By Henry Jom Contributing Writer For years, it was believed that a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament — the band of dense connective tissue inside the knee that runs from the femur (thigh bone) to the tibia (shin bone) — had limited healing capacity. The dreaded rupture of the knee’s ACL, common for athletes, would usually result in a type of surgery called a reconstruction, by replacing the ruptured ligament with a substitute graft tendon from either the hamstring, patella, or quadriceps. While ACL reconstruction surgery is currently the most common option for ACL ruptures, Australian researchers have shown conservative nonsurgical methods to be an effective alternative.
The Research Stephanie Filbay, principal research associate at the University of Melbourne’s Department of Physiotherapy, has led two studies on ACL rehabilitation — the most recent demonstrating the capacity for the ACL to self-heal and a previous study showing the option of using a nonsurgical “cross-bracing protocol.” “In our recent study, we found that those with these signs of healing had excellent 12-month outcomes, including knee function, quality of life, and stability — and 92% had returned to pre-injury sports,” Filbay said in an email. According to Filbay, there are different degrees of ACL healing, but in many cases, the ACL is restored to its preinjury appearance through conservative management with normal alignment seen in magnetic resonance imaging.
“In a different study.