Anaesthetic for ACL reconstruction
You will normally have a general anaesthetic for your anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction surgery, although if you want to be awake we can do this with a spinal injection. Depending on the time of day that you have your operation you may be able to go home that day, but otherwise you should only be in hospital for one night
Before your operation we routinely give you pain killers so they are working for when you wake up
During your operation Mr Qureshi will inject large amounts of local anaesthetic into your knee and hamstrings (this is where he normally ‘harvests’ your new ACL tendon). Most of our ACL patients wake up with little or no pain.
After your operation you will be written up for
- Regular pain killers
- Stronger pain killers that you take should the regular ones not be strong enough.
It is very important to take the regular pain killers even if you feel the pain is not too bad as you may have little pain due to the local anaesthetic masking the pain. If you have not taken your tablets then your pain will be worse when the local anaesthetic wears off. ACL patients often feel the worst of the pain in their hamstrings.
Please see the following leaflets for more information on your anaesthetic: