"When you have an ACL injury, your risk of arthritis increases dramatically," said Scott Tashman, director of the Biodynamics Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Some 200,000 people suffer ACL tears each year. Sixty to 80 percent of them will develop arthritis in their knees within 10 years, Dr. Tashman said.
"Nothing has a bigger impact on the quality of life than arthritis," said James Irrgang, director of clinical research in UPMC's department of orthopaedic surgery.
The ACL is a rubber band-like fiber that attaches to the femur in the upper leg and the tibia in the lower and stabilizes the knee.
Athletes suffer the overwhelming majority of ACL tears. For reasons that are not entirely clear, female athletes are much more likely to suffer such tears than male athletes.
Because most who play football, basketball, soccer and volleyball -- the sports in which ACL tears are most common -- do so in high school or middle school, an athlete who suffers an ACL tear could start developing arthritis in the knee before he or she is 30.
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