Knee Care. Active Recovery.

Dr Lai Kah Weng is a fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon with MBBS (Singapore), FRCSEd (Ortho) and MMed (Ortho) qualifications. He completed his fellowship at the Sydney Orthopaedic Research Institute in 2014 under knee surgeons Dr Myles Coolican, Dr David Parker, and Dr Brett Fritsch. He was formerly a Consultant at National University Hospital (NUH).

Dr Lai played rugby for Singapore and has 10 international caps. From 2011 to 2021 he was Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director of the Singapore Rugby Union, looking after the national teams. He also holds the Diploma in Aviation Medicine (UK) of King's College London, and in 2002 was the first Singaporean to receive its Stewart Memorial Prize, awarded for graduating top of the course.

Not all ACL tears require surgery. The decision depends on your age, activity level, degree of instability, and goals. Young, active patients who want to return to sports typically benefit from reconstruction. Older patients with lower activity demands may manage well with rehabilitation alone. Dr Lai will assess your specific situation and discuss all options during your consultation.

Reconstruction aims to restore stability to the knee so you can return to your activities, including sport. How things go depends on the injury, any damage alongside it, and rehabilitation. Completing a structured rehabilitation programme, with testing before you return to sport, lowers the risk of injuring the knee again. Dr Lai will go through what to expect in your case.

Knee replacement is recommended when conservative treatments (medications, injections, physiotherapy) no longer provide adequate pain relief, and arthritis significantly impacts your daily life. Common signs include persistent knee pain, stiffness, difficulty walking or climbing stairs, and pain that disturbs sleep.