ACL Tear Specialist
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Carlos A Uquillas, M.D.
Sports Medicine Specialist located in Los Angeles, CA, Pasadena, CA, & Anaheim, CA
The unpredictable movements required by some sports can put you at a higher risk of painful ACL tears. As a skilled sports medicine specialist, Carlos Uquillas, MD, understands how disruptive an ACL tear can be. At his Los Angeles offices in Westchester and Pasadena, and in in San Fernando Valley/Tarzana, California, Dr. Uquillas provides on-site diagnostic testing and customized treatment services, including surgery, to relieve pain and restore the function of your knee. If you can’t bear weight on your knee, schedule an evaluation for an ACL tear by calling the office nearest you today or scheduling online.
ACL Tear
What is an ACL tear?
Your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is the major ligament in your knee. A ligament connects bones together. For that reason, it's tough and fibrous. Your ACL is responsible for connecting your shinbone to your thigh bone and providing stability to your knee joint.
Both adults and children can tear their ACL in a fall or a sports injury. Any sport that requires you to make sudden stops or changes in direction can increase your risk of tearing your ACL. These sports include football, soccer, and basketball.
ACL tears can be partial, where a hole develops in the tissue but the ligament stays intact, or you can completely tear the ligament.
What are the symptoms of an ACL tear?
At the time of your injury, you could hear a popping sound in your knee. Often, ACL tears cause immediate pain that’s severe enough to take you out of the game.
Your knee could swell quickly, and you could lose a significant amount of your knee’s range of motion. It’s also common to experience instability in your knee, a feeling that your knee is giving out whenever you put weight on it.
To confirm an ACL tear, Dr. Uquillas examines your knee and uses X-rays and/or other diagnostic imaging procedures.
How is an ACL tear treated?
Treatment of an ACL tear depends on the severity of your injury. Dr. Uquillas customizes your care to your individual needs and focuses on easing your pain and preserving the function of your knee joint.
Dr. Uquillas specializes in minimally invasive treatments that include advanced joint preservation techniques. He can recommend regenerative medicine therapies, including stem cell therapy and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections.
These regenerative treatments use your body’s own healing ability to repair the damaged ligaments. PRP contains growth factors that stimulate the production of new, healthy tissue to replace damaged tissue.
Stem cells are basically blanks. They can become any kind of cell, including ligament and bone cells. Injections of stem cells heal your torn ligament from the inside out.
If these treatments aren’t enough to improve your knee joint’s function, Dr. Uquillas could recommend ACL reconstruction surgery. During surgery, the doctor takes a piece of tendon from another part of your body and uses it to replace the damaged part of the ligament.
In pediatric cases, Dr. Uquillas offers a specialized growth plate sparing surgery. This procedure focuses on repairing ACL tears without disrupting the growth plates in the knee.
If you think you've suffered an ACL tear, don’t delay getting a diagnosis. Call the office of Carlos Uquillas, MD, nearest you, or request an appointment through the online booking system today.
