What is the ACL?

Your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the key ligaments that stabilises the knee.

FIRSTLY LETS LOOK AT WHAT A LIGAMENT IS AND DOES!

A ligament is a band of flexible but fibrous connective tissue which connects one bone to another.

Ligaments prevents excessive movement in joints all over the body.

A C L

We see and hear a lot about the ACL, footballers such as Zlatan Ibrohimavich and Paul Gascoigne have ruptured their ACL’s along with numerous other athletes.

When you hear of someone rupturing their ACL, the knee has been put under excessive force, usually involving a twisting and landing movement, this causes the knee to move excessively and stresses the ACL to the point of rupture (complete tear or snap of the ligament)

Often a ruptured ACL requires reconstructive surgery and a 9 month recovery process to enable the individual to return to sport/ hobbies - in the grand scheme of things this isn’t long to allow someone to return to something they love or their work.

Occasionally ACL ruptures don’t require surgery and a vigorous strengthening programme is suitable to return some individuals to their hobbies/sport.

Contrary to a lot of beliefs- ACL RUPTURES ARE NOT CAREER ENDING (sport/activity/hobby) ending injuries!

Callum Wilson (footballer) proves this! He suffered 2 ACL ruptures (one in the right knee in 2015 and one in the left knee in 2017)

Callum is back playing up front for Bournemouth FC and is banging them in, he was recently rewarded with his first England cap in which he scored his first England goal! ⚽️

ACL injuries aren’t as bad as made out.. Callum Wilson is current proof of this!

LETS RAISE AWARENESS OF ACL INJURIES- THEY DONT HAVE TO BE LIFE CHANGING!