The semester came out swinging on these bloggers and before we knew it, two months had gone by without getting our first post up when we wanted it. Sorry about that, but going forwards into the end of 2013 and the start of 2014 we can keep you updated with what sort of fun stuff we're doing at Naturopathic Med school, tips to study and any other interesting articles in regards to anatomy, medicine and health.
Hopefully everyone heard and got as excited about the anterolateral ligament (ALL) as me when this study was published by researchers in Belgium. However, turns out (as their abstract states) this structure had been observed as early as 1879 by Paul Segond, a surgeon from France. He described a 'pearly, resistant, fibrous band' at the anterolateral aspect of the knee, but it took until 2013 for these researchers to provide a full anatomical description.
They found that in 40/41 (97%) of cadavers dissected, the ALL was 'a well-defined ligamentous structure, clearly distinguishable from the anterolateral joint capsule,' and that it ran from the lateral femoral epicondyle to the anterolateral tibia with firm insertions to the lateral meniscus along the way.
So what's important about this? Researchers believe that the ALL plays an important role in patients ACL tears. The Belgian doctors were finding that even after patients had reconstructive ACL surgery, they still experienced pivot shift episodes where the knee would give out and they would lose stability. Due to the common nature of these tears in athletes playing a wide variety of sports, fully understanding this ligament may allow doctors to treat patients with ACL tears more effectively in the future.
If you're interested in reading more about this 're-discovery', make sure to check out the abstract at the top and take a read through this New York Times article.
For more information on the knee and performing a proper knee exam, check out Pro Health System's website!
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