A/Prof Stephanie Filbay

Associate Professor Stephanie Filbay AIPS VIC Young Tall Poppy

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) provides knee stability. Australia has the highest rate of ACL injury in the world and has seen continuous growth in the rate of ACL surgery. ACL surgery involves removal of the torn ACL, taking tendon from other parts of the body and fixing it in place where the ACL used to be. The alternative treatment, non-surgical rehabilitation, aims to restore knee stability by increasing the strength and control of knee muscles to cope without an ACL.
A/Prof Filbay and her team’s research found that ACLs can heal without surgery. 1-in-3 people with a completely torn ACL who were treated with non-surgical rehabilitation, had ACL healing on MRI 2-years later. Importantly, people with ACL healing at 2 years reported better outcomes than people who had ACL surgery. They also evaluated a novel bracing treatment for ACL injury that holds the knee at a right angle using a knee brace. When the knee is at a right angle, the two ends of the torn ACL are closet to one another. The idea is that this may allow a bridge of tissue to form between the torn ends of the ACL and encourage healing. This can be compared to how a broken bone is healed, by bringing the broken ends of a bone together and holding this in place using a cast.
A/Prof Filbay and her team found that 90% of people with a completely torn ACL who were managed with this new bracing treatment had ACL healing on MRI at 3 months. ACL healing was associated with excellent clinical outcomes. This treatment has now been used to manage people with ACL injury in 21 countries. They are performing a large clinical trial to compare outcomes between this new bracing treatment, and ACL surgery.
2024