Medial Collateral Sprain

Regardless of the amount of pain you feel, you should see your chiropractor immediately if you have experienced a medial collateral ligament (MCL) sprain. As mentioned in the Anatomy section, sprains to the MCL often involve damage to other connecting joints and ligaments. Besides caring for the MCL, your chiropractor should examine the knee to determine whether you've injured any of these structures.

With any serious injury, it's also important that you remember the acronym RICE. In the acute stage of an MCL sprain, rest, ice, compression and elevation are essential for preventing further damage. Rest ensures you don't exacerbate the injury by adding unnecessary stress, ice helps decrease swelling, compression adds support to weak structures and elevation helps drain the fluid the knee produces when it swells.

When you first visit your chiropractor with an MCL sprain, he or she will probably categorize the injury using a three-grade system, depending on its severity, and care for you accordingly.

If you have tenderness in the MCL region, but the ligament isn't stretched, your chiropractor will probably classify the injury as a relatively minor grade one sprain. When damage in your MCL is more severe and your joint feels loose, the injury will probably qualify as a grade two sprain. Grade three sprains are the most severe, and this category is reserved for injuries that involve an unstable or loose joint and a fully torn ligament. Patients with grade three sprains often require surgery, although in some cases they may respond to more conservative care.

To care for grade one sprains, your chiropractor will most likely use physiotherapeutic devices like ultrasound and interferential current (IFC) to decrease pain and facilitate healing. Ultrasound refers to any sound wave that has a frequency above the range the human ear can perceive. To produce these waves, chiropractors use a machine that channels electricity through a crystal located at the end of an applicator. The crystal vibrates in response to electricity, and the machine allows users to alter the electrical current to affect the waves' frequency. Depending on the frequency, this can increase blood flow, reduce muscle spasm, lessen nerve root irritation and break down scar tissue.

IFC works by sending mild electrical impulses through the skin into nerve fibers below, which causes the body to produce endorphins, its natural painkillers. It also increases blood flow to the treatment area, stimulates muscles to contract and disperses excess inflammation-related fluid.

For grade two and three sprains, your chiropractor will probably use more extensive measures. For starters, with both these grades of injury the knee will likely need some type of support or brace. Depending on the severity of your sprain, you may need crutches to help you walk or a hinged knee brace, which supports the knee with inner and outer rods.

Once pain has diminished, your chiropractor will also likely recommend a number of exercises that you should perform regularly, including strengthening exercises, stretching exercises, aerobic exercises and proprioceptive exercises. Of these, strengthening exercises are the most important. Along with ligaments, several muscles in the leg cross over the knee and help to provide support for the joint. With weakened ligaments, their role becomes more important. By strengthening them, especially the quadriceps, you help increase the support they can provide.

Conservative care like this can help you recover quickly from an MCL sprain. But remember that there's only so much your chiropractor can do in the confines of his or her office. You play a role as well, and should aim to implement the right lifestyle changes and follow a regular exercise routine.