♪ Bob and Brad, the two most famous ♪
♪ physical therapists on the internet ♪
- Hi folks I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist,
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- Together we are the most famous physical therapists,
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- So, the question today,
have you torn or strained a ligament in your knee?
And we're talk about how to tell.
- Yes.
- Very common injury with athletic events.
- Right.
- And we'll talk about, all the, how that happens,
but there are four main ligaments in your knee.
- Yeah, this is pretty clear cut.
- Yeah.
And the ligaments are strong bands of tissue
that connect one bone to another.
So, we're connecting the tibia to the femur.
- Right.
- And in the knee they help stabilize the knee joint too,
I mean the main thing that does stabilize the joint.
- Yeah. I always think of it mechanically.
One of them stabilize it from going forward, the tibia,
one for backwards and one right, and one left.
It's not quite that simple, but --
- And also rotations too.
- Yeah.
Yeah. I always, yeah.
Anyways.
- So common ways the ligaments get strained
or stretched or torn or completely torn,
again during sports,
if you suddenly change direction.
Like cutting in football.
- Yeah.
- Or if you're slowing down quickly.
- Sure.
- Very common, also of course,
whether you get impact on the knee, too.
- Sure. Yeah.
Like in a auto, accident
where your knee smashes into the dashboard,
also when you put weight and an a rotation
or weight and the knee goes in, which is part rotation,
and there's a combination there, but anyways.
- Yeah, we see it, sometimes, in,
in women in volleyball where,
cause a lot of them have the Q angle,
the knee is turned in --
- Yep.
- and they land it incorrectly or awkwardly jumping,
and they land with their knees in like that.
- And basketball has a high incidence --
- Yeah, could be guys and girls.
- Yep.
- So again, we talked about a sudden stop, can do it.
Pivoting on your knee, like we said, with your foot planted.
You know, it's funny, we had a quarterback,
in Minnesota for our NFL team that he did it.
- You got a professional team in Minnesota?
(both laughing)
Just kidding.
- So anyway, he, he was just,
it was non-contact and you hear that quite often.
- Yeah.
- I, I remember a couple of basketball players, too,
that just landed and hyper-extended their knee
and took their ACL out.
So these are some indications that you may have a torn
or strained ligament in your knee.
Sudden and severe pain.
So if you did something, and it comes on suddenly,
- Yep.
a, a loud popping or snapping sound.
Sometimes the people in the,
the crowd can actually say they heard the pop when,
when the knee got hit.
Rapid swelling, first 24 hours,
it was up like a, like a balloon, like right away.
The knee feels loose and unstable.
- Right.
- You got one of the legs of the stool,
a four legged stool that's gone now.
- Yeah yeah.
- So it becomes unstable.
- It, I just wanted to say that
you could have a partial tear --
- Right.
- Versus a full tear or rupture.
And they both have a little bit --
- Or stretch it even --
- Yeah, yeah, micro tears.
- Yep.
You're unable to put weight on the joint,
it's painful or it gives away.
- Yeah.
- And do you have a loss of motion in the knee?
nad that might be because, part of the swelling too, so --
- Right, yeah.
- So with these indicators you, you, probably,
if any of those above indicators,
you probably should see a physician.
- Yep, get it checked out.
- I'm gonna go over the test, Brad real quickly.
- Sure.
- I don't think anybody can do these on their own,
while they certainly can't do them on their own.
I don't think really you can do it,
have somebody doing them to ya, unless they're trained,
because they're --
- Right.
- They're just difficult to do.
- Yeah. There's that one actually,
that just came out that we did a video on.
- Yeah, that's right.
- That one is a little easier,
but we'll do the ones that are very,
have, historically been common --
- Right.
You want a pillow, Brad?
- Oh yes, thank you Bob.
And now I know that you're concerned about my comfort level.
- That's right.
So we'll look at this leg here.
Why don't you roll your pant leg.
- Oh Bob, it's my, these legs ain't what they used to be.
That's for sure.
I'm getting varicose veins and all kinds of stuff.
My hair's fallen off.
(both laughing)
- So, you're gonna start with the knee bent around,
45 degrees, which is right around there.
And we're gonna take this bone here and pull it forward.
And if the ligament, the ACL, anterior cruciate ligament
is doing its job,
it's going to prevent me from going forward.
- [Brad] Right.
- [Bob] So, I, here's the joint of the knee.
So I actually put my thumbs above it.
- [Brad] Sure.
- [Bob] And I'm going to pull rapidly like this.
Now what I do usually is,
do it on the knee that we know was not effected.
- [Brad] The good one.
- [Bob] Yeah. So I can get a sense of what it feels like.
And then I do it on the, the knee that's.
I think that might have an injury.
- [Brad] I usually sit on the foot.
- [Bob] Oh yeah, that's right.
Yes, yes.
- [Brad] Yeah. - [Bob] Very good point.
- [Brad] It kind of locks it down, but --
- I'm almost falling off here.
- [Brad] You gotta, I always tell the patient,
I'm gonna sit on your foot on purpose.
- Right.
- [Brad] I'm not doing it -- - [Bob] Exactly.
- Because I'm senile.
- Now if we, yeah, that's for the ACL,
now for the posterior cruciate ligament, the PCL,
we're actually gonna push down the other way,
like this, to see if it gives way a little bit.
Not as common.
- Not near as common.
- Don't don't find that very often.
- Right.
- So then, when now we're going to check the ligaments
on the side of the knee.
- Yeah.
- So if we want to check the knee on the inside of the knee,
right here, I'm going to bend the knees just slightly here.
And I better, hold on to the upper thigh here.
And I would bring the lower leg in towards the other knee.
And if that, if that ligament,
oh, I'm sorry, we're checking the outside of the --
- [Brad] Pop quiz time.
- [Bob] Yep, this is the outside of the knee.
And I'm checking --
- [Brad] Lateral, LCL. - [Bob] Varus.
- [Both] Yep.
- [Bob] And then I'm going to push it out the other way.
- [Brad] Again, this is one that,
it takes practice to understand.
So we don't, you know, we're not expect anybody to do.
- [Bob] And that, would be the inside of the knee,
would be laxity or pain.
- Right.
- Sometimes you know ,you for the outside,
the, the ligaments, you can just push along them and go,
oh, that's right, it hurts right where the ligament is.
- Yeah, and you have to be pretty familiar with the anatomy,
but typically, especially if the person is thin,
boy, those ligaments are just right under the skin.
They're so superficial.
- Yeah. If it hurts along the whole joint line here,
then something in the joint quite often.
But if it hurts just where the ligament is.
- Yeah, yeah.
These are things that, we don't expect you to do,
as we mentioned,
but when the doctor or the therapist does it.
Yeah. At least you'll be familiar with,
why they're doing it.
- Yeah. It's very simple.
The concept here is that, you know,
if those ligaments aren't doing their job, it's sloppy.
- Right.
- The, the joints gonna be actually moving.
And that's why over time,
sometimes you want to have the ligaments repaired,
because if they aren't repaired,
your knees are gonna be sloppy for years and years.
- Right, right.
- And it can start wearing out prematurely.
- Yeah, so.
It's kind of interesting.
There are people that do not have an ACL, it ruptured
and they did not get it re, repair
and they still can be active,
but they really have to make sure their hamstrings
are strong to competence.
- I know I have several friends,
that had ACL ruptured injuries,
but did not have them repaired.
- Sure.
- So, and one's doing fine.
I mean, I don't know how the other one's doing.
He was a physical therapist,
but the one I just saw and he's my age,
he's 61 years old and has no knee pain.
So he did fine with it.
- Yeah, yeah.
It's a conversation you,
obviously are going to have with your surgeon.
- Right.
- Or your doctor.
- Yeah, so.
All right,
remember this video is a part of a series of videos
on knee pain.
So if you want to see the entire series, go to
BOBANDBRAD.COM, go to the program section,
look for the titles that pertain to you.
And those are the ones you can watch.
- Right.
There'll be 30 or 40 videos on these,
but just skim through the titles.
You'll pick out the ones,
by the title and watch it.
There's a bonus, a PDF printout,
that gives you a print out with a nice review of the video.
And actually we've got the exercises
and tests in there as well.
- Yeah, we got the photo's in there that'll help.
- Right.
And if there's any spelling errors or grammar,
it's Bob's fault.
- That's on me.
- He's did a heck of a job doing this.
- And the people that are just supposed to be editing this.
(both laughing)
And the cost is.
- Nothing, absolutely, nothing.
Not even your email.
- Right.
- You got people editing these Bob?
- Yeah.
- And you didn't ask me?
(both laughing)
- Everybody knows I'm not an English Major.
All Right. Thanks for watching.
(upbeat music)