PCL Tear

[CoBetty13]

So my PCL was torn in a car accident over 10 years ago, it was over looked considering my other injuries that needed to be addressed. Few years later I went to see about getting it fixed and was told they didn't fix PCL injuries. So now I guess they are fixing them once again. I've been very active on the knee over the past 10 years (high school sports, collegiate softball catcher, and avid snowboarder, and much more) so I guess I'm really looking for any type of advice on if I should look into finally getting it fixed.
Thanks.

[Orthoski]

CoBetty - car accidents are a frequent mechanism for PCL injury. In a simplified way, if you think of the ACL as preventing the shin bone (tibia) from sliding forward, the PCL keeps it from sliding back, so a dashboard injury can push the tibia back beyond the limits of the PCL thereby tearing it. The key piece of your history as far as I'm concerned is that you've been so active over the past ten years, suggesting that it hasn't really limited you. PCL tears, even when new, are usually initially treated with therapy; you can imagine that strengthening the quad muscle can compensate to prevent the shin bone from sliding backwards. When PCLs are fixed, it's usually because there were other injuries to the knee ligaments (for example, Google posterolateral rotary instability of the knee) or the knee is simply symptomatically lax without it. An NFL doctor previously quoted to me that, in his experience, at least 50% of NFL linemen are able to return to play at the professional level without having their PCL repaired, giving you an idea that it's role in knee stability (as an isolated injury) for many activities is less than an ACL. For example, Brian Urlacher of the Bears plays without a PCL, and he's a middle linebacker. It's also a more invasive surgery than an ACL, plus a bit riskier given that the major nerves/blood vessels to the leg run right behind the PCL. Thus, in summary, I'd consider doing it if only you're really symptomatic and after discussion of the risks/benefits with a surgeon that does a lot of these (i.e., a major medical center sports doc). But as I mentioned before, you've been so active for ten years in sports that require a lot of knee agility (ie, softball catcher) that I would have to understand what suddenly changed. Best of luck to you and welcome to the forum!

[Scottish_Skier]

I have no PCL in my left knee and manage just fine (ski, bike, 5 aside football / soccer, hillwalking).

It is very unusual to damage your PCL and not also the MCL or ACL. This makes getting information on isolated PCL injuries somewhat complicated. Generally it seems that most people (but not everyone) can do with out one. Often PCL is only reconstructed if other parts of the knee need fixed.

My experience is that it took me about 3 months to build up the muscles where my knee was stable. Then perhaps 1 year where then knee was as strong as it was before.

My understanding is that PCL surgery is very intrusive as the ligament is located in the center of your knee. Minimum recovery time is at the very least 9 months.

Unless it is causing you real bother I would leave it alone ?