One of the most common knee injuries is an anterior cruciate ligament sprain or tear. Most athletes who participate in high active athletic activities and high demand sports, like rugby, baseball, and golf, are more likely to injure their anterior cruciate ligament. An anterior cruciate ligament injury is the over-stretching or tearing of the anterior cruciate ligament ACL in the knee. A tear could be small, or it could be very large in the amount of tearing in the ACL. Three bones meet to form your knee joint, your femur, the shinbone or the tibia, and the patella. Your patella sits in front of the joint to provide some protection. There are four primary ligaments in your knee. Collateral ligaments are found in the side of your knee. The …show more content…
Over many years the anterior cruciate ligament or the ACL has become to have higher risk of being injured, because of sports becoming more popular over the years. Every year in the United States, over one-hundred thousand people tear their Anterior Cruciate Ligaments, mostly resulting from hardcore sports where you have to possibly cut, pivot or plant your foot, like football and basketball are sports in which a lot of athletes every year tear their ACL’s. Many serious athletes that tear their ACL usually opt to have immediate surgery on it. If they want to get back to the game as quickly as possible, they will have it reconstructed. After surgery, it may possibly take six to nine months to recover to full activity. After the healing process, you will probably go through a three week rehabilitation cycle to help your knee adjust, and to get the knee in full range of motion. The new ligament will need time to recover and heal and care is taken to make sure the graft is not ripped. The graft is pieces of living tissue that is implanted onto the body during