{"id":16451,"date":"2008-06-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/condition-chronic-pain-tiger-woods-knee-pain\/"},"modified":"2008-06-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-06-20T00:00:00","slug":"condition-chronic-pain-tiger-woods-knee-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/condition-chronic-pain-tiger-woods-knee-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiger Woods's Knee Injury: Is It OK to Play Through the Pain?"},"content":{"rendered":"

ACLs<\/a> are fibrous bands of tissue that connect the upper and lower leg bones in a crisscross shape in the middle of the knee joint. They give the knee stability.<\/p>\n

ACL tears, which can occur if the joint is bent backward or twisted when the foot is planted firmly on the ground, are “probably the most common season-ending injury in sports,” says Sherwin Ho, MD, an associate professor of surgery at the University of Chicago and a team orthopedist for the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n

ACL tears are not common injuries in golfers. “Golf is not one of those types of activity that will cause an ACL injury unless you’re just awful,” says Dr. Ho. But Woods injured his a year ago while running. He had surgery in April to clear out damaged cartilage, and he also happens to have double stress fractures in the shinbone of the same leg.<\/p>\n

An ACL injury would pose no problems for the average weekend warrior, says Dr. Ho, who is also a spokesperson for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. “The majority of people will do fine with an isolated ACL tear and a normal, pedestrian, human golf circuit.”<\/p>\n

Woods, however, played 91 holes over five days to win the U.S. Open.<\/p>\n

Treatment<\/strong><\/p>\n

Surgery to repair a damaged ACL is not as easy as stitching the torn pieces together. The procedure, called an ACL reconstruction<\/a>, involves rebuilding the ligament<\/a> “by taking tissue either from elsewhere in the knee or from a tissue bank and making a brand new ligament for them,” says Dr. Ho. “That is a very reliable, dependable surgery.”<\/p>\n

But it’s not always necessary to surgically repair the damage. If you have a torn ACL but don’t have any pain or swelling, you may be able to avoid surgery. For example, a recreational skier with an ACL injury who avoids moguls and jumps might not need surgery. But if you’re a 20-year-old extreme skier, then “no, he’s got to have his ACL fixed,” says Dr. Ho.<\/p>\n

If you have other knee injuries, such as a torn meniscus<\/a> (a pad of cartilage that prevents the bones from rubbing together), you probably do need surgery, says Dr. Ho. The longer you play sports, the worse the damage in those cases. “They’re going to lose more of their cushiony tissue and it will lead to early arthritis,” he says. “With an ACL tear, it’s not as clear cut. You can function fine without an ACL.”<\/p>\n

In Woods’s case, “it was his knee that made the decision for him,” says Dr. Ho. He had the option of having his knee repaired all at once, but he chose to have the cartilage repaired first and the ligament reconstruction at a later date.<\/p>\n

After surgery<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a ligament is repaired, there is a risk of developing arthritis earlier than normal, but that depends on the amount of damage to the cartilage. When the knee is destabilized by an injury, its more likely that the end of the bones will rub together and wear away the cushiony pads that protect them.<\/p>\n