One of the most common knee sports injuries is cruciate ligament injury.
The human knee has four main supporting ligaments. Two of these ligaments which are called the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) locate inside of the knee, and two ligaments on either side of the knee are called the medial collateral ligament (MCL) and the lateral collateral ligament (LCL).
Knee ligaments are responsible for maintaining and stabilizing the knee when standing or moving. In addition to these ligaments, the quadriceps muscle tendon also helps stabilize the knee.
Excessive pressure, especially rotational pressure on the knee, which usually occurs during active sports such as soccer or martial arts, can lead to damage to these ligaments in the form of stretching, partial rupture, or complete rupture. In this case, the person’s knee becomes unstable and sometimes a giving way occurs, in which case the person may fall to the ground.
The quadriceps muscle located in front of the thigh plays an important role in knee stability and most of the rehabilitation of knee injury is achieved by strengthening this muscle. In mild cases, quadriceps muscle strengthening can compensate and restore knee stability, but in more severe cases, which interferes with walking or occupation, or in professional athletes, ACL reconstruction surgery which is usually done by arthroscopy in a need.
You can watch knee rehabilitation exercises and cruciate and lateral ligaments by downloading the Rehabex mobile app here.
Prepared by: Rehabex Team
