Marques Colston

(if he's breaking down now, watch out. Not every human is meant to play professional football. Also, he played at what, Hofstra? Not exactly the best place to experience NFL hits during your collegiate career)

In case anyone is wondering, what the heck is arthroscopic knee surgery?

Well, an orthopaedic surgeon performs a button-hole incision in the skin covering the joint in question, in this case it is the knee but it could just as well be performed in the shoulder or hip joints. Then a fiber optic camera, about the width of a pencil will be inserted into the joint through the incision to take a peek at the status of the various ligaments and tendons associated with the joint.

Why bother with this? Because this way surgeons can accurately diagnose the goings-on inside the joint without risking the patients long-term health with riskier surgeries that require larger operating windows. The name of the game in surgery is keeping the surgical window as small as possible.

Now say the camera detects fraying of the anterior cruciate ligament, or ACL. An orthopaedic surgeon then will determine where to cut the frayed portions that are interfering with the normal movement of the joint and causing discomfort. Instead of using a scalpel, the surgeon can use specially designed scissors that will enter through other button-hole openings made by the surgeon.

There's risk-reward to these procedures. Eventually, if there's too much fraying and if one too many arthroscopic knee procedures are performed, then the patient may run out of ligament! In those situations, surgeons must be more invasive and take extra ligaments from somewhere else in the body, transplant it into the joint and suture the whole thing together.

Keep in mind, the body isn't the best at re-growing ligaments, so take care of yours!