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ACL injury prevention programs including exercises like plyometrics, neuromuscular training, and strength training can help being one of the main preventive measures anyone can take to avoid this injury. Majority (80%) of these injuries are non-contact inhibited such as players falling on their own or their own bodies knee giving out in which these prevention programs can reduce the risk in females by 52% and in males 85% with principles like age, biomechanics, compliance, dosage, feedback, and exercise variety contributing to how well these prevention programs can help when it comes to the strength training, neuromuscular training, and plyometrics 20-30min per week.

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One public health measure would be having Public Service Announcements for the targeted audience. Young women athletes are the most likely population to receive ACL injuries so having a PSA towards this population and showing preventative measures is a great way to help bring awareness of the matter.

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One new technology that has given doctors a new way to help treat ACL injuries is the BEAR Implant. The BEAR Implant stands for Bridge Enhancement ACL Repair and is one of the first technologies to be approved by the U.S Food and Drug Administration allowing peoples bodies to heal the ACL injury itself. The BEAR implant acts as bridge putting ends of ACL tears together to help heal injury working for up to 8 weeks and is able to restore ACL's qualities that it had before the ACL injury even occurred. This innovative measure is still new from 2023 in which this can cause for some possible negative side aspects since this technology isn't used and therefore tested as much as regular ACL reconstruction surgeries and other more reliable treatments. However, it is able to add a new and more useful way to treat ACL injuries.

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A safety device that would help to prevent an ACL injury would be some sort of knee sleeve or some wrapping of the knee in order to help prevent that knee from bending inward. One challenge someone might face would be the price of knee sleeves which some are relatively cheap and others more expensive. A technology component of helping to determine and diagnose whether the person has an ACL tear or not would be use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to see that tissue. One issue with this would be that to get an MRI is that it can cost from $400-$4,000 for someone who is insured.

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Another prevention measure that could be taken would be switching from turf fields to artificial grass. Turf grass can make ACL injuries 1.6 times more likely to occur compared to artificial grass specified on football players with NFL players being a huge portion of this research. The bottom layer of this turf is a type of gravel, then a shock absorbing base to cover, then the turf itself consisting of just fibers looking like grass with sand or rubber pallets filling layers between "grass". However, materials used in turf fields likely contain lead or other chemicals harmful to humans health and ultimately have shown to make ACL injuries and more tears more likely to happen. Challenges faced come from the rubber or chemicals possibly getting into the players lungs as well as injuries being more common and more serious on turf from infill weight of rubber pieces bring players down or causing an injury from moving the knee certain ways when infill has decreased. Therefore, artificial grass would be a better and safer option with no need of infill.

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There are such things as prevention programs for ACL tears and knee injuries. These programs focus on neuromuscular and proprioceptive training such as exercises, stretches, and balance techniques focusing on landing and pivoting on the feet. Some main muscles that may be targeted with these exercises will be the thigh and hip muscles and an example of an exercise would be abducting and adducting hip exercises relating to mobility and strength. The strengthening of these muscles will create balance and stabilization of the knee which will reduce the chance of an ACL tear or any other knee-related injuries. Some challenges that might be faced when someone is trying to do an injury-prevention program is that it costs money which no one really has to spare. A prevention program can cost about $600 a year which can prevent most people from having this as an option.

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Specific sports affected mainly by ACL injuries would be girls soccer, boys football, boys basketball, and boys baseball. Each athlete in these sports have a higher chance of this injury from player-to-player contact as well as how athletes tend to land, jump, or pivot in fast motions making the injury more likely to occur. This special population would have to deal with the challenge of deciding for surgical care or no surgical treatment with both resulting in challenges of how the athletes will adapt to their reconstructed knee and building back the knee cartilage and meniscus. From all of this, athletes are one of the main populations affected by ACL injuries.

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The women population are 2 to 8 times more likely to receive an ACL tear than their male counterpart because of anatomy and menstrual hormones. Since the population will be young, it will be difficult to try and get their parents to help them get care since kids do not have direct access to their healthcare, rather, their parents do. If their parents do not have insurance, that might be a challenge to face.

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After a patient goes through surgery for the knee to repair the ACL you should stay away from high-impact activities like running or sprinting. Swimming although can be consider a high-impact activity it provides a safe alternative to add load to your body and joints without having to bear the full weight of your body.

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One rehabilitation treatment from an ACL injury would be physical therapy and the problem to bear weight. The problem revolves around the lack of dynamic knee stability. The physical therapy to improve this can go for a couple weeks to 6 months. Physical therapy after a ACL injuries surgery is most common and could include the person using crutches to walk, and using braces while bearing as much weight as the person can while walking. Some exercises included in helping ACL movement would be quad-raises, straight-leg raises, heel-slides, mini-squat, or even returning to the sport after 6 months. Physical therapists or sports medicine rehabilitation doctors can help treat this.

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With our condition, after an ACL injury, the person would highly be likely to attend physical therapy after this injury. One physical rehabilitation exercise used for people who recently are recovering from a torn ACL would something be called "Heel Slides". Heel slides help extend the knee without you having to put any pressure on it. You are essentially sitting down with an assisted band around your bottom of your foot in front of you, and you pull the band towards you, keeping your heel on the floor, essentially 'sliding' towards you to bend the knee. This would most likely be prescribed by a Physical Therapist.

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SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)

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SSRI (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors)

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A major psychological problem that occurs after an ACL is the development of anxiety and depression. Though it isn't typically prescribed, one treatment that is used is the prescription of SSRI medication. It is used to increase the patients serotonin levels in order to treat depression and anxiety levels. It also can be a cheaper alternative to therapy to the patient. With an increase of serotonin levels it can diminish anxiety and depression, and lead the patient out of their depression. SSRI is typically a first line pharmacotherapy treatment, but must be prescribed by a Doctor, Psychiatrist, Specialist Pharmacist, and or Specialist Nurse.

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One main condition that lots of people with a torn ACL get after their injury would be some sort of depression such as Major Depressive Disorder. One treatment that may be good for this would be some type of therapy but most recommended would be Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps the patient being familiar with their emotions and what may trigger them. For this case, the person might be upset when they see others playing the sport they played if they were an athlete, and they would feel sad since they cannot do the same things they used to. This type of therapy requires a Mental Health Counselor to perform all of the exercises.

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Sports rehabilitation is a very popular treatment for people to uptake after their ACL reconstruction. Sports rehabilitation  is a treatment of rehabilitating the knee and trying to get the players back to their skill level they had before the ACL tear. A common long-term affect that this treatment could help would be the decrease of athletic identity. This would  help the players athletic identity and not decrease it helping with any anxiety or depression following the injury from not feeling like they can get back into their sport and the set skill level they need for the sport. Types of professionals required to deliver the treatment would be medical experts in gait analysis and movement or a sports rehabilitation therapist.

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For long term treatments of ACL injuries, braces have been normalized and a custom knee brace can range from costs of $500 - $850 or even $25-$100 for the cheaper ones that are taken off throughout the day where as the customized ones are worn for the longer period of time and not taken off. Health insurance, auto insurance and worker’s compensation insurance are the major types of insurance that will pay for a brace however, a lot for the time braces aren't paid for so it just depends. The long-term consequence that could happen if the brace isn't worn could be the loss of stability, more pain, and less physical work is to be done.

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The cost of a personal trainer ranges from $35 to $90. This will not be covered by insurance as it is not constituted as necessary treatment. Long term consequences include lost strength and mobility in knee and skeletal muscle surrounding knee.

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One long-term treatment for an ACL injury would be Physical therapy. The expected cost of physical therapy is about 75$ - 150$ per session. After surgery its usually 24 sessions over 12 months. On a scale of 1-5, the likelihood of of this treatment being fully covered is 3/5 considering if the health insurance deems the PT to be "medically unnecessary".

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MRI's are used to diagnose the extent and severity of an ACL injury. It is used to reveal what tendon and ligament structure are damaged and what blood vessels have been ruptured.

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The Lachman test is a commonly used method to accurately diagnose an ACL tear. The test reveals increased motion of the tibia compared to the femur while the knee is slightly flexed

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A very common symptom for ACL injuries is a popping noise or popping sensation in the knee, due to blood vessels tearing and leaking into the joint.

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Pain coming from the posterior (back) of the knee will be very noticeable following a popping sound within the knee and becoming painful to stand on or walk when putting stable weight on it.

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After someone has an ACL Injury, they might need to make some changes to their lifestyle. At first, they may not be able to return back to their sport for a while and when they do, they have to not be as aggressive on turns or anything that might put the ACL at risk. Another lifestyle change they might need to make is going to the gym to strengthen the knee and hamstring to give your ACL more support than it had before since it will going to need it more now. This type of weight training can even help in maintaining a satisfactory life after loosing the connection with the sport that the person may have had too helping adapt to the lifestyle. The type of professional that may help with these changes might be a Personal Trainer, or you can go to the gym and do the workouts yourself.

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When the injury occurs, swelling is one of the common symptoms to occur. Within a few hours the knee will swell and a immediate difference will be noticeable.

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If the ACL injury is minor surgical intervention may not be needed. A common treatment to help is adding a brace to help protect from instability.

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One of the two treatments for an ACL Injury would be the reconstruction of the ACL. This happens by getting tissue from your body and making a new ligament to act as the ACL.

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One very common symptom of an ACL injury would be the limited range of motion right after the injury due to the snapping of the ligament.

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Mya Talty, Aiden Pizarro,  Nasir "Marcus" Rockwell , Jesus "Isco" Ramos

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Ligament Processes affected by ACL Injuries

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Ligament Processes affected by ACL Injuries

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Decreased stability in the knee due to the compromised MCL (Medial Collateral Ligament) and LCL (Lateral Collateral Ligament) which is also at risk for injury since there is no support from the ACL (Anterior Collateral Ligament).

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Primary Anatomical Affected by ACL Injuries

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Primary Anatomical Affected by ACL Injuries

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The ACL acts as a hinge for both the tibia and the femur bone. The ACL is usually detached from the Femur completely and needs surgery to reconstruct a new "ACL".

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The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the main ligament affected between the two bones. The medial and lateral collateral ligaments, and anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments are also involved. All being in the interior, anterior, medial, and working with the ACL to allow function of the knee.

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Ages most likely to suffer from an ACL injury are teenagers ages 12 to 18, due to their tendons and ligaments still growing through puberty and making them more susceptible to injury.

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Women! Women are more likely to obtain an ACL injury through sports rather than men. They are up to 2-8 times more susceptible to this injury than men; likely because they have less muscle mass around their knee than their male counterpart.

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Severe hyperextension is a common cause of ACL and MCL tears.

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Some of the top causes for ACL injuries include sudden movements including changing direction rapidly, suddenly stopping or colliding, slowing down, or even landing incorrectly after a movement.

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Our Focus Problem is all about anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) Injuries

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After an ACL injury, the ability to flex your knee is compromised with increased swelling. The ability to hinge or bend and flex your knee like you normally would not be capable.