One knee.
Seven depths of understanding.
KneeSchool teaches the same knee again and again, each time in more detail, from a school science lesson to consultant level surgery.
Anterior cruciate ligament
Choose a depthThe knee's strongest brake
The ACL is a short, tough band deep inside the knee. It stops the shin bone sliding forward when you turn, land or stop quickly. An athlete who tears it often hears a pop, and the knee swells the same day. Warm up programmes that train landing and turning lower the risk. If a knee gives way, swells or hurts to stand on, tell a parent, a teacher or a coach, and have it looked at by a health professional.
What it is and why it matters
A strong cord inside the knee that stops the shin sliding forward. People often describe a pop, swelling within a few hours, and a knee that gives way on turning. Not every tear needs surgery. The decision depends on your symptoms and what you need the knee to do.
Structure and function
An intracapsular, extrasynovial ligament running from the medial wall of the lateral femoral condyle to the anterior intercondylar area of the tibia. Two functional bundles, anteromedial and posterolateral. It is the primary restraint to anterior tibial translation and a secondary restraint to rotation.
Examination and imaging
Lachman is the most sensitive clinical test. The pivot shift demonstrates rotatory instability and correlates with function. A Segond fracture on plain radiograph implies a rupture until proven otherwise. MRI confirms the tear and grades meniscal, ramp and chondral injury.
Decision and evidence
Reconstruct on instability and demand rather than on the scan alone. Graft choice trades re-rupture risk against donor site morbidity and is age dependent. Missed posterolateral corner injury, ramp lesion or excessive tibial slope are recognised causes of early graft failure.
Revision and complex cases
Revision starts with tunnel position and tunnel width on CT. Stage with bone graft when tunnels are confluent or wide. Address meniscal deficiency, coronal malalignment and slope. Add lateral extra-articular tenodesis in high grade pivot, young pivoting athletes and revision.
Open questions
Repair versus reconstruction in proximal avulsion. The slope threshold that justifies anterior closing wedge osteotomy. Whether criterion based return to sport testing changes re-rupture rates in adolescents. How registry data should shape graft choice in routine practice.
How the spiral works
Topics repeat rather than end. Each pass assumes the last one, adds a layer of evidence or technique, then sends you back to the same structure with better questions.
Meet the topic
Plain language first. What the structure does, what it feels like when it fails, and what usually happens next.
Return with detail
The same structure in anatomy, biomechanics, examination and imaging. Enough to reason rather than recall.
Apply under pressure
Cases, viva questions and evidence appraisal at your level, with model answers and references.
Learn by level
Seven academies share one syllabus. Start where you are and move up when the questions stop being difficult.
Junior Academy
School age, roughly 13 to 18
How the knee works, injury in young sport, careers in knee medicine and the route into medical school. Written for the classroom and for curiosity.
Patient Academy
Anyone with knee pain, age 11 to 99
Symptoms, diagnosis, imaging, treatment choices, rehabilitation and prevention. Written to be read the evening before a clinic appointment.
Student Academy
A level biology to MBBS
Anatomy, biomechanics, pathology, history taking, examination and imaging basics. Built around the diagnoses that appear in written papers and OSCEs.
MRCS Academy
Core surgical trainees
Applied anatomy, examination technique, trauma principles, imaging interpretation and single best answer practice with viva style reasoning.
FRCS (Tr and Orth) Academy
Higher surgical trainees
Surgical decision making, evidence appraisal, classifications, complications and structured answers to the questions examiners actually ask.
Fellowship Academy
Knee fellows
Osteotomy, revision arthroplasty, multiligament reconstruction, cartilage restoration and patellofemoral surgery, including failure analysis.
Consultant Masterclass
Practising surgeons
Debates, registry data, emerging technology, surgical pearls and literature updates, with continuing professional development records.
Begin with one topic
Pick the structure that hurts, read it at your level, then answer ten questions. Progress is saved and your next level unlocks when you are ready.