Stress radiography for multiligament knee injuries: a standardized, step-by-step technique

Abstract

Objective: Physical examination in the presence of a multiligament knee injury can be complex and challenging. Hence, stress radiography is a useful and inexpensive tool that is widely used in the assessment of this type of injury. It guarantees an objective analysis of the magnitude of knee instability, which may reduce the observer’s interpretation bias in relation to the physical examination. However, for the radiographic analysis to be reproducible, it is necessary to standardize the technique to evaluate each of the main knee ligaments. This article aims to describe in detail how to perform stress radiography to assess the sufficiency of the posterior cruciate ligament and collateral ligaments in the context of a multiligament injury.