Does the popping sound that your knee made when you ruptured your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) still resound in your ears? Does the painfully high cost of surgery in your home country to repair the torn ligament add to your agony? If yes, then you might find it a little helpful to look into anterior cruciate ligament surgery in Mexico, Costa Rica or India.

Torn ACL Repair Surgery – Overview

• A tear in the anterior cruciate ligament is often the result of a sudden change in direction or application of deceleration force on the knee. The patient often feels or hears a “pop” when the ligament tears, and later, experiences rapid onset of swelling, and develops a buckling sensation in the knee when attempting to change direction.
• Surgical treatment of torn ACL usually involves arthroscopic reconstruction of the injured ligament, in which the central third of the patellar tendon with a bone block at each end of the tendon graft is harvested after performing a diagnostic arthroscopic examination of the knee.
• The remaining tendon is then repaired. After harvesting the tissue, drill guides are used to place holes into the tibia (the bone below the knee) and femur (the bone above the knee). By placing the drill holes at the attachment sites of the original ligament, when the graft is pulled through the drill hole, it gets placed in the same position as the original ACL.
• After pulling the graft through the drill holes and into the joint to replace the torn ACL, the graft is then held in place with bio-absorbable screws or metallic screws.
• Fastening the graft in this manner allows new blood vessels to grow into the transferred graft and for healing to occur.
• It is possible to bear weight (partially) on the surgically treated leg by using crutches for the first 7-10 days after surgery. Those considering torn ACL repair surgery in Mexico, India or Costa Rica are advised to plan their trip keeping days of recuperation required in mind.
• Supervised physical therapy usually begins on the second or third day after surgery.
• Giugliano and Solomon of Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, in their study published in the August 2007 issue of the journal Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Clinics of North America report that female athletes are two to eight times more susceptible to torn anterior cruciate ligaments than their male counterparts.

Low Cost ACL Surgery in India, Mexico and Costa Rica

• In the US and Canada, ACL repair can cost an astronomical amount. Nonetheless, cheaper treatment options do exist in the form of ACL surgery in Mexicali, Tijuana, Ciudad Juarez, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, San Jose and a host of other medical tourism hotspots.
• What makes the cost of anterior cruciate ligament surgery in these places easy on the pocket? The answer lies in their low living costs and the ever increasing competition among clinics and hospitals to garner more medical tourists. The former also implies that lodging and food come cheaper here than in the developed countries of the West.
• If you pick the destination for your surgery keeping travel distance in mind, you can further cut down your costs. Americans from around California can consider ACL surgery in Tijuana, as the Mexican border town is only about 17 miles from San Diego.
• Those from New Mexico and Texas can truncate their travel costs and time by choosing to have their ACL surgery in Ciudad Juarez. Costa Rica is another suitable destination for North Americans. India would be a more logistically viable destination for patients from Australia and Europe.

• The orthopedic surgeons in Mexico, India, and Costa Rica are highly experienced and routinely perform anterior cruciate ligament surgery.
• Most of the surgeons in these countries are educated in the US or UK, and have even worked in the developed countries for a significant period of time. Hence, you can expect high expertise levels.
• Additionally, the three countries are home to a number of JCI-accredited hospitals. The leading hospitals of India, Mexico and Costa Rica are furnished with the latest of equipment and have well-appointed patient rooms.

So, why go for expensive medical care when you can easily get your anterior cruciate ligament surgery in Mexico, Costa Rica or India at a tenth of the American prices?