When Ligaments Surgery Is Needed
Ligaments surgery is often required when a ligament becomes torn or ruptured, usually in the course of athletic activities. The most common requirement for ligaments surgery is the result of damage done to the ligaments of the knee, with ligament damaged due to a severe ankle sprain, or damage to the ligaments of the elbow being the next most common occurrences.
Anyone who is an athlete or associates with athletes and athletic events, especially football, will eventually hear of ACL injuries. An ACL injury is an injury to the ligaments of the knee, and usually involves reconstruction of this ligament by grafting. Baseball players, and to some extent tennis players are more apt to experience injuries to elbow ligaments, UCL injuries.
Ligaments Surgery And Recovery - Ligaments surgery usually involves grafting a ligament taken from another part of the patient's body to the torn or ruptured ligament. Sometimes a donor ligament, usually taken from a cadaver, is used. Ligaments surgery can be complicated by the fact that at times muscles have to be cut in order to get at the ligament requiring repair. Thus healing time, recovery, and therapy must not only take the ligament into account, but often the associated muscles as well. When the elbow is involved, total recovery occurs in around 80% of all cases, total meaning an athlete can be expected to return to the same level of performance as was the case before the injury. Recovery time is long however, usually about a year, so when ligament surgery is required for a professional baseball player, it invariably means the loss of at least one playing season.
Recovery from ACL surgery usually takes just as long as for recovery from UCL surgery, although in the case of the knee, arthroscopic ligament surgery is more or less a standard practice and is often done on an outpatient basis. Arthroscopic surgery is advantageous, as the anatomy of the knee is very complex, and using cameras and small instruments makes it possible to easily determine the extent of damage to the ligaments, as well as to muscles, other tissue, or bones.
When Surgery May Not Be Needed - In some instances ligaments surgery may not be needed, especially if the ligament has suffered a Class 1 or Class 2 Sprain, in which the ligament may be torn, but not completely ruptured. In the Case of a Class 3 Sprain, where the ligament is badly torn or completely ruptured, ligaments surgery is the only viable option. The goal of the surgery is to return the ligament and the affected body part, be it a knee, elbow or ankle, back to full function, and at the same time prevent injury to other parts of the body, which can sometime occur when "favoring" a damaged ankle or knee. There are instances where a ligament issue is treated through therapy, and often this is sufficient. However, there are those times where the affected area does not respond to therapy or fully recover, and is lacking in strength or stability, making eventual ligaments surgery an increasingly attractive option.
Purposefully Going Without Surgery - Some will elect to live with less than a fully functioning knee or elbow, and possible even with an ankle that gives problems, if they are willing to forgo certain activities that require the stability a healthy ligament provides. Developing the muscles of an arm, leg or ankle, is one alternative to surgery, as the muscles can possibly compensate for a partial degradation in a ligament's function. In some instances, the affected person simply doesn't want to bother with the issue, and is willing to live with it. That's one option.