KNEE Dictionary beginning with A

Abbreviation for 'American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons'.

Moving the limb away from the other limb, to the side.

A muscle which, when contracted, causes the limb to abduct.

Frictional rubbing of one thing against another.

A surgical procedure to smooth off bits of damaged joint cartilage.

An acceleration injury of the knee can occur when the leg is suddenly moved moved into action.

The achilles tendon is the big tendon at the back of the ankle.

Abbreviation for 'autologous chondrocyte implantation'.

Abbreviation for 'anterior cruciate ligament'.

Abbreviation for 'autologous chondrocyte transplantation'.

A system, based on traditional Chinese medicine, of needling special points on the body to relieve pain or improve well-being.

Moving the limb towards the other limb, towards the middle.

A muscle which, when contracted, adducts the limb.

Adhesions are frond-like filaments which form in the knee in response to inflammation.

Abbreviation for 'anterior interval release'.

Abbreviation for 'anterior knee pain'.

Exquisite over-sensitivity of the skin, where light touch is felt as pain or marked discomfort.

An allograft is a graft using tissue that did not originate from the patient but from another person.

Alta means 'high'.

A professional body to which most American Orthopaedic Surgeons would choose to belong.

The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) is a national organisation of orthopaedic surgeons specialising in sports medicine, including national and international sports medicine leaders.

Autologous matrix-induced chondrogenesis

Amputation can be above knee, through knee or below knee.

Analgesics are painkillers.

Anatomy means the 'shape' of the structures in the body, and how the different parts correspond to one another.

Aneural means 'without a nerve supply'.

An aneurysm is a 'blow-out' of a blood vessel at a point of weakness, where it may bulge or even rupture.

An angiogram is an X-ray investigation of the blood vessels, where a contrast agent is injected into the blood vessel and an X-ray taken.

Anterior means 'in front' or 'in front of'.

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the two cruciate ligaments inside the knee.

An anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction is an operation to replace a damaged anterior cruciate ligament with a ligament graft or a synthetic ligament.

The anterior drawer test is a test of the integrity of the anterior cruciate ligament.

The words 'anterior horn' refer to the anterior horn of the meniscus.

The 'anterior interval' is the region of the knee between the fat pad and the front of the tibia bone (anterior tibial plateau) and the patellar tendon.

Anterior interval arthrofibrosis is the condition of abnormal scarring in the 'anterior interval' - the space below the kneecap and behind the patellar tendon.

An anterior interval release is a surgical procedure to remove scar tissue in the 'anterior interval'.

Anterior knee pain means simply 'pain in the front of the knee'.

Anteversion is a rotational deformity, eg of the long bones of the leg.

An anti-inflammatory is a substance that decreases inflammation.

Abbreviation for 'American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine'.

This is a clinical test for possible damage to the meniscus.

A fibrous sheet-like expansion of a tendon.

A thickening of the posterolateral capsule at the back of the knee, that contributes to stability of the joint in this region.

A small barbed fixation device for meniscal repair.

The word 'arthritis' literally means 'inflammation of the joint', but in reality it includes any destructive process involving the cartilagenous joint lining (the 'gristle') at the end of the bones.

'Arthro' means 'joint' and 'fibrosis' means 'scarring'. Arthrofibrosis means internal scarring of the joint, with possible consequent stiffness.

An arthrogram is an X-ray of the joint space of the knee.

Surgical cutting and removing of scar tissue in a stiff joint.

An arthroplasty is a joint replacement.

An arthroscope is an instrument for looking into the knee.

Arthroscopic abrasion is the 'rubbing down' of a damaged bit of joint cartilage.

Debridement is a surgical 'clean up' of the joint cavity.

'Lavage' means 'washing'. To lavage a joint means to wash out any blood, fluid or loose debris from inside the joint space.

'Ectomy' means 'to cut out'. 'Meniscectomy' means to cut out the meniscus.

Arthroscopic surgery is surgery performed via arthroscopy or keyhole surgery.

Arthroscopy means 'looking into a joint'.

Articular cartilage is the white gristle covering the ends of joint bones ('articulating' bones).

A knee rehabilitation exercise.

A knee rehabilitation exercise.

An athletic trainer is a professional specialising in athletic health care.

Atrophy means tissue wasting with actual loss of tissue cells (eg muscle atrophy, limb atrophy).

'Autografts' are grafts (transplants) taken from one part of a person's body and transferred to another part of the same person.

Derived from the same person. A term used to describe a transplant of cells or tissues from one part of the body to another in the same person.

The word 'autologous' means 'from the same body'. 'Chondrocyte' means 'a joint cartilage cell'. So the procedure of autologous chondrocyte implantation (ACI) is to do with the implantation of a person's own joint cartilage cells back into their body.

Same procedure as 'autologous chondrocyte implantation'.

A one-stage cartilage repair technique, where the cartilage defect is cleaned up, microfracture performed, and then covered with a collagen matrix held in place with a combination of fibrin glue and the patient's own serum.

If a tissue is 'avascular' it is not supplied by blood vessels.

Avascular necrosis is cell death caused by interruption of the blood supply.

The Avon partial knee replacement is a type of knee replacement for patellar damage.

Avulsion means 'tearing from its base'.

If you decided to squeeze down a manhole in the pavement, then the pavement would be in an axial plane in relation to your body.