hey everybody it's doctor Jo and Remy, and today we're gonna show you my top 7
treatments for an MCL sprain. so let's get started. So the MCL are the medial
So the MCL, or the medial
ligament is very similar in the way that the ACL is that it stabilizes the knee.
so if you have a sprain, there's many different grades of the sprain. so make
sure to talk to your doctor or physical therapist about, when can I start
exercising? do I need surgery? can I treat it without surgery? so these are
questions you have to ask somebody who's treating you in person. so the first
treatment is going to be knee props. so just use like a foam roll, or you can
roll up a towel, you want it to be so your knee's kind of propped up off of the
floor. that's why it's called a knee prop. if you're sitting in a chair you can
prop it up on a stool or another chair. and this one is really just trying to
get that full extension of the knee. when you have that sprain on that inside of
that knee, that medial side, a lot of times your knee will kind of lock up in
a bent position. so you really want to get that full motion back because when
you're walking, if you don't have that full knee extension then that's going to
cause a whole lot of other problems. so all you're really doing for this is
you're just propping your leg up and letting it relax. so if you're here, if
that's as far as it will go, just try and relax your body for a couple minutes and
eventually it should start straightening out a little bit. you don't want it to be
SuperDuper painful the whole time you're doing it. if it's a little uncomfortable,
some tension, some pressure, that's okay that's what you want, but don't feel like
you have to push on it. eventually you can put some weights like above your
thigh, but for now just do the prop just so you're starting to get some more of
that motion in there. so again you can just start off I maybe start with 30
seconds to a minute, but then you can move up to three to five minutes just
kind of propping it up and letting everything stretch out. the next one is
going to be a heel slide. so a heel slide is exactly how it sounds. so again we're
still working on motion here, this is going to start strengthening the
hamstrings a little bit which go up underneath
the knee and are really important to help stabilize that knee when that medial
ligament isn't working how it's supposed to. I like keeping the other side propped up
just cuz I feel like it gives you some stability and some push to bring the
other side up. some people keep it down, that's fine, but I like it up because
then that also takes a little pressure off of your back, and if you've had your
knee sprain for a couple days you're not walking quite right, your back might
start hurting you too. so make sure that you get some pressure off of that. so
with the heel slide, all you're doing is just sliding it up as far as you
comfortably can. sometimes that bending is really tight too, so you might not
even be able to get here. you might only be to here, and that's fine. just go till
you feel that pressure, hold it for about three to five seconds, and then come back
down. so again just start off with maybe five or ten of these, getting that
stretch and holding it, and then you can do two sets of those a couple times
throughout the day. you know really try and keep that flexibility in that
mobility in the knee, and that will help take some of that pain out of there as
well. so the next one is to start getting some strengthening back in the knee and
the hip area in general. the the next exercise is going to be a clam shell
exercise. I like to do this one even though it's working the outer side, you
really want to get those muscles strengthened around the knee and
sometimes if you start off right away on the inside where that sprain is, it's
really painful. so I like to start on the outside. clam shells are things that look
really easy, but if you do it correctly, it's actually pretty hard. you want your
hips to be perpendicular to the floor. now if you're having problems getting
down onto the floor, up from the floor, you can do this in your bed or on a
couch. you don't have to do it on the floor. make sure you're relaxing your
head and getting in a comfortable position. I'm just kind of propping up so
I can talk to you, but the important part is to keep those hips perpendicular. if
you're rolling back once you start doing the exercise, you're not getting those
muscles working that you want to. your feet are gonna stay together, and then
you're just going to take the top leg, the one that you're working and bring it
up. so you don't have to go high because once I started going higher, I'm
gonna start wanting to roll back, and you don't want to do that. you want to pretty
much keep those hips where they are the whole time and just move that knee.
so again if you're doing it right, the first three or four might feel easy, but
once you get to seven, eight, nine, ten, it might be a little bit tougher. so make
sure you take a break in between maybe start off with two sets of ten. if you
can get to 20-25 and there's no problems, then you can add a resistive band. and
make sure that you start off with the lightest one because again these are
tougher than they look. so you want to make sure that you're not
overdoing it. so it would be the same concept and now you have that resistance
to come up and then just nice and slow back down. so again starting back over
about ten two sets of ten and then working up from there. so then the next
set of exercises are is just going to be a simple four way hip. I usually like
starting the four way up lying down and then you can progress to standing up, but
I'm just going to show you the lying down one for now. and four way hip is
kind of exactly how it sounds, you're just doing a hip movement four different
ways. so the first one is just a straight leg raise. so again just kind of like it
sounds. I like keeping that knee propped up to protect the back and to give you a
target. so you're going to pull your toes up, that's going to help lock out that
leg. keep it nice and straight and slow and controlled. you're just going to lift
it up to about the other side. so you're not kicking all the way up. if you can't
get all the way up to there, that's okay, but just slowly come back down
trying to keep those muscles nice and tight the whole time while you're doing
it. this is a slow thing. if you're going fast and using momentum, you're not
really working those muscles. so again maybe just one set of ten for these
because we're gonna go all the way around. so just so I can stay in front of
the camera looking at you while I'm talking, I'm gonna then change to this
side, but you would then just turn all the way around doing the same leg all
the way through. so now I'm gonna go on to my side and so now I'm working this
leg. so the bottom one can be bent and you
want to keep your whole body in a pretty much straight line at your hips. pull
your toes up tight and turn your foot in. so you're leading with your heel for
this exercise, and this time when you lift up go slightly back behind you. if
you're lifting and you're bringing your toes up like this, you're doing a
completely different exercise, and you're not working the muscles you need to work.
so make sure you're lifting with that heel and you're going slightly back
behind you. you should kind of feel it in this area in your gluts a little bit. if
you're feeling it in the front of the thigh, again you're not quite doing it
how you're supposed to be doing it. so again maybe just one set of ten for
those. then you're gonna roll over onto your stomach and now you're just gonna
lift your leg up, going into hip extension. same kind of thing, you really
want to try and lock out your leg, so if you want to lie on the couch or maybe a
bed for this one so you can have your foot hanging off sometimes that's
actually a little more comfortable. again lie all the way down if you need to. only
prop up if it doesn't hurt. and then this one's a little harder to keep your leg
straight, but still try and keep it as straight as you can, and just lift it up.
it's not gonna go as high because I don't want you to do this. don't turn
your whole body. you're just lifting that leg. so if it
doesn't go very high, if that knee bends just a little bit, that's okay, but if
you're going like that, that's definitely very different. so then you're gonna roll
again and now the leg you're gonna exercise it's going to be on the floor,
or on your bed. with the top leg, now it could either go in the front or it can
go in the back, whichever is more comfortable for you. I usually find that
the one going in the back is just a little bit more comfortable for me. still
the same thing, you want to be pretty much in a straight line for this one.
this is another one where that leg's not gonna go super high, but you still want
to pull those toes up to help lock out those legs. now this one might be pretty
painful because you're getting that MCL right there is putting a lot of pressure
because as you lift your legs gonna kind of go like that, so if this one's really
uncomfortable, if there's pain going into it, hold off on this one. and then
start working on it later once you feel a little bit better. but all you're doing
is just lifting that leg up, and then slowly coming back down. so you see, I'm
not lifting it up very high, but I'm also not turning my whole body to lift it up.
I'm still trying to keep the hips pretty perpendicular, whole body in a straight
line, and just lifting up with my toes pulled up. so again just about 10 of
those. so the rest of them are gonna be standing up. so now we're gonna do a
hamstring curl. with hamstring curls, the biggest thing that you want to remember
is the top part of your leg needs to stay down or slightly back. sometimes
when people come into a curl especially when they're hurting, they come up like
this. but then again that's not really working what I want you to work. that's
taking out the quad the front, not really working the hamstring in the back. so
really kicking back this way, so I get a little stretch in the front and that
quad area. I'm working those hamstrings in the back, so again if you're doing
this, that's not really the exercise that we're looking for here. so really kicking
back going as high as you comfortably can. sometimes with hamstring curls,
especially if you have an injury, those hamstrings tend to want to cramp up
pretty quickly. so the first couple times I wouldn't go as high as you feel like
you can and then kind of work your way up to it. so again just starting off with
ten, two sets of ten, a couple times a day and then kind of work your way up from
there. so then the next one is just going to be a single leg balance. balancing is
really great especially when you have some stability issues in your knee. once
that MCL is sprained or injured, your knee becomes unstable. you know a lot of
times when people say they walk it feels like it's going to give out on them or
it locks up because it's not doing what it's supposed to. so balancing really
helps with that stability in the knee, but it might be kind of painful the
first couple times you try it. so make sure that you hold on to something. you
can do counter top, you can do nice sturdy chair, you can do something you
know somebody in front of you holding on, just so you have that support. but really
try and get that balance. squeeze those glutes to help get that
balance in there, and once you feel like you're pretty stable here and that knee's
not going to give out on you, then just try holding on with one hand,
and then a couple fingers, and then after that try balancing without holding on at
all. again if you really kind of squeeze those glutes muscles in and kind of
tighten them up, that helps with the balance and that helps with that general
strengthening as well. so that's really good to do. I just start off with maybe
10 seconds and then work your way up to maybe a minute, but really make sure that
knee feels stable before you start letting go of anything.
and so the last one is just going to be mini side squats. and again this is
starting to work the inside and outside of that knee. so if these are painful, go
ahead and hold off on them. work on something else and then come back around
to them later when you feel a little bit stronger. so it's gonna be the same
concept with any kind of squat. you really want to stick your bottom back. so
your knees stay behind your toes. you want your weight to be equal on your
toes and your heels. so I'm not up on my toes, I'm not back on my heels.
everything's kind of flat on the feet. and then I'm sticking my booty back. I'm
keeping my back straight, bending at the hips. so with a mini squat, you're really
just gonna go down a little bit, but you're just gonna kind of step out and
then come back in. so again I'm not going very far. eventually if this feels okay,
you can kind of go out a little bit further but make sure you're doing both
sides. if you just want to go three one way, three come back the other way, you
can do that. or if you just want to, you know step out, come up, step out, you can
do that, but make sure the technique is right and only go down to comfort. if
you're feeling pain, then you can even just do this. you don't have to go down
very far at all. just work your way up to it. so those are my top seven treatments
for an MCL sprain. if you'd like to help support my channel, make sure and click
on the link up there, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down there. and
remember, be safe, have fun, and I hope you feel better soon.