Six Most Common Sports Knee Injuries

As we all know the knee is one of the largest and most complex joints in our body. It's one of the most important joints which helps us to walk and run. Most outdoor sports require a good and healthy knee joint to perform perfectly. The knee helps bending the leg and plays an important role in supporting our body weight.

As the knee joint is such a complex joint, that makes it more prone to various injuries. Sports Injuries of the knee include injuries of ligaments, muscles, bones and cartilage etc.

So, we will try to elaborate on six of these most common sports injuries.

1. Fractures:
   The fractures that can happen around the knee joint during sports are tibial plateau fractures, shin bone or tibia shaft fractures, Patella or kneecap fractures, Ligament avulsion fractures etc. Kneecap fractures are quite common amongst them as kneecap or patella acts as a shield that can become broken during a high impact fall like in a sports injury ( football, Skiing etc). Fractures in most circumstances require prolonged immobilization and sometimes even surgeries and loss of sporting activities for a long period.


2. Dislocations:
   Dislocations mean bones coming out of place, which happens frequently in kneecaps ( patella) and are quite common in the younger generation of sports players especially in females.
   Another type of knee dislocations occur in sports like football or in car accidents wherein the thigh bone and shin bone pop out of place. It's a severe variety of dislocation as most of these injuries involve multiple ligament tears and sometimes require multiple surgeries. Return to sports in such injured players can be quite delayed and require prolonged rehabilitation and physiotherapy.


3. Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries:
   The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most important ligaments of the knee. It is a kind of a tissue which joins the upper thigh bone and the lower Shin bone and uses mechanical stability in the front back and rotational planes. It helps in providing stability while running, jumping, getting down stairs and lots of other activities. Most common modes of ACL injuries are twisting of the knee while playing Sports like football, hockey, skiing etc.


4. Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries:
   The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of the most important ligaments of the knee. It is a kind of a tissue which joins the upper thigh bone and the lower Shin bone and uses mechanical stability in the front back and rotational planes. It helps in providing stability while running, jumping, getting down stairs and lots of other activities. Most common modes of ACL injuries are twisting of the knee while playing Sports like football, hockey, skiing etc.
   Injury to the ligament ACL, can be mild like a sprain or it can be severe like a complete tear which requires surgery. It's one of the most common knee ligament injuries.
   Treatment decisions for ACL injuries depends on the extent of the injury. Not all ACL injuries require surgery, but it depends on various factors. Physiotherapy is often recommended after an ACL injury and ACL reconstruction surgery.


5. Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries:
   The posterior cruciate ligament injuries are less frequent injuries. This ligament lies in the back of the knee connecting the thigh bone to the Shin bone and prevents front back motion of the knee while jumping or running. Treatment of such injuries are generally by bracing and immobilization and prolonged period of physiotherapy and rarely they do require surgery if the injury causes instability.


6. Collateral Ligament Injuries:
   The Collateral ligaments include the Inner Collateral known as medial Collateral ligament (MCL) and Outer Collateral ligament known as the Lateral Collateral ligament (LCL). These two ligaments give Side to side stability to the knee.
   Such injuries if present, require bracing and icing initially and immobilization and if they are severe variety, sometimes require a surgical repair or reconstruction.


7. Meniscal Tears:
   The meniscus is kind of a cushion between the knee joint that helps absorb the shock which can occur when one plays sports or does a workout. It helps in force distribution and is a very important cartilage structure of the knee.
   These tissues can unfortunately suffer injuries when a twisting of the knee joint occurs when playing sports like football, volleyball, soccer, athletics etc. While some of these tears of meniscus can heal on immobilization and bracing, most require a surgery in the form of Arthroscopy of the knee.

What to do if you have a Knee Injury?

There are all sorts of ways in which one can have a knee injury. Most get injured while playing sports like football, running, jumping or some have even in day to day activities like walking down stairs, falling from a bike, getting down from a bus or even a local train like in Mumbai.

Thousands of people suffer from bike injuries in Mumbai in any given month. You might feel a sudden jerk or pull in the knee and moderate to severe pain after you injure the knee. And shortly afterwards, you may also see a swelling around the top and sides of the knee.

Two possibilities may arise:
Either you are totally unable to walk or have severe limping due to pain in your knee and you will be carried to a hospital by someone in which case an Xray of your knee will be seen by an orthopedic doctor. If you have a fracture around the knee, the doctor will advise accordingly.Now the others, who can walk after knee injury with some amount of pain and limp may not visit a doctor immediately. These are the subset of patients likely to have a knee ligament injury.
Generally, if one has a knee any injury and is suffering from pain and swelling, the best treatment to do at home is to do
RICE (R - Rest, I- Ice fomentations, C- Compression Bandage, E- Elevation).
Now we shall explain each in detail.

Rest:
Give complete rest to the knee. Avoid walking too much. Avoid bending your knee like in squatting or sitting cross-legged. Taking a few days of bed rest may also help.

Ice Fomentation:
Apply ice or an ice pack onto the knee and upper thigh, continuously for ten every 2 to 3 hours. This can continue for a few days till pain gets relieved.

Compression Bandage:
A crepe bandage can be used for applying compression over the knee to decrease the pain and swelling.

Elevation:
The involved leg should be placed in an elevated position on top of pillows for the swelling to subside.If one has done these for a number of days, say for 3 to 4 days, he or she should feel somewhat better.

After this, one can resume routine activities if feeling better in the knee. But they should at all times avoid running, jumping or activities that stress the knee. The signs and symptoms that can suggest that you need a specialist opinion are: Pain in the knee on walking, and/or fully bending or straightening the knee.Clicking sounds heard in the knee on moving the knee, especially during walking or bending knee. This can be suggestive of a meniscus injury in the knee.Locking in the knee: feeling that the knee gets locked in a particular position while walking or bending which again may be suggestive of a Meniscal or a ligament tear.Instability: if on walking, you feel as if the knee is loose or moving inside and you don't have complete confidence of walking and not falling down, then it may be suggestive of a ligament injury in the knee like a anterior cruciate ligament injury (ACL) or a posterior cruciate ligament injury (PCL). Swelling: if the knee remains persistently swollen then there could be possibility of a ligament or a meniscus tear in the knee. Such signs should be seen as RED FLAGS and be acted upon as soon as possible. One should in these cases see an Orthopedic doctor specialist in Knee injuries and Knee arthroscopic surgery.