​What to do if knee ligament is loose

Many people who exercise for a long time can easily get injured if they are careless and fail to protect themselves. Knee ligament relaxation is one of the common situations. If a person who is training experiences this situation, he or she needs to stop exercising immediately to avoid further relaxation of the knee ligaments. He or she should rush to the hospital for appropriate diagnosis and treatment, and undergo appropriate surgical treatment if necessary. The main situations are introduced as follows.

1. Diagnosis: Most of the loosening of the medial collateral ligament of the knee is caused by clinical misdiagnosis or inappropriate treatment methods. This requires us to carefully inquire about the medical history of patients with knee trauma, conduct a comprehensive physical examination and related auxiliary examinations in clinical work.

2. Among the stable structures of the knee joint, the medial collateral ligament is relatively weak. When the knee joint is subjected to direct or indirect violence that causes severe abduction and external rotation in a flexed state, it may cause injury to the medial collateral ligament of the knee. When the violence is severe, the anterior cruciate ligament, medial femoral condyle, tibial plateau, joint capsule and medial meniscus may be damaged at the same time. Direct force often acts on the outside of the knee joint. Indirect violence caused by car accidents, skiing falls, etc. can cause the knee joint to be pulled and injured in the valgus position. Knowing the injury history helps to clarify the diagnosis.

3. During physical examination, attention should be paid to checking the valgus stress test of the knee joint. If the valgus stress test in the extended knee position is positive, it indicates that the anterior longitudinal bundle of the medial collateral ligament is injured. A positive stress test with the knee flexed to 30° valgus indicates damage to the oblique fascicle. For patients with medial collateral ligament injury, it is important to check the drawer test and Lachman test to determine whether there is a combined cruciate ligament injury. If medial collateral ligament injury causes severe instability of the knee joint and the medial space opening is significantly enlarged, other knee ligament injuries should be highly suspected. Arthroscopy should be performed in such patients to confirm the diagnosis.

4. Among the auxiliary examinations, knee joint stress X-ray is the most commonly used examination method.

5. Acute medial collateral ligament injury should be diagnosed early. Surgical treatment is the most effective way to ensure joint stability. After ligament injury, improper treatment can lead to the loss of the ligament's guiding and limiting effects on the tibia, which can lead to ligament relaxation, knee instability and osteoarthritis. There are many treatments for old medial collateral ligament laxity, but they can be fundamentally divided into static repair and dynamic repair.