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Knee Arthroscopy & Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstructions (ACL) Using Hamstring Tendon Grafts In combination with knee arthroscopy, an ACL reconstruction can be performed. A 6 cm. incision is made just inside the tibial tubercle (the front bump on your knee). From here we harvest two hamstring grafts necessary for the reconstructions. Using the scope, we place drill holes in the leg bone and thigh bone at the level of the knee joint. We pass our prepared graft to reconstruct a new anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). There are many advantages to our procedure. Our patients have less pain and get through rehabilitation faster because we do not cut bone for our grafts, and kneeling on a healed incision is not a problem since it is not in front of the knee. In addition, loss of hamstring strength is not noticeable to most athletes. This treatment has and is being used in athletes of many sport types, genders and caliber of athlete- professional, semi-professional, collegiate, high school, and younger. The success rates in patients returning to sport is quite high. Therefore, I feel this is an excellent approach to ACL reconstructions with benefits to the patient concerning rehabilitation and function. |
