Knee Injuries Health Video

Video Transcript

JUSTIN C.K. DAVIS, MD: Hi, I'm Dr. Justin Davis and today, we will be discussing common sports injury known a knee injury. The knee while it looks rather simple and everyone has two of them, is actually a fairly complex and very important of the body. The knee is where is the upper leg bone known as the femur attaches to the two lower leg bones known as the tibia and fibula; but this attachment is very complex there is a lot of what is known as cartilage as well as different kinds of tendons and ligaments that attach it in all of different directions and ways so that you can have very controlled and stable leg movement. Because the knee is such a complex structure in your body and because it's so important in so many daily activities whether it's just simply walking or getting up or if it's more rigorous activities like sports, there's lot of different kinds of injuries that can occur to it. Probably, the most common types of injuries are will either be from a sports injury where you twisted or turn at the wrong way, thereby, damaging the soft tissue and when I say soft tissue - I mean- for example those tendons or ligaments that act as rubber bands and attachers for the bone or sometimes you'll have another injury known as some kind of blunt trauma where it's actually hit. For example, you may fall very hard on your knee and you could break your knee cap or you could just bruise it very badly. There are other things that can affect knees such arthritis, but these aren't typically known as injury so we won't be discussing those today. The symptoms of a knee injury is typically pain and swelling in the knee, regardless of what causes it, but the pain maybe located in various locations depending on exactly which injury. Treatment also depends upon what kind injury sustained to your knee. So for example, often you'll see athletes that are running and twist the wrong they may have what's called an ACL injury - the anterior cruciate ligament. This is a particular kind of ligament that is located in the knee that holds it and stabilizes if you move certain way. So when you twist the wrong way or too hard, you can sometimes tear this. You also have other ligaments and you also have different tendons in the knee and similar injuries can occur to these by twisting or falling in different directions. So how do you prevent this? Well, there are different ways to prevent knee injuries. First of all recognize, that if you are doing any kind of competitive sports or athletics, you are more likely to have a knee injury and if you are going to be doing this then it is important to take precautions that may help you to avoid these. Some of the precautions are of course wearing proper gear, so if you are a runner, that might mean proper shoes or if you are a football player, the proper padding. But other important precautions that you should take are good stretching and good muscle training. Why good muscle training? Because don't forget the muscles also surround the knee and control a lot of its movements, so if you have strong muscle groups surrounding the knee, there's a lot less chance that there's going to be pressure or tears put on some of the tendons and ligaments that can cause these. If you suspect that you have a knee injury, well the good news is rarely an emergency and you can wait until later to fix it. That doesn't that you should continue doing whatever you are doing if you've injured it, because you may only make the injury worse. It simply means that what you need to do is stop doing your action, rest it, put some ice on it immediately and then call a physician who may tell you to wrap up your knee and perhaps take an anti-inflammatory. Some of the treatments for these injuries, again, will depend on what specifically is the injury. Often, it's simply just rest and stretching and taking away the inflammation, but in other cases where there's a true tear, like what an ACL tear, you may need to have that ligament replaced or repaired. Sometimes, x-rays are enough to diagnose a knee injury or just a physical exam, but other times may require an MRI to diagnose a more complicated soft tissue injury. Whatever kind of injury it is and whatever the proper diagnostic and treatment modalities will be, it's important that once you are injured, you stop what doing what you're doing, rest and ice the knee and then when things feel a little better, notify your trainer or your physician right away.