Any sports medicine people here?

[Sukhoi]

My right knee is rather unstable for a couple of reasons. Lateral stability is the biggest problem, in particular the ligament on the outside (LCL?) is too loose. Are there any exercises I can do to tighten that up? I already do squats, leg press, etc. but that doesn't do much for lateral stability.

 

[ta8689]

surgery

 

[Zim Hosein]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi
My right knee is rather unstable for a couple of reasons. Lateral stability is the biggest problem, in particular the ligament on the outside (LCL?) is too loose. Are there any exercises I can do to tighten that up? I already do squats, leg press, etc. but that doesn't do much for lateral stability.

How so Sukhoi?

 

[Sukhoi]

Originally posted by: Zim Hosein

Originally posted by: Sukhoi
My right knee is rather unstable for a couple of reasons. Lateral stability is the biggest problem, in particular the ligament on the outside (LCL?) is too loose. Are there any exercises I can do to tighten that up? I already do squats, leg press, etc. but that doesn't do much for lateral stability.

How so Sukhoi?

I think most of it was caused from the lengthening of my lower leg. That stretched out and weakened all the ligaments and tendons in my knee. Strangely the inside isn't too bad, but the outside is rather loose. If I put my palm on the outside of my knee with my foot firmly on the floor and then kinda push with my thigh so there is an outside facing force on my knee I can feel all the bones moving around and the gaps widening way more than in my other knee.

 

[fire400]

You should probably see a doctor first. Any kind of exercise is good, but it may damage your knee if you are not aware of what you are doing to it, full fledged physiology field knows this one all too well. It really depends how severe this case is, if it's been going on for months or whether your habbits for how this came to being regards professional medical attention.

After your doctor suggests what you need to do - you have to maintain the basics, because medicine and possibly surgery will do one thing, but you need an inspection and be consistent with the following basics - eat, sleep and exercise.

The worse case scenario would be if you continued to let this go on and attemping to solve a problem on your own, while nothing gets better, and in the end, perhaps go through much more therapy which will cause a lot of unfortunate "unwantitudes." Good luck~

 

[AbAbber2k]

I don't think you can "tighten" a ligament. You could get surgery...
Unless you mean a tendon, which attaches muscle to bone, though obviously the LCL is not such. Have you been to a doctor? Personally, I would avoid surgery unless it's absolutely necessary (again, consult a doctor). Anything that will mess with your kinetic chain (foot fall affects knee -> hips -> spine -> neck) is a big deal. Wish I could say more but I'm just straight Kinesiology... no specilization in AT/PT... maybe in the future.

 

[Sukhoi]

Oh it's been like this since 7th grade. I've just finally gotten tired of it. It's nowhere near bad enough for surgery, so I guess I'll just live with it. I think I may have mentioned it to my surgeon at one point, and he said about all I could do is the regular leg workout exercises.

 

[inevitable]

into the op rooom you go

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: Sukhoi
Oh it's been like this since 7th grade. I've just finally gotten tired of it. It's nowhere near bad enough for surgery, so I guess I'll just live with it. I think I may have mentioned it to my surgeon at one point, and he said about all I could do is the regular leg workout exercises.

Well... it really depends on how much time and money will be involved. If your doctor told you this back in 7th grade, clearly that must've been a few number of years ago. But then again, surgery is always an option for loose body parts, ofcourse you want to avoide surgery, right?

I guess you could start here... http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/exerciseandphysicalfitness.html

 

[EmperorIQ]

I have the same problem, but for both knees. the right knee was a result of a karate accident when I was about 12, and a snow boarding accident when i was about 20, and the left knee is due to a motorcycle accident about 6 months ago. The doctors never recommended me any physical therapy, although my knees do hurt sometimes. They told me to just go easy on them until I feel ok . . . I have been going easy on them by doing only cycling and low impact exercises, but that's about it. I don't really mind that its loose, or there are slight pain in there on occassion, as long as I can walk and do some cardio.

I hope i'm never in a situation where i am chased down =(

 

[OutHouse]

Originally posted by: AbAbber2k
I don't think you can "tighten" a ligament. You could get surgery...
Unless you mean a tendon, which attaches muscle to bone, though obviously the LCL is not such. Have you been to a doctor? Personally, I would avoid surgery unless it's absolutely necessary (again, consult a doctor). Anything that will mess with your kinetic chain (foot fall affects knee -> hips -> spine -> neck) is a big deal. Wish I could say more but I'm just straight Kinesiology... no specilization in AT/PT... maybe in the future.

correct, once a ligament is stretched its gonna stay stretched until its surgically corrected.

 

[BoomerD]

You can tighten up the muscles that surround the knee, which will help with the stability some, but the only way to fix the ligament, is surgery...
Been there. I demolished my ACL in 03, and we tried to control the damage and stave off the surgery by doing lots of leg strenthing exercises and therapy. In the end, it didn't help a lot...too much damage. I had my ACL replaced 2 yrs ago, he did a meniscotomy, and took out MOST of the medial meniscus, so I'm almost bone-on-bone, and will probably need a full knee replacement within a couple of years. ...<be still my heart>

The knee has been more painful and more trouble since, than it was before it was "repaired"

But your experience may vary...