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Anyone here have a PCL injury?

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
I destroyed mine 9 weeks ago. It is still really painful, and hurts when I tweak it or bend my knee too much. I am in PT, and see my doctor again on Nov. 8th.

What have you done for yours? how long did it hurt for?

Yesterday I was out riding my cross check and went to carry my bike over some train tracks. On the other side, my ankle folded a little bit, and my knee just totally gave out on me. I wanted to cut my leg off it hurt so bad!

any information or words of wisdom would be appreciated.
 

Jeff 151

Monkey
Sep 25, 2004
175
0
DeezBay, Cali
I had a full PCL tear 19 months ago. The doctor didn't recommend surgery, just PT, which I did half-assed. The pain goes away soon but I'm guessing your whole quad/knee area has gotten a little smaller/weaker. Clipping into pedals and pulling up is good for rehab. Good luck.
 

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
My knee area is bigger, because its still swollen!

So, just keep up with the PT and I'll be OK? What i'm worried about is not having a PCL, and then what happens when I crash again.......:eek:
 

Jeff 151

Monkey
Sep 25, 2004
175
0
DeezBay, Cali
In Marla Streb's book "Downhill" she mentions she's got the PCL of a cadaver in her knee. I keep meaning to email her with questions about her injury. If your knee is still swollen maybe you should take it real easy. Controlled PT is necessary to get the remaining ligaments/muscles conditioned to "pick up the slack" left by the missing PCL. They can do this well if given the time to build up with no additonal trauma in the area.
 

face

Monkey
Sep 14, 2005
209
0
northern utah
is the pcl the one that holds in knee cap? when i busted my knee and it was swollen they just got a needle and sucked the extra blood out. it felt so much better after they had done that. that might be why your knee hurts all the blood is pushing your ligaments out of whack
 

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
face said:
is the pcl the one that holds in knee cap? when i busted my knee and it was swollen they just got a needle and sucked the extra blood out. it felt so much better after they had done that. that might be why your knee hurts all the blood is pushing your ligaments out of whack

No, the PCL is the one in the back. You are thinking of the ACL I belive. Thats the really important one that people always have replaced
 
i killed mine at the US open this year, (end of may) and still ahvent had it fixed, complete tear. hurt like hell for a week or so and then just ook it easy. cant kneel on that knee at all, clicks a lot and aches faster than it used to. also swells a little after a long day on my legs, but other than that i have no issues. can ride XC with it no problems. i did have my doctor prescribe a set of custom knees braces, cause the torn pcl is in the same knee that i previously blew out my ACL in (that got fixed) and my rigth collarboen is no longer attatched at oen end, so i have an issue blowing ligaments. so riding DH or anything sketchy i wear hte braces, just incase i crash on it. they work awesome (As they should) but other than that i havent done any PT, cant cause i ma not in the same place more than a couple days, and well, if i dont have someone looking over my shoudler i wont do it.
 
BigMike said:
Does the brace fit under Pads?
no, but CTI does what they call a moto kit which is a small hardshell kneecup. i actually then put a set of DJ knee pads over the top of the whoel mess. sticks out about 4 inches, and kinda hard to bend/extned my knees, but on the bike i didint notice it, rode a week at whistler that way, figured some littel things out and worked great. the pads also help protect the braces (about 12-1500 a piece, thank god for health insurance)
 

justsomeguy

Monkey
Oct 3, 2005
723
0
Obviously your doc is the best source of info but...the Cti2 PCL brace is around $700 if you're paying for it and $1,000 if insurance is paying for it.

With a combined instability (multiple torn ligaments) even after surgery many people still need a brace when participating in sports that have lots of side to side stress, pivoting, etc.

My knee is very unstable in those situations, even after surgery (complete tear on all four ligamnets and loss of a good deal of the medial meniscus), but I have never used a brace while riding.

I've done some minor knee tweaking on some dismounts in the rocks but for me there is no need to ride with a brace.

Riding a bike is the best thing for my knee. There are two systems that keep your knee in the right place, the static (ligaments) and the dynamic (strength of the surrounding muscles). You have control over the latter but not over the former.

Ct12 PCL brace:

 

face

Monkey
Sep 14, 2005
209
0
northern utah
i use the armour brace by donjoy for my knee which is nice because you can buy a knee/shin gaurd for it. it just straps right on it. really nice.
 

NickZ

Chimp
Dec 23, 2004
41
0
Sydney
I ruptured/snapped my PCL a few years ago , did some physio for about a month. They don't usually reconstruct the PCL as apparently the success rate of recovery is not nearly the same as for the ACL, that may well change in the future. I was told to build up my quads to make up for the lost stability in the knee. The only time my knee hurts now is occaisonally if it twists a little bit, or when I fly ( don't know why though). I hurt it playing indoor soccer, which I'm playing again, involving a lot of pivoting on the knee and it's been fine, also a lot of stop start stuff with no probs. More importantly, bike riding is fine.I did 2 full days at Northstar with no problems, XC rides,jumping, 6 foot drops, all with no discomfort. Snowboarding is fine as well. I don't use a brace as I haven't felt the need for it. It will get better, don't worry about that. For me it hurt for about 2 months, but I took it easy and didn't overdo it.You shouldn't be walking on uneven ground right now, just doing excercises specific to your quads, ie cycling on a trainer or riding on a flat surface. It will get better and you'll be back to how you were before!!! Good luck and get on the trainer!!
 

BigMike

BrokenbikeMike
Jul 29, 2003
8,931
0
Montgomery county MD
What is this "trainer" you speak of? ;)


I really want to race DH again, i'm just really scared of what happnes when I fall on it again.......... guess i'll have to ask the doctor on the 8th.
 

NickZ

Chimp
Dec 23, 2004
41
0
Sydney
Just protect your knee from impacts, maybe put a thin knee pad below your normal DH protection. I had a high speed crash where I slid on my front and cut up my knee, no pain from my knee ( a few other things hurt) and I was going around 20 -25 mph when I crashed, no pads as it was an XC trail :)