Chronic Medial Collateral Ligament Sprain and Medial Collateral Ligament Bursitis of the Knee in a Female Soccer Player: A Case Report
Ömer Serkan Kara
, Gürhan Dönmez, Feza Korkusuz
Hacettepe University Medical Faculty, Department of Sports Medicine, Ankara, Turkey
Keywords: Medial collateral ligament bursitis, knee valgus injury, chronic medial collateral ligament sprain, soccer injury
Abstract
Medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury is diagnosed with clinical history and physical examination. Chronic valgus instability develops more likely after severe (grade III) MCL injuries, but may also develop after repetitive low-grade injuries. Soccer players have a susceptibility to chronic symptoms in minor injuries due to repetitive kicking with the inside of the foot and lateral movements. MCL bursitis is a rare entity but should be considered in the differential diagnosis of medial knee pain. It can be diagnosed with findings of tenderness over the MCL at the joint line, without a history of mechanical symptoms.
An 18 years-old female soccer player presented with medial knee pain. She described a valgus strain injury on the right knee that occurred the day before. Physical examination showed tenderness along the MCL course. Valgus stress test was quite painful and there was (1+) valgus laxity. There wasn’t any previous severe knee trauma. The patient diagnosed with acute MCL sprain. PRICE protocol and NSAID were started. Over the course of treatment, the patient's symptoms improved faster than expected. Reevaluation of the patient suggested that the patient's valgus laxity wasn’t due to the acute trauma but chronic microtraumas. She returned to the sport at day 10.
In this case report, an elusive case of posttraumatic MCL bursitis in an 18-years-old female soccer player with valgus laxity due to chronic MCL sprain is described. It should be kept in mind that chronic MCL injury may cause increased laxity in soccer players. In the case of acute valgus injury, presence of laxity may be a confusing factor in physical examination.
Cite this article as: Kara OS, Donmez G, Korkusuz F. Chronic medial collateral ligament sprain and medial collateral ligament bursitis of knee in a female soccer player: A case report. Turk J Sports Med. 2020;55(3):246-50.
Informed consent was obtained and the rights of the patient was protected.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
