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DESCRIPTION:
The lateral collateral ligament (LCL) is one of four critical ligaments involved in stabilizing the knee joint. Stabilizing the knee on the outside, or lateral side, of the joint, it extends from the top-outside surface of the fibula, the bone on the outside of the lower leg, to the bottom-outside surface of the femur, the thight bone. An LCL injury involves a stretch, partial tear or complete tear of this particular knee ligament.
 How does a lateral collateral ligament injury develop?
The LCL is usually injured by pressure placed on the knee joint from the inside, resulting in stress on the outside of the joint. For example, a blow to the inner side of the leg, such as can happen during any number of contact sports, may result in an injury. An LCL injury may occur in isolation, or it may be part of a complex knee injury. A weakened or loose lateral collateral ligament may increase the risk of injury. LCL injuries may also occur in conjunction with injuries to other ligaments of the knee, such as an anterior cruciate ligament (LCL) injury, a medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury or a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury.
What are the symptoms of a lateral collateral ligament injury?
Initial symptoms include pain, as well as fairly immediate swelling. After the pain and swelling subside, individuals complain of episodes of instability or of the knee giving way. The knee may also feel loose—a feeling some have likened to walking on roller-skates. Some afflicted individuals can predict this loose feeling; others live in fear that their knee will give out because they are unable to predict the movements that will cause the unstable looseness.
Conventional medical treatments may help relieve the symptoms of an LCL injury, but they do not address the root of the problem. By strengthening structural weaknesses in the body, as natural medicine treatments like Prolotherapy do, pain associated with an LCL injury may be alleviated permanently.
Discover why we believe that natural medicine treatments are the best way to treat an LCL injury.
Click here to read Prolotherapy research by Dr. Ross Hauser and his team on Prolotherapy injections for knee pain and degeneration.
Click here to read Prolotherapy research by Dr. Ross Hauser and his team on Prolotherapy injections for wrist pain.
Click here to read a patient’s story of Prolotherapy injection treatment saving him from bilateral knee replacements. This story was published in the Journal of Prolotherapy.
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