Cruciate ligament injuries have been a common occurence for many top professional footballers throughout the years but only over the past decade has the term become more commonly known.
With many cruciate ligament injuries ruling top players out for almost a year we're going to look at what the cruciate ligaments are, how they are damaged, how to treat them and which players have suffered most from cruciate ligament injuries.
The cruciate ligaments make up two of the four main ligaments in the knee, one Collateral on either side and two Cruciate, one in front of the other, in the middle.
The Anterior cruciate ligament sits behind the kneecap and in front of the Posterior cruciate ligament. Together they prevent the knee from over bending, straightening or adverse rotation.
The Medial collateral ligament runs along the inside of the knee with the Lateral collateral ligament positioned on the outside of the knee.
For a "normal" member of the public an anterior cruciate ligament rupture would not always require surgery and the injury could recover itself given time. It is believed that surgery can help reduce the risk of arthritis in the knee joint in later life though and added to the time to recvoery factor, most footballers prefer to have the surgery and speed up the recovery process.
Tissue is grafted from the hamstring tendons or kneecap to replace the anterior cruciate ligament and is attached to the bones above and below the knee cap with screws.
The success rate is high and players who have been operated on can be up and walking quite soon after the operation. Obviously running is still some months away though and the long hard road to recovery is not a short journey even after surgery.
It can take a full six to twelve months of physiotherapy and gentle reintroduction to exercise to really make a full return to competitive soccer.
Top European players such as Alan Shearer, Michael Owen, Roy Keane, Paul Gascoigne, Henrik Larsson and Ruud Van Nistelrooy have all suffered potentially career threatening cruciate ligament injuries but following surgery at the hands of Dr. Richard Steadman, the top US knee specialist, they have all gone on to continue their careers at the very top level.
