Monster

MCL Tear

Playing soccer is a huge commitment I have made to my self and to Lewis University. In my years of playing soccer I have witnessed many different injuries all over the body. Concussions, broken arms, broken clavicles, sprained ankles, and almost anything else you can imagine. One injury that I have not seen in my years of playing soccer is a torn medial collateral ligament or MCL. The knee consists of four ligaments: the medical collateral ligament, the lateral collateral ligament, the anterior cruciate ligament, and the posterior cruciate ligament. I know that when one of these ligaments are damaged that the other three are at a higher risk of getting injured. One analogy I heard once was that the ligaments work like a chair. When on of the chair legs are broken or damaged, it will be much easier for the chair to break or collapse when used. One question I have about the medial collateral ligament is when does someone need to get an MCL repaired or can one just rest and ice and over time this ligament will repair on its own?

In the article it touches home pretty quickly. As a Chicago Bears fan since birth it referenced Jay Cutler many times with his MCL tear in the NFC championship game in 2011. The MCL is the most frequently injured ligament in the knee. It is attached to the femur and the tibia and goes across the inside of the knee. The MCL allows the knee to move left and right and works with all the ligaments together. Another fact that I learned was the severity of the tears, which pertains to my clinical question.

When tearing the MCL there are three different types. Grade I sprain involves microscopic tears in the ligament and taking a break from any activity for it would be recommended. A Grade II tear is when approximately 50-60 percent of the tissue is torn and the ligament is elongated. This is the type of tear Cutler received and once he did tear it he was suppose to be in a supportive brace for four to eight weeks and then begin...