PCL Injury Mechanisms

Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injury 

PCL Injury Mechanisms

Knee injuries have been mentioned often in the news recently mostly because of high-profile athletes who get hurt during play. Even though knee injuries are prevalent among professional athletes, they can actually happen to anyone. According to statistics which have been published by Classic Rehabilitation:

  • Over 100 million people in the United States suffer from chronic pain.
  • The second most common cause of chronic pain is knee pain.
  • About a third of all Americans surveyed have said that they suffered from knee pain at some point.
  • Traumatic injury and improper activity are two of the common causes of knee pain.
  • Knee pain is more common in women than in men.
  • Knee pain is reported to be more severe in men than in women.

This information serves to highlight just how severe knee pain and knee injuries can be. While there has been a lot of attention on ACL tears, there can be tears of other ligaments in the knee as well. Examples include:

  • MCL
  • LCL
  • Meniscus
  • PCL

The PCL stands for posterior cruciate ligament. Even though tears of the PCL may not be as common as tears of the ACL, tears of the PCL still merit an in-depth discussion.

PCL Injuries: How do they Happen?

The PCL sits at the back of the knee and prevents someone from flexing his or her knee too far. When people are suspected to have torn their PCL, the physician will often perform a physical exam maneuver called the posterior drawer test. The doctor will test to see how far back the tibia can slide in comparison to the femur. The PCL should stop this motion from happening. If there is no resistance during this maneuver, the PCL is often torn. Some of the PCL injury mechanisms include:

Auto Accident: Without a doubt, an auto accident is one of the most common causes of this serious injury. When people are involved in a front-end car accident, the hood of their car could be crushed. This can lead to a severe impact between the tibia and the dashboard. This is often called a dashboard knee and leads to a tear of the PCL.

Football: Sports are another common way that people tear their PCL, particularly with football. Any direct blow to the front of the tibia can force this bone to move too far in the posterior direction. This can lead to a PCL tear.

Missed Step: A missed step is another one of the PCL injury mechanisms. If people step into a hole that they don’t see, they can hyper-flex their knee. This can stress the PCL to the point of tearing.

Tears of the PCL often require surgery to fix. The goal of surgery is to restore functional capacity to the knee, tibia, and femur.

Watch YouTube Video: PCL Tear- Rehabilitation Phase One (0-4 Weeks). This video demonstrates the rehabilitation process of a PCL tear for the first four weeks.

Help from a Compassionate Attorney

When someone sustains a serious injury, such as those that require a trip to an operating room, this can place the family under a significant amount of stress. Therefore, it is important to make sure that the accident is examined in all directions. A trained personal injury lawyer in Sacramento knows how to look at every detail to ensure that nothing is missed. Don’t hesitate to reach out because you and your family may qualify for financial compensation.

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Personal Injury Lawyers in Sacramento

I’m Ed Smith, a Personal Injury Lawyer in Sacramento. PCL tears often require surgical repair. If you or a family member has suffered knee injuries in a car accident, call me at (916) 921-6400 or (800) 404-5400. I would be happy to offer friendly, free advice.

I am a member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum.

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Image Attribution: The image at the beginning of this page was seen first on Unsplash. The picture has been printed here with permission

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