The Buckling Knee

Having a sense of the knee ‘giving way’ or ‘locking’ is a fairly common complaint by athletes who have twisted their knees in sports like basketball, netball, soccer or badminton. The sensation of ‘giving way’ is an indication that you might have torn your Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) while the ‘locking’ sensation is an indication of a possible meniscus tear.

ACL Injury

The ACL is a fairly strong ligament found between the knee-joint. Its main role is to limit the forward movement (anterior translation) of the leg bone (tibia) on the thigh bone (femur).

When athletes change direction quickly during their games, they twist their knee inwards. This increases the strain on the ACL and places the ligament at risk of tearing. The ACL tears when the knee is force downwards and inwards beyond the ligament’s ability to hold. Athletes who tear their ACL often report hearing a ‘pop’ on injury.

Unfortunately, the ACL is very rarely the only ligament involved in this kind of injury. It is normally accompanied with a slight tear in the Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) and either a medial or lateral meniscus (cartilage) tear. These three tears are commonly known as the ‘Unhappy Triad’ or ‘Terrible Triad’.

Meniscal Injury

The meniscus, which is a crescent shaped cartilage between the knee, acts as a cushion to absorb the impact between the leg and thigh bone. The meniscus is better at the handling stress from an up and down motion. It doesn’t do as well under a twisting motion especially when compressed. This motion can cause a tear in the meniscus. The knee feels ‘locked’ when the torn part of the meniscus blocks the movement of the knee.
Immediate swelling and severe pain in the knee are common signs of this Triad injury. However, there are occasions where there will be a delay in the onset of swelling or even no swelling at all. Remember how you injured the knee. It helps your Doctor or Physiotherapist in diagnosing this problem.

Solving the Problem

Sadly, the ACL doesn’t heal on its own due to the poor blood supply to the ligament. It would need to be reconstructed surgically by using either your hamstring tendon or patella tendon. Rehabilitation after surgery normally takes about 6-9 months before the athlete is able to go back to full training.
Nevertheless, there are about 20% of people with ACL tears who are able to go about their day-to-day activities without having their ACL reconstructed. To cope without surgery, the following muscles need to have good strength and control:

Hamstrings
Quadriceps (thigh)
Gluteus Medius
Gastrocneumius (calf)

Besides doing strengthening exercises, slowly getting back into sports specific training is essential. This is so that your muscles can develop an anticipatory reaction (feed-forward mechanism) to prevent injury.

Sports taping of the knee to support the ACL and MCL can also be done as a temporary measure for the athlete to cope with the injury until the end of the season.

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I had an excellent sports massage by Wan Ling, which was very different from the usual massage I've tried elsewhere. Wan Ling skillfully and systematically loosened every muscle in my upper back and neck over the course of an hour. If anyone is seeking relief from tense muscles, I would highly recommend making an appointment with Wan Ling.

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Look for Soo, he is a great physiotherapist . Always communicating and always asking for my feedback. I’m on the right path to recovery all thanks to Soo. Two thumbs up.

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The physiotherapist here explained the problem very well and provided me with exercises that helped improved my condition.

Ferdinand Mar

I have been experiencing great pain on my shoulder coupled with occasional numbness on my arm. Thanks to Ken Liew, I felt so much relieved after my first session. He was very patient and knowledgeable and had definitely made my 1st visit to a physiotherapy clinic a very memorable one. Thank you so much Ken

Bee Choo Gian

I have been experiencing knee pains lately especially walking up and down the stairs. The pain was so bad that I was very concern. I chanced upon CoreConcept on FB and book an appointment with them at Camden Medical Centre. My therapist was Ken Liew, he is very professional and knowledgeable. He did a thorough job to assess my condition. To my surprise I felt immediate relieved on my knee after the first session with him! Amazing! Looking forward to my next session. 😊

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Paola Venturini Hubert

Highly recommended for sports massage

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I go to Novena and Cheryl is my therapist. She was upfront from the get go about my neck condition. I liked her honesty and said we'll give it a try. I was better after 4 weekly sessions and continued to go to her every 2 weeks. With her help I am in a better condition, had to put in effort on the exercises she taught me as well.

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I am working with Yiren on my knee after my ACL/MCL reconstruction and recovery has been good! He does a thorough job to assess my progress each session and challenges me to push myself to get to various milestones. He's extremely friendly and helpful despite my many questions. Thanks!

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YitKoon Gan

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The best physiotherapist ever. Cheryl is really good. Doesn't shortchange me of time and make sure I feel better before she lets me go. The front desk staff are great too. Very accomodating and friendly. Thank you Carol and Farrah. Only thing if they can give instructions to how to go to their place will be great. Usually only unit number but do give some details like mrt exits and directions to lift and such will be excellent. Coz I almost got lost in 2 different places. Overall still love core concept because of Cheryl! Thank you Cheryl!!

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Found out about Core Concepts last year through social media and made an appointment as i was experiencing some neck and shoulder discomfort after a traffic accident. My therapist was evidently experienced and was able to pinpoint the cause of my aches. The one thing i loved about my experience at Core Concepts is that they are not like typical physiotherapists who simply prescribe take home exercises, instead my therapist was extremely hands on, helping me to massage my neck at the right spots to relief the stiffness - best massage ever! Would highly recommend Core Concepts!!

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Brenda Chong

-emails with advertisement and birthday wishes came, but they didn't think that their customer (with 4/10 sessions remaining in his package) would have expected a reminder of ANY kind if his package was already expiring. I asked the clerk from my last visit how many sessions I had remaining, and she told me 4, with no update on the expiry at all. -assumed I wanted a physiotherapy (PT) appointment when my past SMS have always been for sports massage (SM); whenever I asked for "available slots", they would give me the slots for SM. yet they suddenly gave me the list of available slots for PT ytd. I'm also to blame for not verifying and reading their long SMS carefully.-their masseuse is very good though, skilful and respectful. They ask important questions to understand their client before starting on the SM. I'd still return even though the administrative process is lacking.

Beale Liu JieXiong

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