My knee feels loose since my padel injury. Is it my ACL?

What that loose feeling usually is

Patients describe it as the knee slipping, shifting, buckling or not trusting the leg. Walking in a straight line often feels normal. The trouble starts with rotation: pushing off for a lob, reaching wide for a volley, or turning on a planted foot near the glass.

Without a working ACL, the shin bone can slide and rotate forward under the thigh bone during these movements. That brief shift is what you feel as the knee giving way.

Other reasons a knee can feel unstable

• Quadriceps weakness and swelling after any injury, which can make the knee feel wobbly even when ligaments are intact
• A meniscus tear catching inside the joint, which can cause sudden buckling with a sharp pain
• A kneecap that has dislocated or partly slipped
• An MCL or other ligament injury, sometimes combined with an ACL tear

True instability with a clear shift of the joint points more strongly to the ACL than vague weakness does.

Why it is worth checking before you play again

Each giving-way episode puts shearing force on the meniscus and cartilage. A knee with a torn ACL that keeps buckling on court can develop meniscus tears that were not there at the start. Padel is fast and full of short pivots, so playing through the instability is rarely a good idea.

Rest from padel, keep walking and cycling if comfortable, and start simple quadriceps and hamstring exercises while you wait for an assessment.

How Dr. Gelber checks a loose knee

At Aman Hospital the assessment starts with how the injury happened and what the knee does now. Specific tests compare the movement of your injured knee with the other side. An MRI usually confirms an ACL tear and shows the meniscus and cartilage.

If the ACL is torn, the choice between structured physiotherapy and reconstruction depends on how often the knee gives way, the sports you want to return to and the other findings.