Learn about treatment and surgery for repairing your unhappy triad
Unfortunately, in virtually all cases of the unhappy triad, surgery is necessary to repair the triad of injuries. This is mostly due to the injury to the ACL since a torn ACL can almost never heal with surgery. Luckily, in most cases surgery can be done using arthroscopic surgery techniques through a series of small incisions. This reduces scarring from the unhappy triad surgery and can also quicken recovery time in some instances.
Surgical Considerations for the Unhappy Triad
Before deciding on a surgical plan, and specifically on ACL reconstruction, your doctor is going to take into consideration many factors about your health and lifestyle. This includes:
- Activity level: specifically involvement in sports or labor intensive employment
- Age: can be a complication in very young patients who have not finishing growing
- General health: based on ability to undergo surgery
- Support system and needs after surgery
Surgical Options for Repairing a Torn ACL in the Unhappy Traid
The main surgical consideration when repairing an unhappy triad is the ACL reconstruction. In the past doctors used to repair the ACL by sewing it back together. However, since the long term success rate of this type of repair is not high, today doctors usually use a graft to repair the torn ACL. There are many different types of grafts that can be done to repair the torn ACL portion of the unhapy triad. They include:
- Patellar tendon autograft
- Hamstring tendon autograft
- Quadriceps tendon autograft
- Allografts
Surgical Options for Repairing the Torn Meniscus in the Unhappy Triad
In most cases, it is rather easy for the doctor to also repair the meniscus while they are repairing the torn ACL in the unhappy triad. Depending on the size and location of the tear, there are different procedures your doctor might pursue. The most common torn meniscus treatments for the unhappy triad are:
- Meniscectomy: Removal of the torn section of the meniscus
- Meniscus Tear Repair: Suture repair of the section of the torn meniscus
- Meniscal Transplantation: Implantation of a cadaver meniscus
Treatment of the Torn MCL in the Unhappy Triad
In most instances, unless the tear is very serious, the MCL can heal on its own once the torn ligaments are repaired. The entire knee will be stabilized after unhappy triad surgery and during that time of stabilization, the MCL will begin to heal.