Prognosis
It is scientifically proven that damage to the cruciate ligament can cause irreparable damage to the knee joint. With very high probability, a knee joint will cause premature wear and tear of the knee joint (arthrosis) after damage to the cruciate ligament has been suffered. According to scientific studies, this wear and tear can be favorably influenced by implantation of an anterior cruciate ligament plastic, but cannot be stopped completely.
Approximately 6-9 months should be allowed until the cruciate ligament rupture is completely healed. Only after this time is the knee usually fully resilient again. Immediately after the injury, the knee must first be treated conservatively for about 4-6 weeks.
Anti-inflammatory and decongestant measures are especially important. Only then does the actual operation usually follow. This is followed by the rehabilitation phase, which takes about 12 weeks.
In the initial period after the operation, the focus is on measures to reduce swelling and inflammation and stabilize the knee with a splint. Crutches must be used for a few weeks. Then the knee will be partially loaded and physiotherapy will be adapted to the respective condition.
After about 6 weeks, light training on the bicycle ergometer or light walking is often possible. Less strenuous sports can then be resumed after about 3-4 months. Sports that put a lot of strain on the knee, such as tennis or similar, can usually be resumed after about 6-9 months, when full resilience is possible again.
Splints are used at two points in time in case of cruciate ligament rupture. Firstly, a splint can be used to stabilize the knee immediately after the injury and to support the decongestant swelling and the reduction of the inflammation until the operation. The second important area of application is the phase immediately after the operation.
During this time it is important to stabilize the knee and only allow movement within a certain range. Finally, the ligament implant fixed in the operation must first grow together with the bone in order to be truly stable in the long term. For this purpose, splints are used in which the radius of movement can be precisely adjusted and limited so that only a certain degree of flexion or extension is possible in the knee.
In this way, the knee can initially be fixed in a certain position. With this stabilization and within the framework of the movements that the splint allows, physiotherapy can be started after a few weeks. In the course of healing, the range of movement and thus the load on the knee can always be adapted to the individual healing process. This greatly reduces the risk of damaging the new ligament again or delaying healing by careless movements or overloading after the operation.