Cruciate Ligament Injuries
The cruciate knee ligaments at the front and at the back are the central pillars of the joint and their essential stabilisers. A rupture of the ligaments causes an instability that if not treated leads to a considerable attritional damage of the knee. Clinical and experimental examinations have proven that there is no spontaneous healing of the frontal cruciate knee ligament.An existent instability usually leads to the development of secondary damage, even to the stage of arthrosis. As preservative methods of treatment do not usually achieve satisfactory results the only chance to avoid an arthrosis is a frontal cruciate knee ligament replacement operation. Various comparative studies have shown that the best results are achieved with the cruciate knee ligament plastic surgery with an autologous transplant. In this process the missing frontal cruciate knee ligament is replaced with the body's own natural materials in an arthroscopic operation, using the patellar tendon or the semutendinosus tendon as a replacement. The optimal technique for the patient depends on individual factors and is preoperatively determined with the surgeon. After the operation special rehabilitation measures optimise the success in the practice.
