Knee ligaments injury

The knee is one of the most complex and largest joint. There are four primary ligaments in the knee. They act like strong ropes to hold thighbone to lower leg bones. The medial and lateral collateral ligaments control the sideways motion of the knee. Cruciate Ligaments place inside the knee joint. They cross each other like "X". The cruciate ligaments control the forward and posterior motion of your knee.

Causes of knee ligaments injury

Because the knee joint relies just on these ligaments and surrounding muscles for stability, it is easily injured. The most common causes of injury are listed below:

Direct contact or trauma to the knee
Hard muscle contraction, for example: changing direction rapidly while running or suddenly stopping when running.
twisting motion of the knee
extending the knee too far,
suddenly shifting the weight from one leg to the other

Severity of knee ligament injury:

During injury, a knee ligament may be sprained, or sometimes torn. Ligament rupture can be partial (just tear in some fibers of ligaments) or complete.

Grades of ligaments sprains include:

Grade 1 Sprain. The ligament is mildly damaged or slightly stretched, but is still able to help keep the knee joint stable.

Grade 2 Sprains. Sprain of ligaments cause to knee become loose.

Grade 3 Sprains. In this type of sprain cause knee become unstable. The ligament has been split into two pieces and ligaments knee tear completely.

**In the past, injuring more than one ligament would cause the end to future sports activities. Today, many athletes are able to return to high level sports following multiple ligament injuries.

Symptoms

Knee pain
Knee swelling, when a ligament is injured, there may be some bleeding inside your knee joint from the damaged ligament.
Reduced movement of knee.
A feeling that your knee is unstable or perhaps giving
You may walk with a limp.
A popping sound (or a popping or snapping feeling) at the time of injury can sometimes be heard (or felt) if a ligament is completely torn.
Tenderness around your knee on touching.

Treatment

Self-help treatment for the first 48-72 hours includes PRICE.

PRICE: Protect your injured knee, Rest your affected knee for 48-72 hours, Ice for 15 minutes every 2 hours during 48-72 after injury , Compression with bandage, Elevation of your leg.

**After injury do not use Heat, Running or Massage.

Physiotherapy

This may be helpful after some knee ligament injuries to help you to improve the range of movement in your injured knee.

Knee braces

Depending on the knee ligament injury that you have, wearing a special brace to support your knee may be recommended.