This is one area of orthopaedic research that the average person is often aware of because of our passion for sporting activities. Even if not active oneself, almost everyone knows of some famous athlete who has "ligament problems." Over 75% of all anterior cruciate injuries are football or ski injuries. Although these are very common problems, we have only a rudimentary understanding of how ligaments heal. Further, for some problems the surgical solutions are short term and the optimal implant or procedure has yet to be found. Our laboratory has been involved in the investigation of synthetic ligament implants since its inception. Permanent synthetic fibers such as carbon, DacronR, and KevlarR, as well as newly developed absorbable fibers have been tested for ligament reconstruction. Investigators are also experimenting with new chemical processes for allograft tissue transplants as well as new surgical procedures with autografts (allografts are tissues taken from a human donor and autografts are tissues harvested from one location of a patient and transplanted to the same patient). This exciting area of research is a cornerstone of our laboratory activity and will continue to be an important area of research in the future.