Editorial Commentary: Angle Versus Anatomy: Sacrificing Graft Bending Angle for Anatomic Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Graft bending angle (GBA) is the angle created by the intra-articular anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) graft and the femoral tunnel. By definition then, it is affected by the angle at which the surgeon drills the femoral tunnel. In an attempt to create a more anatomic ACL, different techniques have been described to put the femoral tunnel in the anatomic footprint. If you can get past each author's unique description of GBA, whether they are referring to the graft, the tunnel angle, or using adjectives such as acute or higher GBA, you see that attempting to create more anatomic ACL reconstructions has resulted in a sharper turn for our grafts. The million-dollar question is: what does that mean? For now, the answer is unknown.