32 year old, male, Romanian He injured his right knee during practicing Jujutsu on November 22th, 2021. Four days later, he went to the MRI scanning, and the diagnosis was:
Complete ACL tear
On February 25, 2022, he started the online therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear with Jun Matsumoto. It already has passed for three months from the injury, and it was assumed that the natural healing could be difficult. He understood the difficulty, but he continued doing Evo-Devo Exercises for three months, and he took the next MRI on May 26th, 2022.
The MRI indicates:
Certainly visible continuity of the ACL
Future prospects and considerations
This is a remarkable case of natural healing of ACL tear because it already had passed for three months from the injury at the time of when he started the natural therapy. There was no other ligamentous or meniscus injury, it is assumed that he can retrun to the sport after further rehab exercies.
34 year old, male, Filipino living in Japan He injured his right knee during playing Baskaetball on October 24th, 2021. When he changed the direction by loading this weight on the right knee, he twisted the right knee, and he fell down. One week later, he went to the MRI scanning, and the diagnosis was:
Complete ACL tear Lateral Meniscus tear
On November 11, 2021, he started the face to face therapy for the self healing of the ACL tear with Jun Matsumoto. He continued doing the Evo-Devo Exercises for five months, and he took the next MRI on April 30,2022.
The MRI report indicates:
Minor tear on ACL but there is the continuity. Lateral Meniscus tear
Future prospects:
Even though the lateral meniscus still remains, the torn ACL has almost healed naturally by its own. Jun Matsumoto ordered him to spend the normal daily life activity without doing any sport for a few months. They agreed to see how it works later. If the unhealed meniscus impairs the knee in the future, the option for the surgery can be taken.
37 year old, male, Australian living in Austria He injured left knee while rock climbing on the 3rd November 2021. He fell akwardly from a very low height and his weight went on my knee in a bad direction. Two weeks later, he went to the MRI scanning, and the diagnosis was:
On December 8th,2021, he started the online therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear with Jun Matsumoto. He continued doing the Evo-Devo Exercises for four months, and he took the next MRIs on April 25,2022.
The MRI report indicates:
“Regular positioning of the patella in the femoropatellar compartment, the retropetallar cartilage shows a deep cartilage ulceration at the medial facet, which is slightly increasing compared to the previous examination, reaching the cartilage-bone lamella. The trochlear cartilage is continuous. The medial and lateral retinaculum patellae are unremarkable.
Infrapatellar fat body in regular formation. In the lateral femorotibial compartment ubiquitous cartilage cover, the lateral meniscus shows a circumscribed linearity at the posterior horn IMA 8-27, this was already present in the previous examination, but currently appears somewhat expanded and reaches the tibial meniscus surface.
In the medial femorotibial compartment there is a cartilage cover throughout, the medial meniscus at the posterior horn appears clearly more elevated than in the previous examination, but there is no evidence of a dislocated meniscus fragment.
The posterior cruciate ligament is continuous. After rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament, the latter is still edematised, but individual fibrous strands show signs of continuity.
Significant decrease in knee joint swelling. Angelegte Baker-Zyste. Baker’s cyst in place. Typical flow-void popliteal.”
Future prospects
Even though the meniscus tears still remain unhealed, the torn ACL is successfully healing naturally. Jun Matsumoto ordered him to start strengthening the leg muscles, and agreed to follow-up the further prognosis.
31 year old, male, Japanese On September 20th, 2021, he was playing badminton, and when he landed on his left knee from jumping, he twisted it. Two weeks later, he went to the MRI scanning, and the diagnosis was:
Complete ACL tear Tear of the posterior segment of the Medial Meniscus Tear of the posterior segment of the Lateral Meniscus
On October 28th,2021, he started the online therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear with Jun Matsumoto. He continued doing the Evo-Devo Exercises for four months, and he took the next MRIs on February 25,2022.
The MRI report indicates:
Partial ACL tear
By comparing the MRIs of 2021/10/05 and 2022/02/25, the torn ACL starts healing spontaneously and growing intact. The torn ACL is still in healing process. However, the both meniscii tears remain unhealed yet at this moment. Jun Matsumoto ordered him to continue doing he Evo-Devo EX until the continuation of the ACL becomes more firm. The patient recovered the full range of motion of the left knee, and he doesn’t feel any instability of the knee. He can walk normally and have the normal daily activities so far.
12 years old, male, Indian On September 20th, 2021, during leg curl strength test due to carelessness of the doctor, his right knee got injured. Mri report indicates:
complete tear of the proximal segment bundle of the acl. Grade 3 sprain is also seen involving proximal segment and femoral attachment with increased signal. Tbl attachments /pcl are intact. Intact collaterals, posteromedial and posterolateral corners, menisci.
On October 22nd,2021, he started the online therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear with Jun Matsumoto. He continued doing the Evo-Devo Exercises for four months, and he took the next MRIs on March 2nd,2022.
The MRI report indicates:
Proximal segment of the anterior cruciate ligament appears vertically oriented flush with the medial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle and shows iso to slightly hyperintense signal on both T1 and T2-weighted images. Intact tibial attachments of both anteromedial and posterolateral bundles.
Although some tissues of the torn ACL are growing intact to the medial aspect of the lateral femoral condyle, the proximal femoral attachment is intact. Spontaneous healing of the torn ACL is occuring on the new MRI, and Jun Matsumoto permitted him to start doing more intense exercises so that he could retrun to playing the tennis.
He is the youngest patient who spontaneously healed from the ACL tear by Evo-Devo Exercises. In most cases, the surgeries for patients in chilhood are avoided because of the risk of imparing their bone growth. There has not been any appropriate medication for juvenile patients with ACL tears. The Evo-Devo Exercises can be the hope for the patients in childhood, and more successful cases can be accumulated and studied.
22 years old, male, Japanese On August 21, 2021, while practicing soccer, he was about to collide with an ally and twisted his left knee when he stepped on with one of his left feet. He underwent a (non-contact) orthopedics and underwent an MRI scan on August 25, and was diagnosed with anterior cruciate ligament rupture.
From October 2, 2021, he started the natural healing therapy with Jun Matsumoto. After continuing exercise therapy based on evolutionary developmental biology called Evo-Devo Exercises for 4 months, a new MRI image was taken.
MRI indicates:
The continuity of the torn anterior cruciate ligament was confirmed, and it was also confirmed that it healed spontaneously. Jun gave him the permission for jogging and strength training and said he could return to sports as soon as he was in good condition.
21-year old, male, college rugby player, Japanese On Myay 12th, 2021, when he wa playing rugby, he twisted his right knee on his own. He went to the hospital, and his knee was scanned for the MRI. The diagnosis was the ACL complete rupture.
On May 15th, he started the therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear through the online session with Jun Matsumoto. He continued doing the Evo-Devo Exercises for four months, and he took the next MRIs on September 22nd.
MRI indicates:
The MRI picture shows that the ACL is anatomically intact and the ruptured ACL healed naturally. He is functionally moving well, and Jun Matsumoto permitted him to increase the intensity of the exercises. After completed the athletic rehabilitation for three months, on December 26th, he came back the game in the national college championship, and made a nice try.
46-year old, Female, Japanese On August 30, 2021, when she was practicing Jujutsu martial arts, she twisted her left knee. She went to the hospital, and her knee was scanned for the MRI. The diagnosis was: ACL complete tear
On September 20th she started the therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear through the online session with Jun Matsumoto. She continued to do the Evo-Devo Exercises for three months, and she took the next MRIs on December 21st.
MRI indicates:
The MRI picture shows that the ACL is anatomically intact and the torn ACL healed naturally. She is functionally moving well, and Jun Matsumoto permitted her to increase the intensity of the activities.
72-year old, Male, Japanese On May 1st, 2021, when he was climbing the mountain, he stepped off and fell down. On the same day, he was taken to the hospital, and his right knee was scanned for the MRI. The diagnosis was:
Complete ACL tear
On May 14th he started the therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear through the online session with Jun Matsumoto. He continued to have the session once a week for 4 months. On May 14th he started the therapy for the natural healing of the ACL tear through the online session with Jun Matsumoto more than one hour every day. Because of his age, it was doubtful that the torn ACL would heal spontaneously. But, he never used his age as an excuse. He went to the hospital and took the new MRI 4 months from starting the natural therapy. Fortunately, it was found that the torn ACL were healing naturally and had its continuation. Jun permitted him to do the more intense exercises. This man hopes that he can climb the mountain again, and Jun will continue to help him.
16-year old, Male, Japanese On March 21st, 2021, he twisted his left knee by his own movement during playing the handball. Next day, he was taken to the hospital, and his left knee was scanned for the MRI. The diagnosis was:
ACL complete tear Medial meniscus tear
He visited Jun Matsumoto`s Natural Therapy Office, and started the evo-devo exercises for the natural healing of the ACL tear. He has visited there once a week for 4 months and has continued the exercises every day at home. He took the MRI at the different hospital on September 4th, and it was found that the torn ACL was healing naturally. Jun Matsumoto permitted him to do jogging and start the more intense exercises. In next 3 months, he will return to playing the handball in athletic level.
When he was running on September 28th, he twisted my left knee again. On the same day, he underwent an MRI scan at the hospital and was diagnosed with anterior cruciate ligament rupture. After several days of rest, he resumed spontaneous healing of the re-ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.
Evo-Devo Exercise was performed for another 3 months, and MRI imaging was taken again.
The continuity of the anterior cruciate ligament, as confirmed by MRI on September 4, 2021, could not be clearly confirmed. It was confirmed that the tibial stump of the anterior cruciate ligament adhered to the posterior cruciate ligament. The patient had no symptoms such as knee collapse and was functionally recovering satisfactorily, so he agreed to continue conservative therapy. The exercise intensity was gradually increased, and MRI imaging was performed again on March 5, two months later.
Unfortunately, the continuity of the anterior cruciate ligament was not confirmed this time either. In the future, he agreed to further increase his exercise intensity and observe the progress while aiming to return to the competition.
Consideration:
Although he healed naturally once from his anterior cruciate ligament rupture, he suffered a re-rupture and his spontaneous healing of the re-rupture was unsuccessful. The cause of his re-rupture cannot be clearly pointed out, but there were two points of concern. One was that the start of spontaneous healing therapy was late, 7 weeks after the injury. During that period, the range of motion was restricted by the orthotic device and supporters, so that the flexion restriction remained even during the period from the start of treatment to the spontaneous healing.
The second is that the MRI, which confirmed the spontaneous healing on September 4, did not indicate a beautiful natural healing yet, and that it was a deformed healing that seems to have adhered to the posterior cruciate ligament. My personal impression is that ligament adhesions may have occurred in an environment with limited range of motion during the 7 weeks leading up to the start of treatment. Even if the anterior cruciate ligament rupture heals spontaneously, there is a possibility of re-rupture after that, and how to prevent it is a future proposition.
PRP Injection trials
After the failure of the natural healing from the re-rupture of the healed ACL, he tried the first PRP injections in September 2022 to expect the natural healing again. Totally, he tried the injections four times. The function of his knee was recovering well, and he was practicing Handball in intense level. He attended the official game without having any problem. Moreover, Lackman’s test during that time was negative. He took the next MRI on Jan.16th, 2023.
MRI findings and Considerations:
Even though he tried the four-times PRP injections, expected natural healing did not succeed well. However, it looks that the scar tissues were enhanced to stabilize the knee joint. The remnants of the tprn ACL were adhering to the PCL more tightly.