What is PCL?

The Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), one of the four main ligaments of the knee, is located at the back of the knee.It connects the thigh bone (femur) to the shin bone (tibia).The PCL limits the backward movement of the tibia.VisitBest PCL Ligament Surgery Reconstruction in Kharghar,NaviMumbai.

PCL injuries are very rare and more Difficult to recognize than other knee ligament injuries. Cartilage injuries, bone contusions and ligament injuries often occur in combination with PCL injuries.Injuries to the PCL can be classified as I, II or III depending on the severity of the injury. In grade I, the ligament is slightly damaged and slightly stretched,but the knee joint is stable. Grade II involves a partial tear of the Ligament.

Causes of Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) Injury

A Fairly strong force is usually required to injure the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL).The cause is often a direct blow to the front of the knee when it is flexed, causing it to go beyond its normal range of motion.Dr Sarang Patki is Best PCL Ligament Surgery Reconstruction in Kharghar,NaviMumbai.

Falling Forward onto a bent knee

Hit your knees on the dashboard in a car accident, which can tear the PCL you are playing sports and receive a direct blow to your knee in a collision with another player

Symptoms of a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury

The symptoms of a Posterior Cruciate Ligament (PCL) injury can vary. You may have few symptoms at first and not even realize that you have injured your posterior cruciate ligament. However, your knee will probably swell and you will have pain in the back of your knee, especially when you kneel. You may also not be able to move your knee as fully as before. You will probably still be able to walk normally afterwards, but it may feel different because of the swelling. Sometimes your knee may feel unstable.The sucess rate of pcl may grafts is reported in the literature from 75-100%.

Treatment of a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury

The treatment of your PCL injury depends on several factors. These include how severe the injury is, whether other parts of your knee are also injured and how well you respond to treatment. The first treatment is to control your pain and swelling with POLICE and HARM self-help measures (see our section on self-help). Other treatments to help you recover include physiotherapy, medication and surgery.Consult Best PCL ligament Surgery Reconstruction in Kharghar.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis of a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) tear usually involves a combination of medical history, physical examination and diagnostic imaging.

What to avoid after an injury to prevent further damage?

• Avoid Heat for the first few days
• Avoid showers or saunas after an injury and avoid heat rubs and packs.
• Avoid running
• Massaging the injured area can lead to further swelling and bruising, so you should avoid this for the first two days.

What causes PCL tear?

It is relatively rare injury compared to ACL tears. Most common mechanisms of PCL tears include the following:

• Dashboard injury- when a driver/passenger’s bent knee hits against the dashboard, pushing in the shinbone just below the knee & causes the PCL to tear.If You are suffering from injury pain.Then Visit Best PCL Ligament Surgery Reconstruction in Navimumbai
• Sports injury- Soccer players with fall on a bent knee with foot pointed down. The shinbone hits the ground first and moves backward.
• Being tackled when your knee is bent also can cause this injury.

What are the symptoms of PCL tear?

Initial:

• Pain & swelling around knee
• Difficulty in weight bearing on affected leg
• Restricted movement at knee

Later :

• Instability/lax knee
• Difficulty in sitting cross-legged, using stairs
• Walking restricted to a few meters.

How can it be diagnosed?

MRI scan is the investigation of choice.

Do all PCL tears require surgery?

No,
If you strain or slightly tear your PCL, it may heal over time with your doctor’s help and physical therapy. But if it’s completely torn, you may need to have it replaced -- especially if you’re young and active or an athlete who wants to keep playing sports. If you’re older or less active, your doctor might recommend treatments that don’t require surgery.Visit Best Pcl Ligmaent Surgeon in Kharghar

What is the treatment?

• According to the age, arthritic/non-arthritic knee, activity of patient and severity of the tear, individuals may require an arthroscopic PCL reconstruction to get back to pre-injury levels. This is again a minimally invasive procedure like ACL reconstruction. Self tissue(Auto-graft) is harvested from the same leg for the new ligament.
• Minor grades of sprain are treated non-operatively.
• Patients with higher grades of pre-existing arthritis with PCL tear may be given an option of joint replacement.

PCL Reconstruction:

The first step is to harvest the graft from the back of your knee-hamstring graft harvesting. This is done via a 2-3 cm incision taken below the knee on the inner aspect using special instrument called tendon stripper. Then, your doctor will drill two holes, called “tunnels.” One tunnel will be drilled across thigh bone (above the knee) and another in the tibia (below the knee). They’ll use endobutton and screws in the tunnels to hold the graft in place. It serves as a sort of bridge that a new ligament will grow on as you heal. These are bio-degradable screws- meaning they will self absorb over a period of time-around 2-3 years, requiring no removal of implant in future . It can take months for a new PCL to grow in fully- this process is called ligamentisation.

Completed PCL reconstruction

Femur side fixation – endobutton made of titanium

Tibia side fixation- bio-absorbable screw

How Long will the recovery take after surgery? What will be the hospital stay?

Patients are made to walk using crutches/walker the very next day. Usually, 2-3 days of hospital stay is required.

They can walk independently by the end of 3 weeks.

Knee is given due protection by keeping the calf/leg supported underneath in the hinged brace when patient is in supine/sleeping position.If You are lookinf For

Office jobs can be resumed after a month.

Rest recovery protocol is similar to ACL reconstruction.