It appears that you have partially torn your medial collateral ligament (MCL). Luckily, the vast majority of people who injure their MCL have a complete recovery once they have been properly rehabilitated.
The MCL is actually a complex of ligaments, hamstring muscle attachments, and a thickening of the lining of the joint on the inside part of the knee. The MCL is one of the strongest ligaments in the body. It protects the knee from opening towards the outside. It is most commonly injured when an athlete sustains a direct contact injury to the outside of their knee (such as a clipping injury in hockey or football). Injuries to the MCL are graded I, II, and III. Grade I injuries are mild sprains, Grade II are partial tears of the MCL, and Grade III are complete tears. While the majority of athletes who sustain MCL injuries do not require surgery, occasionally we see athletes with a Grade III MCL tear who have torn their anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) or medial meniscus. It is important to make sure that you have not injured either of these structures, as you may need treatment for them prior to returning back to hockey.
-text info source from Sports Medicine Institue, University of Minnesota Orthopaedics
The meniscus is a c-shaped cartilage pad between the two joints formed by the femur and tibia. The meniscus acts as a smooth surface for the joint to move on. The knee joint is surrounded by fluid-filled sacs called bursae, which serve as gliding surfaces that reduce friction of the tendons. Below the kneecap, there is a large tendon (patellar tendon) which attaches to the front of the tibia bone. There are large blood vessels passing through the area behind the knee (referred to as the popliteal space).
The large muscles of the thigh move the knee. In the front of the thigh the quadriceps muscles extend the knee joint. In the back of the thigh, the hamstring muscles flex the knee. The knee also rotates slightly under guidance of specific muscles of the thigh.
The knee functions to allow movement of the leg and is critical to normal walking. The knee flexes (bends) normally to a maximum of 135 degrees and extends (straightens) to 0 degrees. The bursae, or fluid-filled sacs, serve as gliding surfaces for the tendons to reduce the force of friction as these tendons move. The knee is a weight-bearing joint. Each meniscus serves to evenly load the surface during weight- bearing and also adds in disbursing joint fluid for joint lubrication.
-text info and diagram source from eMedicineHealth
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