An ACL tear can be a devastating injury for an athlete, oftentimes knocking them out of competition for 9-12 months. The standard course of treatment involves surgically addressing and strengthening to torn ligament, but recent research has pondered whether the ACL can heal on its own without surgery.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that medical experts have pondered the best way to treat an ACL tear. Current research suggests that surgery is typically the best option, but that doesn’t mean that experts aren’t at least exploring the possibility of other viable treatments. Below, we take a closer look at the newest research on the best way to manage ACL tears.
Could Torn ACLs Recover Without Surgery?
To get a better understanding of the possibility of treating torn ACLs with conservative treatments, researchers took a closer look at 80 patients who wanted to see if they could treat their torn ACL without surgery. The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that 90 percent of torn ACLs showed signs of healing and repair on scans three months into treatment. All of these patients followed a specific bracing and physical therapy program over these months.
Specifically, the knee was braced at a 90-degree angle for a month, which positioned the ligament’s tattered ends closer together in hopes of facilitating healing. While braced, participants took part in extensive PT exercises in order to aid blood flow and reduce muscle atrophy. The brace was relaxed after a month until it was completely removed at 12 weeks. The knee was scanned prior to treatment and after three months.
Researchers noted that 90 percent of MRIs found evidence of tissue healing, even though the healing was rarely extensive. Many other experts took issue with these findings, including Timothy Hewett, a professor of orthopedic surgery at the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, who’s co-written hundreds of peer-reviewed articles, many about ACL injuries. He suggests that the MRIs may instead indicate ligament scarring, or they may have been misread.
“The term ‘healing’ should not be used by the authors in this context,” said Hewett.
So while it’s encouraging that researchers are trying to improve our current understanding of best treatment methods, it’s clear that when it comes to ACL tears, more research is needed before we move away from the current recommendation of surgery. It seems that the conservative techniques used in this study may be more effective than other conservative options with less structured bracing and PT, but given the proven recovery rates with surgery and the significantly reduced risk of a subsequent tear compared to non-operative treatment, odds are your treating physician will recommend surgery if you tear your ACL.