The Anterior Cruciate Ligament is important in maintaining rotatory stability of the knee particularly in pivoting sports. It is often torn in pivoting movements off a single leg or single leg landing after jumping.
Most patients will have difficulty returning to pivoting sports with an ACL deficient knee.
The ACL is not repairable so it is reconstructed usually arthroscopically using either hamstring tendons or the middle third of the patella tendon.
This is followed by intensive rehabilitation and the patient should not return to pivoting sports for at least 6 months usually longer.
Written by Dr Ivan Popoff, orthopaedic specialists