I came down on the outer section of my left knee hard 2 weeks ago in practice. I went to the doc again today. He says there is an extreme strain or tear to the lateral collateral ligament on my left knee. I’m going tomorrow to make arrangements for an MRI. He says of course, do not squat, play ball, or anything else that will put pressure on my legs. I don’t get how this happened. I never twisted my knee. I just hit it hard. Could it be from squatting?
Anyhow, it looks like my charge to 220 has been stopped. If I find out I’m going to have to get surgery, I’m going to continue with the charge to 220. I have just 10lbs to go. What do you guys think?
The LCL very rarely requires surgery. Its does a great job of healing itself, but it does take time. The LCL has a good blood supply, which allows it to scar over and regenerate itself. The ACL however, does not and a full tear always requires surgery unless you are inactive and never plan to plant and cut again.
The LCL provides lateral stability to the knee. Without one your knee will buckle out.
Most ligament related knee injuries are a product of bad luck. Heavy squatting did not cause your LCL to tear. A bunch of things happened at the same time, unfortunately resulting in your knee receiving the right amount of pressure at the right angle for injury. For the LCL its not a twist but outward pressure that results in injury.
Full recovery takes about 6 weeks. They can brace you to get you back in action sooner, but you still need to focus on range of motion, and strength.
I’ve been rehabilitating injured athletes for 8 years, and have only seen one LCL that was a complete tear and needed surgery. I myself suffered a grade 2 LCL sprain that needed about 6-8 weeks of recovery time before strength and range of motion where returned to normal.
I always reccommend a second opinoin before any surgery just to get conformation that its really needed.
Can you physically sqaut? If it is truly torn your range of motion should be deminished, the knee will be quite painful, and strength should be down.