What We Treat

ACL tear recovery in Kingwood.

The knee that buckled mid-cut. The season you don’t want to lose. Getting back to your sport takes more than time off. It takes a root-cause evaluation and a plan with an endpoint, not a guess.

Ligament laxity testing Return-to-sport testing Post-op rehab Schedule My Appointment

Sound Familiar?

Does this sound like you?

  • Your knee buckling or giving way when you pivot or cut
  • Swelling that showed up within hours of the injury
  • A pop you felt, or heard, the moment it happened
  • Feeling unsteady going down stairs or off a curb
  • Hesitating to cut or pivot during a game, even after the swelling went down
  • Avoiding your sport altogether because the knee doesn’t feel like you can trust it

You’re the athlete who plays through pain because that’s what athletes do. Which is exactly why you’re still telling yourself the knee is fine. Two or more? Keep reading.

Why It Happens

An ACL tear is an injury. Recovery still needs real numbers.

Most ACL tears happen the same way: a plant, a pivot, or an awkward landing that puts more load on the ligament than it can handle. Whether you go the surgical route or a conservative one, the question that actually matters is how stable your knee is now, and that’s not something you can eyeball. That’s why every plan starts with a root-cause evaluation, not a generic protocol.

We use a KT-1000 arthrometer to measure ligament laxity directly, an objective, millimeter-level reading of how much the knee moves compared to your healthy side, instead of a subjective feel test. That number helps guide whether a conservative plan makes sense, and later in rehab it tracks how your graft or ligament is holding up as you load it more.

Person recovering at home in a knee immobilizer brace

The Honest Truth

Waiting on an ACL doesn’t make it wait on you.

If you keep waiting

  • An unstable knee keeps putting extra load on the meniscus and cartilage
  • Quad and hamstring strength keep fading the longer the knee sits unused
  • Confidence in the knee erodes, which shows up as hesitation on the field long after it’s healed

If you start this week

  • You get an objective baseline reading of ligament stability from day one
  • A guided plan starts protecting the knee and rebuilding strength right away
  • Return-to-sport testing gives you a real, measured path back, not a guess at when you’re ready

Seasons don’t wait for knees to feel ready on their own. Every week that instability sits untreated costs you strength, confidence, and time on the field you don’t get back.

How We Fix It

The same four phases. Built for your ACL.

You get a plan with an endpoint, built one-on-one with a Doctor of Physical Therapy, every visit. Here’s what the four phases look like for an ACL.

Weeks 1–2

Pain

Calm the knee down.

Swelling control and early range of motion work protect the joint and get you moving without aggravating it.

Weeks 3–8

Prime

Get your motion and gait back.

Full knee extension, normal walking mechanics, and early quad activation get rebuilt before we load the knee harder.

Weeks 9–16

Perform

Rebuild strength and control.

Progressive strengthening, balance, and landing mechanics work builds the control an unstable knee was missing.

Weeks 16+

Prevent

Test before you trust it.

Return-to-sport testing, hop tests, strength symmetry, and cutting drills, confirms the knee is ready before you’re cleared to go all-in: that’s the endpoint, not just a date on the calendar.

Dr. Wong and Katrina clearly care about their work and about you getting better. As a pole vaulter who’d never been injured before, they helped me recover just in time for the season.

Shared by Skylar S. · Sports injury recovery

Week 1: couldn’t fully straighten the knee

Month 6: cleared for return-to-sport testing and back at tryouts

ACL tear 6 months

Related Conditions

Pain rarely stays in one place.

Compensation patterns often show up nearby. Here’s what else we treat.

1

Knee Pain

The ache that lingers even after the swelling from your last injury went down.

Learn More about Knee Pain 2

Sports Injuries

Getting back to game speed without wondering if it’ll hold up.

Learn More about Sports Injuries 3

Pre & Post-Surgery Rehab

Whatever the surgery, the recovery still starts with the same evaluation.

Learn More about Pre & Post-Surgery Rehab

Questions, Answered

What people ask before booking for an ACL tear.

Not always. It depends on your ligament stability, your activity goals, and whether other structures like the meniscus were involved. We use a KT-1000 arthrometer to get an objective reading of laxity instead of relying on feel alone, and that number, along with your goals, helps guide whether a conservative or surgical path makes more sense for you.

There’s no single number that applies to everyone. Instead of clearing you off a date on the calendar, we use return-to-sport testing, strength symmetry, hop tests, and cutting drills, to confirm the knee is actually ready, not just that enough time has passed.

A KT-1000 arthrometer measures how much your tibia shifts forward relative to your thigh bone, in millimeters, compared to your healthy knee. It gives us an objective number for ligament laxity instead of a subjective feel test, and we can repeat it over the course of rehab to track how your knee, or your graft, is holding up as you load it more.

Book Your Visit

Ready when you are.

Request a time and a real person calls you back, usually within two business hours. No phone tree. No ‘someone will reach out.’ Just a plan.

  • Hours Monday–Thursday 8am–7pm, Friday 8am–5pm
  • (281) 888-0047 Prefer to talk now? Call us.
  • Same-week appointments available

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Typical response: under 2 business hours

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