The Left Knee Injury

The most common injury related to the knee is rupturing of the anterior cruciate ligament.The injury usually occurs through a twisting force being applied to the knee whilst the foot is firmly planted on the ground or upon landing.The ACLs main function is to keep the knee stable during rotational movements like twisting, turning or side stepping activities. 

So What Happened To Tiger's Knee?

It was 2002 when things started to go wrong for Woods.

For most of the year he was suffering severe discomfort with a knee injury and that December he had arthroscopic surgery to remove fluid that had built up and address inflammation in and around the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee - from which he had previously had a benign tumor removed in 1994.

Most ACL injuries are due to rotational trauma, but in Tiger's case the injury was chronic, resulting from excessive repeated valgus positioning and tibiofemoral rotation.

Although not the most common cause of injury in golf, the knee can still be a problem. During the back swing, the left knee (for a righthander) is forced into external tibial rotation as the pelvis rotates to the right, and a valgus force is imparted on the knee as the weight transfers on to the medial border of the left foot and the ankle everts.

On follow-through the weight transfers to the lateral border of the foot and the tibia internally rotates as the femur externally rotates while the trunk and pelvis powerfully uncoil into left rotation.

Tiger Woods' swing involves a huge trunk rotation, and he may just possibly have set himself up for his knee injury back in 1997 when he deliberately remodelled his swing. His aim was to concentrate on body rotation and decrease his hand and forearm action. The result was a slight decrease in distance but an increase in accuracy, which brought home another seven major championships. But might it also have delivered an increase in rotational load through that left knee joint?