Cruciate ligaments :

Partial PCL Tear - Immobilizer and rehab questions - - Posted by chas23 (chas23), 29 December 2004

I hurt my knee playing basketball 2 1/2 weeks ago.  I hadn't played on this court in 5 years because it's carpet on top of concrete.  I got tripped and did a couple of somersaults.  I must have landed right on my right knee.  I knew it wasn't good right away, but I'd never had a knee injury before.  I gingerly jogged up and down the court a couple of times and even made a "3".  Then the next time down I tried to make a move with the ball and crumpled to the ground.

That night the knee had it's first "locking" issue which continued some over the next few days.  I got an MRI 5 days later (which I consider really good for an HMO considering I was between Primary Care doctors and had to find a new one before I could do anything else).  I was sure it was going to be meniscus, but the only thing it showed was a partial tear of the PCL, and no damage to the other ligaments or meniscus.

I saw the OS a week after the MRI and he's put me in a knee immobilizer for 8-12 weeks.  I will see him every 4 weeks.  I can take it off for showering and he said if I don't move much in my sleep I could take it off then too.

I'm worried of the losing mobility in the knee, so I've been bending it to about 90 degrees while showering.  90 degrees is about where the stiffness/pain starts.  Should I keep doing this?  Also there's no pain at all when walking without the brace, should I try to do this to keep the mobility?  Are both of those bad ideas because they're interfering with the growth of scar tissue?  I keep reading that improving the quad muscle is a key, am I going to lose my quad strength while wearing the brace?  When should I expect to start rehab?

Thanks for any help.....

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