Muscle tear of the knee

A muscle tear is an acute or chronic soft tissue injury that occurs to muscle. The muscle becomes overstretched and receives more physical stress than it can handle. The tears can occur partially or completely. Acute tears tend to happen with recent trauma or injury whereas chronic tears are related to repetitive movement over a long period of time.Muscle tears are classified by degree of severity: first degree (mildest - some tearing still with full range of motion), second degree (moderate - torn, painful with limited motion) and third degree (severe - torn with limited or no movement).In the knee there are multiple muscles that can be torn: quadriceps femoris, biceps femoris, hamstring, gastrocnemius, tensor fasciae latae, rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, triceps surae, vastus medialis, popliteus, gluteus medius, soleus, and articularis genus.