Sports injuries: Everything you need to know about knees

The biggest fear an athlete has is not the fear of failure, but rather the fear of getting hurt or getting a career-changing debilitating injury.

Think about it for a second –  athletes spend thousands of hours refining their skills, and in the blink of an eye could be in a hospital bed waiting for an operation.

One of the most common injuries an athlete tends to get is a knee injury.

The risks of a knee injury are due to areas of weakness in leg strength, lack of range of motion, imbalances, over-training of muscle groups, poor alignment, genetics, gender, and external factors such as physical contact and environment.

When it comes to knees, you need to do everything in your power to start protecting them from harm from a young age.

When you are young, you often dismiss the pain or injury and continue training, which causes more damage and structural integrity later in your life.

If you are lucky to turn professional, you would be adding daily intensity and volume to your body and knees.

That is why you start early in making sure you are fit, strong, flexible, and anatomically aligned with the proper muscle force ratios to play your sport.

Knee injuries can force one out of sport for lengthy periods of time. Picture: iStock

Types of knee injuries

Knee sprains – the knee has a multitude of ligaments that act as support mechanisms to keep the knee in alignment. The severity of the damage is ranked in grades. A Grade 1 tear is when the ligament is stretched, but the fibers are not torn, and stability is still expected. A Grade 2 tear is when the fibers are partially torn and the athlete experiences mild instability. A Grade three tear is when the ligament is completely torn, the knee is unstable, and surgery is needed.

Knee strains – The muscles and tendons surrounding the knee have been over-stretched due to hyperflexion and swelling, and pain around the knee occurs.

Knee bursitis – Bursas are fluid-filled sacs found at the top of the knee (above patella) and the bottom of the knee in front of the tibia bone that act as shock absorbers for various tissues against friction. Bursitis occurs when these sacs become irritated, inflamed, and infected.

Knee fractures – Fractures occur more often in older athletes. A fracture occurs when you fall directly on the knee cap, and the force impact causes the kneecap to crack. Other forms of fractures occur in degenerative knees with sudden compression injury.

Knee joint dislocations – The first type of dislocation occurs through a sizeable, sudden impact force such as a car accident that requires immediate surgery. The second type is when the kneecap dislocates to the side of the knee. This can be popped back in with a medical professional and will require physical rehabilitation.

Tears in the meniscus – The bottom left (lateral) and bottom right (medial) ligaments of your knee lies in a semi-round, articulate cartridge called the meniscus. These menisci act as shock absorbers, and over time and overuse, they gradually become dysfunctional.

The ligaments of the knee – anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments, patellar and quadriceps, tendons, medial and lateral collateral ligaments. Picture: iStock

Athletes need to understand their bodies and what could happen to them and plan for the worst.

You don’t take on climbing Mount Everest unless you have planned everything to do a successful climb. The difference between planning and not planning, in this case, is death.

If you have the same approach to your sport, you will be more successful and have more minor injuries. Understanding the possible signs of knee injuries is the first step.

Common symptoms of knee injuries are:

Knee pain

Swelling and inflammation

Tenderness

Difficulty bending the knee or locking knee

Instability when running and cutting

Bruising

Loss of power and strength

There are many contributing factors to why you might have one of the knee injuries above.

That is why you need to understand your body by having a physical wellness assessment with a biokineticist or a performance assessment with a sports scientist.

An accurate measurement, but it can be costly, is having both. If you are a paid athlete, then your future is in your own hands.

Cristiana Ronaldo continuously takes assessments to understand where his weak areas are and keep injuries down to the bare minimum.

Work hard, not just on muscle strength gains, but rather to keep yourself and your knees functionally strong.