Date of Award

1998

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Physical Therapy (MPT)

Department

Physical Therapy

First Advisor

Peggy Mohr

Keywords

Anterior Cruciate Ligament -- surgery

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to further enhance the knowledge of autogenous tissues around the knee which are used for reconstruction of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Ten fresh-frozen cadaveric knee specimens were used to conduct this experiment. The semitendinosus and gracilis tendons, as well as the bone-patellar tendon-bone complex, were excised and prepared for testing. The semitendinosus and gracilis tendons were doubled and fashioned into a quadruple-stranded graft. The tissue units were then individually fixated in a tensile testing apparatus and tested to failure. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze and compare our data with similar studies to determine which graft best imitates the tensile strength of the biological ACL. Results of this study will add to the orthopaedic body of knowledge concerned with the determination of which knee autograft is optimal for reconstruction of an ACL-deficient knee.

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