How do I treat a pulled anterior cruciate ligament (ACL)?
I’m not sure how you know it’s your ACL rather than some other sort of knee pain, but the initial treatment is the same: stay off it for a while, take some ibuprofen (or motrin or other NSAID, whichever one you tolerate best), and apply some heat. (Ice is for recent injuries to keep swelling down. Heat promotes blood flow and healing.) When you feel a bit better, you can do some knee exercises. Strictly, you’re not exercising the knee, but the many muscles that help keep the knee stable. The stronger you are, the less likely you will be forced to depend on the ligament to keep your knee in alignment. Follow the link above and do the exercises. If it doesn’t get better, get to a doctor. Knees are complicated, and there can be all sorts of things wrong. For example: I tore my ACL without realizing it because it didn’t hurt that much. In fact, the absence of screaming pain initially
