ern of movement. Instead of moving sideways and up and down, the knee only serves as a pivot for flexion (bending) and extension (straightening); it holds the tibia and femur in place (northstar). In the northstar web page it is stated that, "The anterior

a trial basis. He/she is placed back on the roster as a back up, and if everything goes well the athlete will be able to return fully to the sport. He/she will continue to require a knee brace while playing for extra support. It is a long, hard road of patience and determination for an athlete who sustains a torn ACL. It is quite possible that the injury could cause the athlete to never be able to perform as well again. The star player could be reduced to second string. Although in many cases what really holds the athlete back is not the knee, but instead fear of further injury. Many athletes find themselves almost completely back to normal, but they cannot perform because they are afraid of getting hit. It is understandable then to see tears well up in the eyes of an athlete when he/she realizes that the injury is to the knee. A torn ACL is the first thought that comes to mind. It is their greatest fear.

this surgery, a small incision is made for the tiny camera which will guide the surgeon. To reconstruct the ACL, the surgeon will generally harvest, or take, one third of the patellar tendon. Usually it will be the central third that will be used in order to leave the two ends easily re-attachable. Attached to the graft (the patellar tendon) are pieces of bone which will prevent the tendon from sliding out of place once attached to the tibia and femur. Holes are then drilled into the femur and tibia at the attachment sites. The tendon, which will now be the reconstructed anterior cruciate ligament, is then threaded through the holes and held in place by metal screws. New blood vessels will grow in the tendon enabling it to heal, and the body will accept it as a ligament (Arthroscopy.com). There is little scarring, but still much to recover from. After surgery, the patient is set up with a physical therapist and given a continuous passive motion device. This deice is normally !

akes a loud "pop" and, because of the absence of the ligament's reinforcement, there is a feeling of instability in the knee. In some cases, the knee actually subluxes, which is a dislocation that pops back into place on its own. In these cases, there is usually more injured than just the ACL. Often the MCL (medial collateral ligament) is also injured (Sechrest.com). Other common symptoms, according to the northstar website are pain and the athlete falling to the ground as a result of the instability, or buckling, of the knee. A t

Some common words found in the essay are:
MRI MRI, Ligament ACL, Anterior Drawer, ACL MCL, Retrieved September, torn acl, York MacMillan, anterior cruciate, cruciate ligament, anterior cruciate ligament, Knee November, Reconstruction July, abrupt stops, retrieved september, acl torn, weeks surgery, blood vessels, Cruciate Ligament, Anterior Cruciate, torn acl injury, lachman's test, tibia femur, weeks surgery athlete, knee torn acl,
Approximate Word count = 1636
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)