What Causes Posterior Crucial Ligament (PCL)?

PCL injury commonly occurs in sports such as football, soccer, basketball, and skiing. A forceful hyperextention of the knee or a direct blow just below the knee cap will disrupt the PCL and cause knee pain and PCL Injury.

For example, the football player who is tackled with a direct hit to the knee will hyperextend the limb and sustain a PCL Injury.

The basketball player who lands on the court directly on a bent knee will tear his PCL resulting in knee pain.

What Are The Symptoms of Posterior Crucial Ligament (PCL)?

• Pain
• A feeling of instability

What Are The Treatment Options For Posterior Crucial Ligament (PCL)?

Nonsurgical Treatment

If you have injured just your posterior cruciate ligament, your injury may heal quite well without surgery. Your doctor may recommend simple, nonsurgical options.

RICE. When you are first injured, the RICE method – rest, ice, gentle compression and elevation — can help speed your recovery.

Immobilization. Your doctor may recommend a brace to prevent your knee from moving. To further protect your knee, you may be given crutches to keep you from putting weight on your leg.

Physical therapy. As the swelling goes down, a careful rehabilitation program is started. Specific exercises will restore function to your knee and strengthen the leg muscles that support it. Strengthening the muscles in the front of your thigh (quadriceps) has been shown to be a key factor in a successful recovery.

Surgical Treatment

Your doctor may recommend surgery if you have combined injuries. For example, if you have dislocated your knee and torn multiple ligaments including the posterior cruciate ligament, surgery is almost always necessary.

Rebuilding the ligament. Because sewing the ligament ends back together does not usually heal, a torn posterior cruciate ligament must be rebuilt. Your doctor will replace your torn ligament with a tissue graft. This graft is taken from another part of your body, or from another human donor (cadaver). It can take several months for the graft to heal into your bone.

Procedure. Surgery to rebuild a posterior cruciate ligament is done with an arthroscope using small incisions. Arthroscopic surgery is less invasive. The benefits of less invasive techniques include less pain from surgery, less time spent in the hospital, and quicker recovery times.

Surgical procedures to repair posterior cruciate ligaments continue to improve. More advanced techniques help patients resume a wider range of activities after rehabilitation.