Dr. Mullen, an orthopedic surgeon at Banner Baywood Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona, discusses how you can determine if you have injured your anterior cruciate ligament and shares advice on minimizing the pain.
Dr. Mullen:
What signs would there be that there may be a problem with your ACL?
Well first there’s typically an event, an injury, often with a pop in the knee but not always.
Typically the knee will swell within a few hours. Other injuries that might take three or four days for the knee to swell but the ACL, when it ruptures, tends to swell quite quickly.
Patients will often have eventual subsidence of the swelling and may consider that they only sprained the knee.
Sometimes they go to an urgent care or an emergency room and find that X-rays are normal and the diagnosis can be missed.
The best way to know if you tore your ACL is to make an appointment with a fellowship-trained or a sports medicine doctor who can do the appropriate exam to determine whether or not that ligament has been torn.
Once the event has occurred, sometimes it’s difficult to get into an office right away and one might consider compression wrapping the knee to minimize swelling, relative rest, ice and elevate the extremity above the heart.
About Dr. Daniel J. Mullen, M.D.:
Dr. Daniel J. Mullen, M.D., specializes in reconstructive procedures of both the knee and shoulder. He did his undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. He went to medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia and did his orthopaedic training in Baltimore centered out of Union Memorial Hospital. He also worked at Johns Hopkins University Hospital and the Shock Trauma Center. He did a fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio where he was assistant team doctor for the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the spring training division of the Cleveland Indians. He has authored numerous articles and textbook chapters and delivered many research and teaching presentations on surgery of the knee and the shoulder on both a national and international level. He volunteers his time and resources to help the local high school athletes during their sporting seasons. He lives in Gilbert, AZ, with his wife and two boys.
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Keywords:
Conditions: Arthritis, Osteoarthritis, Rheumatoid Arthritis
Related Terms: ACL Tear, ACL Reconstruction, ACL Injury, Anterior Cruciate Ligament, Ligament Injury, Knee Injury, Sports Injury, Knee Pain, Healthy Diet, Knee Replacement, Rehab, Physical Therapy, Recovery, Shoulder, RNG Structure, Scar Tissue, Muscle
Health Care Provider: Banner Baywood Medical Center, Orthopedic Institute at Banner Baywood Medical Center, Banner Health
Locations: Mesa, Arizona, South East Valley, Chandler, Arizona, Tempe, Arizona, Gilbert, Arizona, Scottsdale, Arizona, Apache Junction, AZ, Queen Creek, AZ, Phoenix East Valley, 85206
Expert: Daniel Mullen, M.D., Dan Mullen, M.D., Dr. Dan Mullen, Doctor Dan Mullen, Orthopedic Surgeon, Dr. Daniel Mullen
Expertise: Sports Injury, Anterior Cruciate Ligament, (ACL) Tears, ACL Tear Repair Rehabilitation, ACL Reconstructive Surgery, ACL Repair Surgery, ACL Knee Surgery, Women ACL Repair, Specialist, Sports ACL Procedure Repair, Skiing ACL Tear Expert, Women's Arthritis Expert, Arthritis Knee And Joint Pain, Expert Hip Replacement, Arthritis Joint Replacement, ACL Treatment Recovery, Knee Surgery, Rehab, Joint-Replacement Procedure, Hip And knee-Replacement Procedures, Sports-Related And Emergency Injuries, Degenerative Conditions Affecting The Bones, Joint Degeneration, Muscle Aches And Pain, Ligaments Tear Reconstruction, Tendon Repair Surgery, Cartilage Problems
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