Knee ligaments injuries

Knee joint is one of the biggest and most complex joints in the body, which also makes it the joint with the most movement in the human body. During a great deal of human daily movements and activities knee joint is the one that takes on a great deal of load. This joint is a complex juncture of the upper leg (femur) and the lower leg bones (tibia and fibula). Like any other joint in our body, the knee has active and passive stablizers. Passive stabilizers are bones and ligaments that link different parts of the joint and active ones are muscles and their respective tendons whose activity is what makes the joint move.

As one of the most complex joints in the human body, the knee has a great number of ligaments that help stabilize it. The cruciate ligaments (anterior cruciate ligament - ACL and posterior cruciate ligament - PCL) which connect the femur with the tibia and prevent knee sliding, ie. lower leg forward or backward translation in relation to the upper leg. ACL is the most important knee ligament because it is the only ligament that is active in any given moment in its stabilizing role, whether you are sleeping or performing a sprint the ACL is active. Collateral ligaments (medial - MCL and lateral - LCL) run along the medial and lateral sides of the knee and they restrict medial (valgus knee position) or lateral (varus knee position) colapse of the knee joint and stabilize it by doing so. Medial and lateral retinaculum of the knee are 2 ligaments that go along both sides of the patella bone, stabilizing it and preventing its luxation. The last bigger knee ligament is the patella ligament, it goes over the anterior surface of the patella  and connects to the tibia just under the knee acting as an extension to the quadriceps tendon. Its role is to give aditional stability to the patella and the knee joint. The medial patelo-femoral ligament (MPFL) is a smaller ligament connecting the patella to the femur.

Active stabilizers of the knee are all the upper leg and lower leg muscles that are a part of any movement in that joint. Quadriceps muscle at the front of the upper leg, hamstring muscle group at the back of the upper leg (biceps femoris, semimembranosus, semitendinosus). Lower leg muscles (tibialis anterior, tibilais posterior, triceps surae, peroneus anterior and posterior, etc.) which take on a synergistic role in many of the knee joint movements.

Knee ligaments can get injured by a contact or non contact injury mechanism and the injurys are generally graded into 3 levels: strain, partial rupture and complete rupture. According to the severity of the ligament injury there is a specific progression to the rehabilitation process that needs to be implemented, the same can be said about the exercise and load progression and the time needed to completely recover. Videoreha programs offer that specific progression, taking into consideration the needs and charachteristics of every ligament injury and its severity.