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Causes
By Mayo Clinic staff
Ligaments are strong bands of tissue that attach one bone to another. The ACL, one of two ligaments that cross in the middle of the knee, connects your thighbone (femur) to your shinbone (tibia) and helps stabilize your knee joint.
Most ACL injuries happen during sports and fitness activities. The ligament may tear when you slow down suddenly to change direction or pivot with your foot firmly planted, twisting or overextending your knee.
Sports that involve running, turning sharply, pivoting and jumping — especially basketball, soccer and gymnastics — put your knee at risk. The ACL can also tear when the tibia is pushed forward below the femur, such as during a fall in downhill skiing. A football tackle or motor vehicle accident also can cause an ACL injury. However, most ACL injuries occur without such contact.
- Friedberg RP. Anterior cruciate ligament injury. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 25, 2008.
- ACL injury: Does it require surgery? American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00297. Accessed Dec. 18, 2008.
- Friedberg RP. Patient information: Anterior cruciate ligament injury. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 25, 2008.
- Hergenroeder AC. Treatment of knee injuries in the young athlete. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed Nov. 25, 2008.
- Spindler KP, et al. Anterior cruciate ligament tear. New England Journal of Medicine. 2008;359:2135
- Murray MM. Current status and potential of primary ACL repair. Clinics in Sports Medicine. 2009;28:51
