Anterior Cruciate Ligament Grade 1

An anterior cruciate ligament sprain is damage to the ligament fibres that attach your thigh bone (known as the femur) to the shin bone (known as the tibia). Its role is to provide stability to the knee as it bends. Ligaments are made up of thousands of fibres and the grade of the sprain reflects how many of those fibres have torn. A grade 1 strain only has a small number of fibres torn, and the remainder of the healthy fibres are typically capable of carrying out normal function whilst the damaged area heals. The damaged element of your ligament will take approximately 6 weeks to heal, however, there should be more than enough healthy fibres to compensate for this and it is not unusual for you will be back to full function prior to this. If your injury has occurred within the last 7 days, it is more likely that your pain is due to the inflammation present to clot any damage to the area to start the healing process rather than a reflection of the level of sprain that has occurred. This initial process typically lasts around a week then starts to settle down. The following treatment plan has been prescribed to help reduce the inflammation, improve function, and rebuild strength to the strained area.