SPONSORED FEATURE
Anterior Cruciate Ligament ( Injury & Management )
Dr . Gandhi Nathan Solayar MBChBBAO ( Hons ), BA , MRCSI , Dip Sports & Ex Med , Dip SICOT , MCh , AM , FRCSI ( Tr & Orth ) Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon ( Sports & Joint Replacement Surgery ) Ara Damansara Medical Centre
You are running with the ball after side-stepping the last defender . Only the goalkeeper between you and the goal you are about to score . You cut to the right and before you are able to kick , your other leg slides beneath you and you hear an awful “ pop ” coming from your left leg . You fall to the ground clutching an immensely painful knee which as you wait , starts to swell . �our teammates help you up while you limp off the futsal court , unable to walk on your injured leg . As a helpful fan brings you an ice pack to soothe your aching knee , you hear your coach say “ Sorry bro , I think you have torn your ACL ”. Your heart sinks .
The ACL or anterior cruciate ligament is a vital structure within the knee which plays an important role to stabilize , protect and allow us to perform our daily activities . It is a common injury in the sporting population affecting approximately one out of 3500 people in the population . In Malaysia , this would account for over 9000 ACL injuries annually . It is common in contact sports ( football , rugby ) and sports that involve jumping ( basketball , volleyball ). It usually occurs when the knee is subjected to high torsional forces which occur when you suddenly turn while running with your foot planted to the ground ( commonly seen in footballers ) or from an
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