How to Build Muscle After Posterior Cruciate Ligament Surgery? How Long to Wear the Brace? How to Train Knee Flexion Angle?
The posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) originates from the lateral side of the lateral femoral condyle, close to the back, and terminates at the posterior concave area of the proximal tibia. It is composed of three parts: the anterior lateral bundle (located at the anterior lateral attachment point of the femur), the posterior medial bundle (located at the posterior medial attachment point of the femur), and the medial meniscus ligament.
One, how to train muscle strength after PCL surgery?
Generally, after PCL surgery, focus on knee joint muscle strength, the quadriceps femoris is the core.After PCL surgery, you can train the quadriceps femoris without restrictions, whether it's open chain or closed chain exercises are okay. However, when training the posterior muscles after the PCL, you need to impose restrictions in the early stages.
Because if you do too much intense knee flexion and extension within three months when the ligament is not yet strong, it can contract the posterior muscles and pull the tibial plateau backward, which can cause the PCL to become loose.
Therefore, when training the muscle strength of the PCL, the quadriceps femoris can be trained boldly.When training the active knee flexion after the PCL, we suggest to delay it until after three months, and it's more safe.
Two, how long should the PCL brace be worn?
The first month should be worn 24 hours a day, whether during the day or at night.After one month, you can take it off while sleeping, but still use a large pillow under your legs to elevate your calf to prevent the posterior tilt from loosening.
After one month, you don't need to wear it when sleeping, but when you want to go out, you still need to wear the brace to prevent accidents.
After 2~3 months, the ligament has formed an initial healing, at this time, when walking and doing activities on the ground, you can gradually discard the brace. However, during this period, it is still recommended to protect with functional braces. There are many braces available in the market that you can choose.
Three, how long after PCL surgery can you swim?
It's similar to the anterior cruciate ligament, generally at least three months before going into the water is safe.This is because it considers walking ability and joint mobility and muscle strength. After three months, it's theoretically appropriate, of course, combined with your individual situation!
Early encouragement is to perform walking activities in the water, which is a safe and effective rehabilitation method. For swimming strokes, many people first learn the frog stroke. Similarly, for the PCL, it's not recommended to do the frog stroke within six months, which could be dangerous. Freestyle swimming is not a big problem.
Therefore, the swimming stroke is similar to that of the anterior cruciate ligament, and it's safe to take off restrictions within about six months.
Four, why can't you do kneeling poses after PCL surgery or reconstruction?
The main function of the PCL is to prevent the tibial plateau from moving backward. When kneeling, all the weight is pressed on the anterior tibial plateau of the tibia, which can cause the tibia to move backward relative to the femur, so the PCL that is injured or reconstructed is easily stretched and torn when kneeling. Therefore, it's generally not recommended to kneel within one year.
