Sprained knee can be a bit of a misnomer, as they refer to a torn ligament as a sprain as well. I tore the lcl on my left knee about 5 years ago and physical therapy strengthened it so that I cannot notice anything, except a very slight pain after extended use. The symptoms originally where I heard a pop and my knee buckled, and my knee felt loose but really nothing otherwise. More recently I had a second degree sprain on my right knee with a partially torn mcl. This was 3 weeks ago and there has been significantly more pain and swelling, and until this past weekend I could not walk without a limp nor could I sleep more than a couple of hours. Physical therapy is helping and they've said in a month I should be able to play sports again. Until then I am supposed to continue walking on it so it does not stiffen up, and ice & elevate a couple times a day for 20 minutes.
