Changes in bone mineral content following ligamentous knee injuries

In 44 patients with clinical signs of ligamentous injuries to the knee-joint without fracture, the bone mineral content was measured by gamma absorptiometry in the proximal end of the tibia and the fibula. The injuries caused a loss of an average 10% in those patients who had no signs of complete tears of knee ligaments and were therefore treated only with an ace-bandage and for a shortime, whereas the loss was 18% in those who were operated on with repair of ligamental injuries followed by plaster immobilization. Repeated injuries did not seem to cause further loss of mineral. There were no signs of restoration within the first year. The pre-injury bone mineral content was in these patients above that of an unselected control population, however, the post-traumatic loss of mineral brought the values down into a normal range.