Collateral Ligaments and other non-cruciate tendons & ligaments around the knee :

MCL sprain - Can't bend knee - - Posted by botchoyhain (botchoyhain), 21 December 2004

I have a grade 2 MCL sprain which happened almost a month ago and have physical theraphy 2x a week for 2 weeks now.  I cant seem to bend the injured knee beyond 45 degrees due to pain and tightness.  Is that normal ?  What exercises are effective and how long before I can fully bend my knee.  Appreciate if anyone with a similar injury can reply.  Please post and also reply to botchoy@bigfoot.com
Posted by brattkids2 (brattkids2), 21 December 2004

You may want to move your post to the MCL ACL section of the boards. you will get a whole lot more replies!!

Happy Holidays
Posted by tanna76 (tanna76), 25 January 2005

Hi there! I am also new to this site, but your injury sounds just like mine so i thought i would share my tale with you. I injured my knee 5 weeks ago now, and originally i was told i had a MCL sprain also. I have been having PT 2x weekly since two days after the injury, and i can now push the knee to about 80 degrees but thats it so far. Last week i was finally refered for an MRI which revealed a whole heap of other stuff going on in there. I also have a slightly torn ACL, torn meniscus (cartlidge) and bone bruising. They seem to think that the reason for the lack of flexion could be the torn meniscus blocking the joint, or arthrofibrosis which is basically scarring within the joint. They still haven't decided how to fix it yet! I dont mean to scare you or anything but wanted to let you know that it might be more complicated than an MCL sprain. My advice... ask for a referral to a Orthopaedic surgeon and get an MRI done. At least then you will know then. In the mean time, exercise it. Move it as much as you can. It will hurt. I found that if i push it just to the point of pain, and hold it there for 30 secs or so, i can then push it just a little further, and so on and so forth. Best of luck. I would be interested to hear how you get along.
Tanna76.
Posted by botchoyhain (botchoyhain), 25 January 2005

 Hi Tanna,  I just read your post now.  Its been 8 weeks since my injury.  Yes, I had an MRI taken a couple of days after my injury and my OS recommended rest for 2 weeks with immobilization to allow the swelling to subside before prescribing therapy.  As I said, my flexion is almost back to normal and am moving towards strenghtening now as my quads and others affected knee muscles have shrunk due to athropy which i am told is normal when one does not use certain muscles for long periods.
I really recommend the hot water treatment unless there really is something more to your sprain but i think it would not hurt to try out my suggestion while the docs are deciding how to manage your injury.  keep mu updated ok ?  I'm interested.  

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