ACL Injuries

[Meg]

A very interesting article published yesterday about a new non-invasive way to treat ACL injuries - developed by the Swans’ ex-doctor Dr Tom Cross and his father Dr Merv Cross.

Alex Johnson gets a mention [emoji22].

‘ .. the Crosses have “found another way”, unearthing a game-changing non-surgical procedure that allows the ACL to heal naturally, without invasive surgery .. ‘

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/bend-the-knee-the-game-changing-procedure-for-athletes-with-acl-injuries-20230630-p5dkn5.html

[Ludwig]

Merv and Tom Cross did my double knee replacement surgery in 2008. Merv was over 70 at the time and close to retirement, so he must be around 90 now. Merv told me he did over 60,000 knee operations in his career. That's a big number.

[goswannies]

Interesting and fascinating concept, however, I would consider it with caution at this stage, as studies with small-ish sample sizes and short-term follow-up won’t always yield a complete picture. ACL rehab (particularly post surgery) is a 9-12 month recovery (and realistically, the body’s healing and recovery is a couple of years, but it’s deemed strong enough at 9-12 months) so follow-up studies spanning a few months will potentially have limitations.

Conservative rehab is not a new concept (although this protocol is innovative) and it can certainly be successful. I’ve had 2 ACL recons on my right knee and when I injured my ACL in my left knee I opted not to have surgery. It has been fine for 2 decades.

What also needs to be considered is what is a successful outcome. No-symptoms with activity modification is very different to someone wanting to return to elite level sport in a sport that demands high intensity, ballistic speeds, jumping/landing/pivoting/twisting & contact.

Longer follow-up with significantly larger sample sizes; result replication; tighter selection criteria and variable control; and robust comparisons with ACL reconstruction outcomes are all desirable to validate new rehab and management techniques.

That said, novel protocols have to start somewhere.