Spire Sports Injury Clinic
Sports Injury Clinic Professor John Fairclough BM BS, BMed Sci, FRCS, FFSEM (UK)
'Looking after your body' has to be the core statement of all athletic pursuit. To help readers of SportingWales do just that, we have partnered with one of Wales's leading medical bodies, Spire Cardiff Hospital, to explain some of the major sports injuries. This series will help you know what to look for, how to help your body recover and - perhaps most importantly - how to prevent such injuries in the future. In this edition we focus on the knee's Anterior Cruciate Ligament or ACL, something we read about in the sports pages all too often.
What causes an ACL injury?
The mechanism of injury is usually associated with deceleration coupled with side-stepping, pivoting or awkward landings.
Your ACL can be injured if your knee joint is bent backward, twisted, or bent side to side. The chance of injury is higher if more than one of these movements occurs at the same time. An ACL injury often occurs during sports when your foot is firmly planted on the ground and a sudden force hits your knee while your leg is straight or slightly bent.
What are the symptoms of an ACL injury?
In acute injuries the knee swells up and is painful and needs urgent attention by knee specialist. Any knee which swells up after exercise needs investigation.
• Feeling or hearing a pop in the knee at the time of injury.
• Pain on the outside and back of the knee.
• Swelling within the first few hours of the injury maybe a sign of bleeding inside the knee joint. Swelling that occurs suddenly is usually a sign of a serious knee injury.
• Limited knee movement because of pain or swelling or both.
• The knee feeling unstable, buckling, or giving out.
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How to prevent an ACL injury
Athletes can reduce their risk of ACL injuries by performing training drills that require balance, power and agility. The best way to prevent anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries is to stretch and strengthen the leg muscles, especially the front and back muscles of the thigh (quadriceps and hamstrings).
• Avoiding vulnerable positions
• Increasing flexibility • Increasing strength • Including plyometric exercises in training
• Increasing proprioception Key message:
If your knee swells up immediately or within the first hours post injury you will need to visit a sports surgeon for advice and consultation as quickly as possible.
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