Knee ACL Tear: A Complicated Problem
When the knee anterior cruciate ligament or ACL is a very strong ligament. Its primary function is to prevent forward motion of the thigh bone ( the femur) on the shin bone or tibia. Tearing of the ACL is a violent injury. This is why there are usually other soft tissue’s injuries besides just the ACL.
The Terrible Triad
This name refers to when the ACL, the medical meniscus, and the medial collateral ligament have been injured. It is difficult to overcome, and has ended many athletes careers.
Medial Meniscus vs. Lateral Meniscus
Their are menisci (plural) a medial meniscus on the inside of the knee, and a lateral meniscus on the outside of the knee. It is possible both can be torn, however the medial meniscus is the more injured one. The lateral meniscus is associated with a worse long term surgical outcome for degenerative arthritis after debridement.
Having an ACL Reconstruction, and both medial and lateral meniscus surgically repaired is an accident waiting to happen as time goes by. The more violent the injury, the more damage done, and greater likelihood of early onset degenerative arthritis of the knee joint.
Knee ACL Surgery and Degenerative Arthritis
Animal studies have shown experimentally, an ACL injury is such a devastating knee joint problem that it will result in early degenerative arthritis of the knee joint. A second and third part of this eloquent study done at Rush University, revealed stem cells administered within a week of injury prevented knee degenerative arthritis development. A month after ACL, degenerative knee arthritis developed it was lessened. Unfortunately, most people wait and don’t know the real research and it’s implications. For those of us who damaged or tore the ACL and meniscus prior to the stem cell Regenerative Medicine era, the degenerative already has occurred. It then becomes making the best of what the knee joint is like. People often seem incorrectly, and our current medical system doesn’t help in this regard, all knees are not alike at a certain age, different people have different trauma or repetitive knee injuries, weight gain, and prior surgery are all factors. It not the stem cells of a typical person is too old….it’s the environment the stem cells are placed in that is the real problem.
An otherwise pristine 14 year old knee, has knee arthritis it’s typically a sports injury or accident. Not a 70 year old knee joint with multiple problems, and a 50 pound weight gain over the last decade. All extremely important for the Regenerative Medicine expert. If these questions are not being addressed, the obvious answer is why?
