Medial Ligament Rupture
What is the medial collateral ligament? What are the symptoms of a medial ligament injury? And what are the causes? Alex Dodds, knee consultant for The Cotswolds, Cheltenham & Gloucester, explains.
What is the medial collateral ligament and what does it do?
Think of the ligaments of your knee a little like the guy ropes of a tent. They’re there to keep things in place, preventing the joint from extending too far outside its normal range of movement. The medial collateral ligament (MCL) sits on the inner side of your knee, connecting your thigh bone and shinbone and spanning the inner side of the knee joint.
What causes a medial collateral ligament tear?
There are several types of ligament injury. They can be twisted, sprained (stretched) or ruptured (torn). Ruptures can be partial or full tears.
MCL injuries can be caused by a fall. They can occur through repeated stress to the ligament, a bit like a rubber band snapping after repeated use. It’s not uncommon for breast stroke swimmers to suffer MCL strains for this reason.
They can be twisted through activities such as skiing. And they can be ruptured by impact to the knee joint. Often, this occurs during sports – perhaps a blow from a hockey stick, a tackle in football or rugby, or landing awkwardly after a jump.
I tend to see more MCL injuries at my Cheltenham knee clinic than LCL injuries (that is, injuries of the ligament on the other side of the knee). Fortunately, however, MCL injuries tend to be less severe than LCLs.
What are the symptoms of a medial collateral ligament injury?
If you injure your MCL, you will likely experience pain or tenderness on the inner side of the knee joint. The knee may feel stiff and it may swell (although it’s possible to injure the MCL and have no swelling). You may feel as though your knee is unstable – as though it’s about to give way – because the ligament that was holding the bones of the joint tightly in place is no longer able to do its job effectively.
Patients at my Gloucestershire knee surgery often say they heard a ‘pop’ when they tore their MCL.
How do you diagnose an MCL injury?
Visit my Cheltenham and Gloucester knee clinic and the first step in diagnosis will be a physical examination of your knee. We’ll also carry out an MRI scan, because that will show any damage to other soft tissues in the joint (often, ligament damage isn’t confined to a single ligament). We may also carry out an x-ray if there’s a question of damage to the bone. Contact our Gloucestershire knee surgery for a swift diagnosis.
How do you treat MCL tears?
Low grade sprains don’t usually require surgery. More serious ruptures may. You can find out more about treating ligament sprains here.
Find out how we treat MCL tears.
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