Your medial collateral ligament, called the MCL, extends from the inside surface of your upper tibia or shin bone to the inner surface of the bottom of your femur (thigh bone).This important ligament stabilizes your inner knee joints. Most MCL tears occur when you sustain a direct contact injury to the outside of the knee, explains the Sports Medicine Institute of the University of Minnesota. While MCL tears rarely require surgery, they do have a therapeutic protocol.
Symptoms
Inflammation is one of the first symptoms of a medial collateral ligament tear. Pain and sensitivity on the inside of your knee joint also characterize this injury. Sleeping on your side, with one knee stacked on top of the other, may cause severe pain. Your knee may also lock out during certain movements and feel completely unstable during others. The severity of your symptoms depends on the grade of your tear. A Grade 1 sprain overstretches the ligament but does not significantly compromise knee stability. Grade 2 sprains stretch the ligament to the point of instability and Grade 3 sprains, which often occur in conjunction with other ligament sprains, are complete tears.
Reducing Inflammation
A torn medial collateral ligament triggers pain, inflammation and instability. Inflammation gets primary attention, because if you fail to reduce it, pain and instability will persist. Chronic inflammation may eventually trigger permanent muscle stiffness. Your doctor will suggest the RICE treatment, which stands for rest, ice compression and elevation. Resting the injured knee, applying ice for 20 minutes at a time, four to eight times daily, wearing a compression bandage and elevating your leg so that it is above your heart, reduce inflammation. Use pillows under your foot, not your knee, to elevate your leg. Placing the pillows under your knee keeps your leg in a flexed position, which may cause stiffness.
P.R.I.C.E
Rest, ice compression and elevation works for Grade 1 MCL tears, but grade 2 and grade 3 tears may require the P.R.I.C.E. protocol, which stands for protection, rest, ice, compression and elevation, advises Dr. Asheesh Bedi, team physician for the University of Michigan Athletic Department. Protection involves a stabilizing knee brace, an aluminum splint or an over-the-counter knee brace. Some athletic trainers and physical therapists know how to perform a taping procedure for torn knee ligaments.
Physical Therapy
Physical therapy for a torn MCL combines sports massage with therapeutic exercise to regain your leg's range of motion and and strengthen the surrounding muscle groups. Your physical therapist prescribes non-weight bearing exercises -- such as lying supine and bending and straightening your leg -- in the early stages of therapy. As inflammation subsides and range of motion increase, she adds a weight bearing range of motion exercises such as the single leg squat. Side-lying exercises for the inner and outer thigh also play a key role in the MCL therapeutic process.
