Non-surgical treatment of knee ligamentous lesions

Abstract

Introduction: Knee trauma is very common and sometimes compromises its stability. The treatment of these lesions is more and more surgical, but nonsurgical treatment remain having an importance in the management. The purpose of this study was to determine the results of nonsurgical treatment of ligamentous knee injuries in soldiers deployed in northern Mali during a stabilization mission. Materials and methods: It was a prospective study concerning ligamentous lesions of the knee, treated by orthopedic means in Togo’s level 2 hospital and followed for a period of at least 6 months. The International Knee Score (IKS) was used to determine our results. Patient satisfaction was determined by taking into account pain, knee stability and resumption of previous activities.Results: Twenty-one (21) patients were treated. They were 18 men (85.7%) and 3 women (14.3%). The average age of the patients was 32.43 years old. We found 7 cases (33.4%) of benign sprain, 9 cases (42.8%) of medium severity sprain and 5 cases (23.8%) of severe sprain. After administration of the analgesic, immobilization was made by a knee brace and sometimes a plaster splint. Rehabilitation was started at the end of immobilization. The control after 6 months of follow-up allowed to find 57,1% of excellent result and 9,5% of bad resultConclusion: Nonsurgical treatment of ligamentous lesions gives good results when properly conducted. When a surgical treatment is decided for these lesions, it is recommended to make the rehabilitation of the knee before the operation to improve the results.