Lateral Side Knee Injuries/Lateral Collateral Ligament (LCL) Injuries

Sports Injuries

The lateral side of the knee is the outer side. The lateral side is a very important stabilising structure to the knee and consists of six major structures, including the LCL.

Isolated injuries to one or two of the six structures can usually be treated non-operatively with an appropriate bracing and supervised rehabilitation programme. The mechanism of injury is usually a twisting injury combined with hyperextension or a blow to the outer aspect of the weight bearing knee. Lateral side injuries are commonly combined with ACL and/or PCL tears.

When combined with other ligaments or if involving a number of structures on the outside, this then becomes a major injury which requires rapid diagnosis and surgery within 10 to 14 days in order to optimise recovery. Should this window of opportunity be missed the treatment will then require more complex reconstructive surgery. Both the acute and chronic facets of treatment combined with initial diagnosis and appropriate rehabilitation programmes can bearranged by TheKneeDoc.

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