| Injuries are a part of sport and hockey goalies are not | | | | numerous mechanisms. I remember one individual who |
| immune. For hockey goalies the meniscal tear can | | | | spent an afternoon kneeling on their knees while |
| have an impact on performance and may also have | | | | refinishing a floor and when they went to stand up - |
| an impact on your other daily activities. Let's look at the | | | | yikes - meniscal tear. But for hockey goalies I think |
| symptoms of meniscal tears, the mechanisms of | | | | there are two common mechanisms. |
| meniscal tear and what you can do to prevent or | | | | |
| recover from this injury. | | | | 1. There is a collision between a skater and a goalie in |
| The hinge joint of your knee is comprised of the femur | | | | which the skater falls on the goalie's knee when it is in |
| (thigh bone) and the tibia (shin bone). The end of the | | | | a flexed position or the goalie is driven backward with |
| femur is somewhat rounded like a knuckle, where the | | | | their foot trapped beneath them. |
| tibial plateau is relatively flat. The knee is not the most | | | | 2. The goalie moves into a position where the knee is |
| stable joint so the menisci (you have two - one medial | | | | put under a medial/lateral (varus or valgus) stress and |
| and one lateral) help give a little more depth to the joint | | | | they put stress on the meniscus which overtime or in |
| surfaces and they provide a little cushion between the | | | | one instant may cause a meniscal irritation or tear. I am |
| femur and tibia. | | | | thinking particularly of the butterfly position for goalies. |
| The menisci are shaped a little like a hockey puck that | | | | The goalie will feel pain at the time of injury and there |
| has been squished a little in the middle. It is a | | | | may be some swelling in the knee. If you think you |
| cartilaginous material and the big problem with meniscal | | | | have torn your meniscus, then start with rest, ice and |
| tears is the fact that the meniscus has a poor blood | | | | elevation. It may settle down. If your knee is locked, i.e. |
| supply. The outer rim of the meniscus has some blood | | | | you physically cannot strengthen it or trying to do so |
| supply, so a tear in this area may actually heal. As you | | | | leads to major pain, then you should head straight to |
| move toward the centre of the meniscus there is very | | | | the phone and call your local sport medicine |
| little or no blood supply, so tears in this area will not | | | | professional. |
| heal. | | | | If you have torn your meniscus, you should get some |
| When I worked as the exercise specialist at a sport | | | | physiotherapy from a good sport physiotherapist. If it is |
| medicine clinic, one of the physiotherapists had an | | | | a severe tear you may need to consult an orthopedic |
| awesome analogy for what meniscal tears are and | | | | surgeon who may either scope the knee to remove |
| what they feel like. She described a meniscal tear as a | | | | some of the rough edges and 'clean' things up a little. If |
| 'hang nail' in your knee. You know how you can have | | | | it is a large tear toward the inner portion of the |
| a hang nail and it typically feels just fine, not painful at | | | | meniscus the surgeon may decide to stitch it back |
| all - until you catch that little flap of skin going against | | | | together which helps preserve the meniscus which |
| the grain. When that happens - WOW! Look out; major | | | | over time will greatly reduce the wear and tear on the |
| pain. | | | | knee over time. |
| Hockey goalies who have a meniscal tear may be just | | | | Whether you have injured your meniscus in the past |
| fine to complete all activity they wish, but then they | | | | or if you are a hockey goalie looking to reduce the risk |
| may go to walk around a corner or drop into your | | | | of injury, the fundamentals are the same. As long as |
| butterfly and - ouch! The knee may even give away | | | | you are symptom free then you should be sure to |
| from the jolt of pain. If you feel a general ache under | | | | include work on your hip internal rotation so you can |
| your knee cap, this is likely something more like a | | | | get into your butterfly by getting range from the hip, |
| patellofemoral irritation than a meniscal tear. | | | | not by torquing through the knee. |
| The tricky thing about meniscal tears is that there are | | | | |