The Key Knee Ligaments
Hello everyone and today we are going to be discussing about the 4 main knee ligaments and what they pertain.
Commonly in sports we hear “XYZ will be out for months because of a ACL tear or MCL tear”. But what do those three letters mean? Today we will break down the main four ligaments of the knee which are commonly injured in sports.
ACL
The Anterior Cruciate Ligament, also known as the ACL, is a common ligament injured in sports. It connects the bottom and back part of your thigh bone, also known as the femur, to the front and top part of your shin bone, also known as the tibia.
It makes sure you have rotational stability of the joint and your bottom leg should not slide far forwards. Making sudden stops and quick pivots can cause the ACL to tear if not trained enough.
If the ACL is torn, there will be quite a lot of swelling. There is a test called the Anterior Drawer Test, where you bend your knee and examine if your lower leg can move forward. If there is a firm stop, it might be a sign of no tear. If it feels mushy and goes far forward, it might be a sign of a tear.
Recovery spans from nonsurgical icing and rest to surgical grafts, and recovery spans from 6 to 12 months in competitive sports.
PCL
The Posterior Cruciate Ligament, also known as the PCL, connects the bottom and middle part of your femur to the back and top part of your tibia.
It makes sure your bottom leg should not slide far backwards. Making sudden missteps, hard impacts to the leg, or landing on the ground on a bent leg causes PCL tears.
If the PCL is torn, there will be quite a lot of swelling. There is a test called the Posterior Drawer Test, where you bend your knee and examine if your lower leg can move backward. If there is a firm stop, it might be a sign of no tear. If it feels mushy and goes far backwards, it might be a sign of a tear.
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Recovery spans from nonsurgical icing and rest to surgical grafts, and recovery varies widely from 2 weeks to 12 months depending on the tear.
MCL
The Medial Collateral Ligament, also known as the MCL, connects the inner sides of the bottom part of the femur, or your thigh bone, and the top part of the tibia, or your shin bone.
It makes sure your bottom leg should not swing far outwards. Direct outward hits, hard missteps, and landing with the leg outwards can cause tears of the MCL.
If the MCL is torn, there will be quite a lot of swelling. There is a test called the Valgus Stress Test, where you try to bend your lower leg outwards while keeping the upper leg straight. If there is less movement possible, the ligament is probably intact, otherwise it might be torn.
Recovery spans from nonsurgical icing and rest to surgical grafts, and recovery varies widely from 1 week to 12 weeks depending on the tear.
LCL
The Lateral Collateral Ligament, also known as the LCL, connects the outer sides of the bottom part of the femur, or your thigh bone, and the top part of the tibia, or your shin bone.
It makes sure your bottom leg should not swing far inwards. Direct inward hits, hard missteps, and landing with the leg inward can cause tears of the LCL.
If the LCL is torn, there will be quite a lot of swelling. There is a test called the Varus Stress Test, where you try to bend your lower leg inward while keeping the upper leg straight. If there is less movement possible, the ligament is probably intact, otherwise it might be torn.
Recovery spans from nonsurgical icing and rest to surgical grafts, and recovery varies widely from 1 week to 12 weeks depending on the tear.
Ligaments in the knee are crucial for maintaining the stability as well as the flexibility of the joint when doing daily activities to competing in sports. When either one of these four tear, it is hard to recover without medical assistance and simply just rest. Recovery spans from deciding on surgery, to compression and icing, and regaining neurological control of the joint to prevent further injury.
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And that’s about it, I will catch you on the flip flop, I’m out, see yah!
