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Posterior cruciate ligament injury explained

Author: Mycrash MD
by Mycrash MD
Posted: Dec 21, 2016

A car accident can cause trauma to your entire body, including your knees. Knee injuries can be serious and can trouble you throughout your life. A persistent pain in the knee after a motor accident can be alarming. If you have suffered dashboard injuries in a car accident where your knee was bent, and the shin hit the car dashboard, you must immediately consult a doctor for knee injury. This is because it can be Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury, a condition that arises due to a powerful force going through the top of your tibia and pushing it backward to overstretch the ligament.

What is PCL?

The posterior cruciate ligament is one of the pair of ligaments that is located in the back of the knee. It is one of the many ligaments that join the femur or thigh bone to the tibia or shin bone. This ligament protects the tibia from moving too far from the femur toward the back. It also controls the stability of the knee.

Symptoms of PCL Injury

The most prominent symptoms of a posterior cruciate ligament injury are:

i)Pain occurring steadily and swiftly after the injury and affecting the way you walk.

ii) Swelling occurring rapidly after a few hours of the injury, making the knee stiff and causing you to limp.

iii) Instability and difficulty in walking.

iv) Difficulty with activities like running, climbing the stairs, and lifting heavy objects.

Treatment of PCL Injury

Depending on the extent of your injury, your doctor will suggest the course of treatment. The common ways to treat a PCL injury are as follows:

1. Non-Surgical Treatment

i) RICE: At the early stages of the injury, the RICE method, that is, rest, ice, compression, and elevation can help a lot in speedy recovery. This method helps in reducing swelling and discomfort.

ii) Immobilization: Your doctor may suggest you to use a knee brace to stabilize your knee and prevent it from moving which can lead to further damage. Your doctor may also ask you to use crutches while walking so that your knee does not feel the pressure.

iii) Physical Therapy: Once the swelling goes down, your doctor may suggest specific exercises to strengthen your knee and re-establish stability and mobility.

2. Surgical Treatment

If your PCL injury is severe, has associated injuries and/ or avulsion injury where a bone piece has broken off, your doctor may suggest surgery.

Rebuilding the Ligament: Since sewing the ends of the torn ligament does not work, a torn PCL must be rebuilt. This is done by replacing the torn ligament with a tissue graft. This graft is usually taken from a different part of your body like the patellar or hamstrings tendon, or from a human donor.

Rehabilitation

Irrespective of whether or not you went through a non-surgical or surgical treatment for your PCL injury, rehabilitation is important because it helps you to get back to your daily activities. A physiotherapy program can be helpful to get back your knee strength and motion.

The symptoms of PCL injury can sometimes be mild and may go unnoticed. But if you are not feeling right about your knee after a car accident, you must book an appointment with a doctor for knee injury. Even the slightest problem with the knee should be attended with great care to avoid bigger problems in future.

About the Author

MyCrash MD is a certified accident doctor with years of experience in emergency injury care.

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Author: Mycrash MD

Mycrash MD

Member since: Nov 15, 2015
Published articles: 3

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