The Impact of Secondary Injuries on Knee Stability After ACL Tears

When you tear your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), it's not just one part of your knee that suffers. Often, other structures in your knee get hurt too. These are called secondary stabiliser injuries. Some common ones are medial meniscus ramp lesions (MMRLs), lateral meniscus posterior root tears (LMPRTs), and anterolateral complex injuries (ALCIs). A recent study looked into how these extra injuries affect the overall stability of your knee after an ACL tear. Imagine your knee is like a house. The ACL is a major support beam, and when it breaks, the house becomes wobbly. Now, think of the secondary stabilisers as other important parts of the house, like walls or pillars. If they get damaged too, the whole structure becomes even less stable. The study found that the more of these secondary stabilisers that are injured, the wobblier your knee gets.It's like trying to walk on a wobbly chair. If one leg is broken, it's hard enough. But if you break another leg, the chair becomes almost impossible to sit on safely. The same goes for your knee. The more parts that are broken, the harder it is to keep your knee stable. The study also pointed out that these secondary injuries often don't get as much attention as the ACL tear itself. But they play a big role in how well your knee recovers. So, it's important for doctors and patients to pay attention to these other injuries too.