PCL Knee Brace

Seven Tips To Avoid Further Damage After A PCL Injury With A Personal Trainer In London

Dealing with a PCL injury?

Discover our expert tips for avoiding further damage and getting back to your active lifestyle with the help of a personal trainer in London.

Did you know that current rehab research discussed in details by the best personal trainer in London and the knee injury rehabilitation expert Jazz Alessi shows that a posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injury mostly happens when the posterior aspect of your knee joint is strained?

As you can see in this study [10] many times PCL injuries occur because your hamstring muscle fails to effectively do its job, and this is usually caused by overextension or overexertion.

This extra tension puts massive stress on a ligament not meant to hold force, so the ligament tears.

PCL injuries can be fully or partially torn, and may or may not require surgery [12].

Whichever situation you have endured, there are several protocols to follow and many PCL Injury exercises you must avoid in order to have a successful knee rehab recovery.

Experiencing a PCL injury is never fun or certainly doesn’t make life easy.

Knowing PCL rehabilitation guidelines can be even harder as every injury is different and a large percentage of the PCL injuries have aggravating factors.

Therefore, we advise to rehabilitate your knee injury by working closely with a long term personal trainer rehabilitation expert.

anatomy of the posterior of the right knee in extension

Fig 1. Knee anatomy and knee ligaments – PCL, ACL and MCL

Whether you’re a workout junkie or homebody, sports injury rehabilitation programme designed by a PCL personal trainer rehabilitation specialist in London could help you get back to 100%, and stay there.

After an injury like this, prioritizing your pain and knowing how to eliminate it is vital.

It’s crucial to know what’s best for your path to recovery, and following the next seven tips regarding PCL rehabilitation and exercises might be just the way to get there.

1. How is your PCL doing?

Know from these PCL Rehabilitation Guidelines

Understanding the status of your recovery may help you know what you can and cannot do within your sports injury rehabilitation stage.

First, we will look at knee flexion.

A healthy knee joint should flex to 120° [8].

Whether you underwent a partial or full PCL tear, you may have lost some knee flexion ability.

Talk to an exercise professional, or personal trainer rehabilitation or contact us, about achieving in a safe manner better knee flexion if yours is lacking.

Progressive weight bearing is another goal to keep in mind.

As the knee adapts either post-surgery or from the initial injury, slowly moving towards equally distributed weight is only going to help recovery [10].

2. Some of the best muscles to strengthen Post-PCL Injury or Surgery

After a PCL injury, it is common to see muscle atrophy.

Rehabilitation and strength exercises are an important part of getting back on track to a fully-functional knee.

Strengthening the quadriceps muscles is an important aspect of your knee rehab [10].

One study states that the rehabilitation of the PCL reconstructive or nonsurgical patient is greatly dependent on dynamic quadriceps stability [14].

Remember that the quadriceps muscle is a powerful knee extensor.

These muscles act to straighten the leg and stabilise the patella [6].

Some of the best exercises to strengthen these muscles include squats, leg press, and straightened leg raises however all exercises must be assessed and supervised to avoid reinjuring your knee.

Read “How to Lunge Correctly” tutorials provided to you by Jazz Alessi, one of the personal trainer rehabilitation specialist in London.

3. What else can I do?

Alternatives to PCL Injury Recovery

There are some fantastic alternative ways to alleviate knee pain and increase rehabilitation recovery.

One of these is through massage, which can help to reduce the presence of scar tissue and calcium deposits.

Palpating the injured area, or surgical incision if one is present, 5-10 minutes a day can help with this break down [4].

Another alternative can be supplementing your diet with glucosamine, which is an amino-sugar said to benefit joint health and structure [1].

One study indicated that glucosamine supplementation does provide slight benefits in joint health and pain reduction [11].

4. PCL Injury exercises to avoid

When getting back into shape after a PCL injury, there are certain exercises that are better left untouched to avoid any further damage.

All open kinetic chain (OKC) hamstring exercises should be avoided since they impart posterior tibial translation at the knee [9].

Open kinetic chain exercises are described as exercises where the furthest points from the body (usually the hands or feet) are not fixed, meaning they can move freely [2].

Some examples of exercises related to the hamstring are leg curls and knee slides.

These are only of the few exercises which should be avoided, due to strain placed on the posterior aspect of the knee.

An elite personal trainer in London can help you recover from your sports injury fast and safe.

5. Injury Mechanics: How to Prevent Another Injury

Preventing another PCL injury is likely to be another main focus throughout your recovery.

Preventing posterior tibial subluxation is a crucial part to maintaining an uninjured limb [10].

It is important to understand that the primary function of the PCL is to restrain the posterior tibial translation at flexion angles above 30 degrees and to restrain external rotation [12].

Simply put, this means that the tibia and femur bones are not aligned and are stressing the posterior aspect of the joint.

Fig 2. Tibial subluxation is a major aggravating  PCL risk factor.

Avoid using ankle weights or putting stress on the knee when bent over 70° [3].

This can also be corrected by completing strength exercises for the quadricep muscles, ensuring good posture, and keeping equal weight distribution between your legs.

If you are living in London, rehabilitating your PCL injury under the supervision of an elite personal trainer London-based help you reach your knee rehab weekly targets and final goals safely (and safe is the key word here).

6. Cardio exercise and your torn or partially torn PCL

Getting back into shape after sustaining a PCL injury exercising on your own is very risky, frustrating, a lottery and a massive struggle.

But getting your heart and lungs prepared for exercise can begin sooner than you might think.

Cycling, only on a stationary bike where control settings can be made, can be initiated as early as four weeks post-surgery or post-injury [3].

This can benefit both respiratory health, and also ROM.

Other low-impact exercises can be introduced two months post-surgery or post-injury.

These activities can include swimming, walking/running on an elliptical, and basic body-weight exercises [7].

Maintaining good health will help you feel better, leading to a better quality of life through achieving your optimum knee injury rehabilitation.

7. Stay mentally strong to have successful PCL injury rehabilitation

It’s a challenging task to remain focused and determined through all parts of a rehabilitation process.

Negative psychological experiences usually occur after an unplanned injury [5].

Recovery following trauma is not only related to joint status and health.

People respond differently to the stress of injury, and therefore, recover differently.

Expectations and hope, influenced by health professionals, can hugely influence recovery [13].

Following these steps can help you understand the PCL injury mechanism, and also assist with successful PCL injury rehabilitation.

Completing injury rehabilitation training can also benefit your individual recovery plan.

Getting back to 100% is important, and these tips can help you achieve this result.

If you want to rehabilitate your PCL injury safe using a one to one PCL rehab program under the supervision of the best personal trainer in London and knee injury rehabilitation specialist contact Jazz Alessi now by clicking on this link.

Contact us now by sending an email with your specific challenges and we will help to move forward with your PCL injury recovery.

Medical References

  1. Eraslan A, Ulkar B. “Glucosamine supplementation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction in athletes: a randomized placebo-controlled trial”. Res. Sports Med. 23 2015.
  2. Guex K1, Millet GP. Conceptual framework for strengthening exercises to prevent hamstring strains. Sports Med. Dec 2013
  3. Jaberi FM, Abbasi H, Saki N. A modification of tibial inlay fixation in posterior cruciate ligament reconstruction by interference screw: a biomedical study on calf tibial bone model. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. Sep 2010.
  4. Jawahar R1, Yang S, Eaton CB. Gender-specific correlates of complementary and alternative medicine use for knee osteoarthritis. Journal of Women’s Health. Oct 2012.
  5. Kassam-Adams N, Bakker A, Marsac ML. Traumatic Stress, Depression, and Recovery: Child and Parent Responses After Emergency Medical Care for Unintentional Injury. Pediatric Emergency Care. Apr 2015.
  6. Kisner, C, Colby, L. Therapeutic Exercises for the Human Body. 5th ed. (2002) 692-93.
  7. McArdle, W, Katch, F, Katch,V. Essentials of exercise physiology. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 204. 2004.
  8. Nirtal Shah, PT, DPT. Increasing Knee Range of Motion Using a Unique Sustained Method. North American Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. May 2008.
  9. Peterson, C. MD, Young, C, MD. Posterior Cruciate Ligament Injury Treatment & Management. Sports Medicine, Feb 2014.
  10. Pierce CM, O’Brien L, Griffin LW. Posterior cruciate ligament tears: functional and postoperative rehabilitation. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc. 2013 May.
  11. Reginster, J. Deroisy, L. Long-term effects of glucosamine sulphate on osteoarthritis progression: a randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial. The Lancet. Jan 2001.
  12. Travis G, MD, Marx, R MD. Management of Chronic Tibial Subluxation in the Multiple-Ligament Injured Knee. Sports Medicine Arthroscopic Review. 2011.
  13. Warwick, A. Recovery following injury hinges upon expectation and hope. J Trauma Nurs. 2012 Oct-Dec.
  14. Wilk, KE. Rehabilitation of isolated and combined posterior cruciate ligament injuries. Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine. 1999 July.

Disclaimer:  This website and all its content is to be used for information purposes only. This website or any of its content or links to third parties does not diagnose, advise,  treat or cure any ailments, illness or disease.

You agree to hold harmless the owner of this site for any action taken on your own without consulting your medical doctor first by using the information on the website for diagnostic, treatment, or any other related purposes. This is not medical advice. If you are suffering from any illness, disease or ailments please contact your doctor first and immediately. 

Write a comment

Scroll To Top