Last year, in the opening game of the 2016 NBA season, Jeremy Lin had to leave the game due to a ruptured patellar ligament, which made many fans sigh. However, rehabilitation doctors remind that patellar ligament disease and rupture are not just for athletes! If you experience pain in your knees from time to time after or even during exercise, you should pay attention; especially those who have had knee injuries, are obese, and other 10 major groups, you should be especially careful! People who frequently engage in jumping sports, such as volleyball, basketball and other sports, have more frequent eccentric contractions of the quadriceps, so the incidence of "patellar ligament disease" in the above-mentioned athletes is as high as 50%.
How do patellar ligament lesions and ruptures occur? Excessive eccentric contraction of muscles can cause trouble!
What is the function of the patellar ligament? How do patellar ligament lesions and ruptures occur? Ding Ruiyu, the attending physician at the Rehabilitation Department of Taipei City United Hospital Yangming Campus, said that the patellar ligament is located below the patella and is mainly responsible for the connection between the quadriceps of the thigh and the tibia, helping the human body to perform powerful knee straightening movements.
In addition, the quadriceps muscles are also responsible for assisting hip flexion and stabilizing the pelvis when the human body walks. The most important thing is that during exercise, the quadriceps play an important role in providing the body's deceleration ability when jumping, sprinting, changing direction quickly, and going downhill.
However, if the patellar ligament is improperly used or overused, it will easily lead to the occurrence of "patellar ligament disease", and the most common time of occurrence is when the quadriceps muscle is undergoing eccentric contraction. Eccentric contraction means that the muscle contracts in an elongated state. Muscle contraction will shorten the muscle. At this time, the direction of muscle contraction is opposite to the state of the muscle itself. Therefore, eccentric contraction can easily cause injuries to muscles and tendons.
In addition, it has also been clinically found that people who often engage in jumping sports, such as volleyball, basketball and other sports, have more frequent eccentric contractions of the quadriceps, so the above-mentioned athletes suffer from "patellar ligament disease" The incidence rate is as high as 50%.