Knee Locking After Meniscus Tear Surgery Related to Popliteus Muscle

[Andreas Gabriel]

Hi all, 

About a year ago I had surgery on my meniscus. Everything is mostly fine except occasionally my knee locks up. 

I have found that massaging the popliteus muscle unlocks the knee immediately and I can carry on. It's an easy fix to a annoying reoccurance. 

My question is: are there any exercises, stretches etc that will prevent my knee from locking up in the first place? 

I'm grateful for any suggestions, thank you! 

[Alessandro Mainente]

Hi Andreas, your request is so much specific and depends 100% on the type of surgery you had and how the knee joint capsule adapted after the surgery. I do not think sincerely that you can find the answer here.

[Nick Murray]

Hmm. The popliteus is supposed to *unlock* the knee when the knee is straight. As Alessandro said, the effect you describe may depend on the surgery you had, and if the surgeon disturbed the capsule or the nerves innervating the popliteus. If you can, it would be worth asking the surgeon about this.

Perhaps you could use whatever form of massage works before your training: while straightening and bending the knee. I've stuck a thumb into it from below the tibial plateau on the medial side of my (right) knee, and from behind biceps femoris above the knee - this is harder. But the idea behind massage while bending/straightening the knee is to "teach" the muscle that it can "cope" with whatever stimulus causes it to lock up occasionally.