, is located in the knee joint. It starts from the medial side of the lateral femoral condyle and stops at the medial intercondylar spine of the tibial plateau. Stable structure. If anterior cruciate ligament injury is not treated early, it will seriously damage knee function and affect life and labor, so it should be paid attention to.
- Visiting department
- orthopedics
- Common locations
- Knee joint
- Common causes
- Caused by strong overextension or abduction of the knee joint
- Common symptoms
- Knee joint pain is severe, swelling quickly, and blood in the joint
Basic Information
Causes of anterior cruciate ligament injury
- Anterior cruciate ligament injury can occur when the knee joint is strongly overextended or abducted.
Clinical manifestations of anterior cruciate ligament injury
- In patients with severe trauma, there is a tear in the knee joint, and then the knee is weak, the joint pain is severe, the swelling is rapid, the joint is hemorrhagic, and the subcutaneous bruises around the joint often indicate joint capsule injury joint dysfunction. Patients with old injuries may have quadriceps atrophy, soft legs or dynamism, and decreased exercise capacity.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Examination
- 1.Lachman test
- The patient flexed his knees in a supine position 15-20 ° with his feet on the bed. The examiner grasped the lower end of the femur with one hand and the upper end of the tibia with one hand and pushed forward and backward in opposite directions. If the anterior cruciate ligament is broken, the tibia has abnormal forward movement.
- 2. X-ray examination of the knee joint
- It can show the fracture of tibial intercondylar eminence and tear. When the varus and valgus stress are examined, the joint space on one side can be widened. Segond fractures are occasionally seen.
- 3.MRI examination
- Hemorrhage in the joint, swelling or continuous interruption of the anterior cruciate ligament. You can see the stump, the lateral wall of the femoral intercondylar fossa or the posterior femoral condyle and the corresponding tibial plateau contusion.
- 4. Knee Arthroscopy
- Visible bleeding at the rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament or a small blood clot. Subsynovial ligament injury appears normal under arthroscopy, but its abnormal length and tension may indicate the possibility of this injury.
Diagnosis of anterior cruciate ligament injury
- Trauma history and obvious knee signs combined with X-ray and MRI are generally not difficult to diagnose. A small number of patients have pain due to acute injury, protective cramps of the quadriceps, and the front drawer test is negative, which requires further examination under anesthesia.
Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Treatment
- Non-surgical treatment
- For simple anterior cruciate ligament rupture or incomplete rupture, the knee can be fixed at 30 ° flexion with long leg plaster. Note that before casting, push the upper end of the affected tibia backward and fix it for 4-6 weeks. Quadriceps training was started 3 days after the cast to prevent muscle atrophy.
- 2. Surgical treatment
- Anterior cruciate ligament rupture, combined with medial ligament injury, or combined cruciate ligament rupture, or lateral ligament injury, obvious anterolateral or anterior medial rotation instability of the knee joint, or abnormal activity of varus or eversion should be treated early Or perform ligament reconstruction surgery. If the medial meniscus is ruptured, the meniscus should be removed.
- For old simple anterior cruciate ligament injury and knee instability, reconstruction of the ligament should be considered. However, due to the good compensation function of the quadriceps femoris, a few patients can be more effective in controlling the instability of the affected tibia.