Strained My Popliteus Muscle

I pulled something in my knees while.......... wait for it.......... gardening. 😬🙄 Well, I was tending to the outdoor plants and I really didn't want to get soil on my hands! I was in a full squat with ankles and knees locked (bad idea, I was distracted), reaching right and when I leaned a little too far, the knees popped. OUCH. I yelped. I literally felt a pop on the outer edge of both knees, but severely so on the right knee. I felt a thick ligament or tendon move out of position, then it snapped back in. WTF. That knee was tender for the next 20 minutes. I iced it, and rested it for the night.

There was no way I could do krav maga the next day, not with the knees like this. Went for a boxing-cardio class instead. Hahahah. I know my options lah, so it's not a worry. To my surprise, nothing much hurt, not even squat jumps or jumping jacks. It only hurts in a specific angle- say, fast and furious mountain climbers, doing slow a full squat down, and when I twist the leg out on the floor. It's basically all sorts of knee folds and tucks that seem to further strain the muscle/ligament/tendon.

Right now, it hurts for a length of exactly four inches on the outer right knee. It isn't so bad on the left knee. I found the video on controlled articular rotation of the knee (with arm lock under kneecap) to test the range of motion. The intensity of pain indicated that it's really a minor strain and not a tear. Whewww. I figured it doesn't hurt enough to even be a slight strain on the LCL (lateral collateral ligament) because knee rotations aren't an issue at all. But I didn't know what exactly is twinging. I've never had this injury/strain.

I was hesitant about texting K, my pilates instructor because she isn't in town. Didn't want to bother her with such a minor thing. Google wasn't helpful. I didn't want to call the friends either. Too embarrassing at the moment. LOL Finally texted K two days later when I couldn't figure out what's wrong with my knees. I didn't want to go to the osteopath because it wasn't that painful, and it definitely didn't need an orthopedic consult. But I needed the pilates instructor to know about the knees and tailor the next session's exercises to sort them out.

I texted K with a whole lot of sheepish-ness, along with a full description of the pain, range of movement and such. Luckily I already did the controlled articular rotation on the knee, so she knows what I'm blabbing on about. We are on the same page when it comes to using this sort of terms under functional conditioning. She asked me a few more questions on intensity of pain, nature of pain, and such, and I answered them as best as I could.

K told me not to be dramatic. 😂 She said that since I could walk just fine without feeling like the knees were buckling, and I could even jump-squat with no pain and land stable, it was likely a deep stabilizer that I strained. It was probably an odd angle that I put it at when the knees were locked in that deep squat; it couldn't take the load at that angle, and popped. She typed, "Google popliteus muscle." So I did.

OH. That made sense. The popliteus muscle. I definitely strained it. That pop sound I heard was likely the tendon being forced to move (crepitation). No bruising and swelling meant that nothing wasn't torn. K will be back later in the week to sort me out, and have the physiotherapist take a look at it too. She warned me not to do passive stretches; those might tear something instead if I push it. Okaaaaay. Meanwhile, I can do some light stretches to optimize knee flexion.

Figures 1A (left) and 1B (right): Popliteous anatomy and PLC structure.
Image from Sports Injury Bulletin.