What Is the Posterior Cruciate Ligament?

The cruciate ligament is the main stable structure of the knee joint, so it is easy to be injured when the knee joint is injured. A comprehensive understanding of the degree, location and comorbidities of the ligament injury, especially the timely diagnosis of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury, will seriously affect patients. Prognosis. Although arthroscopy is highly accurate, it is traumatic. MRI is an accurate and effective non-invasive method for evaluating ligament damage. It has been used to diagnose knee ligament damage. There are anterior and posterior cruciate ligaments (also known as cruciate ligaments) in the knee joint. The anterior cruciate ligament starts from the front of the tibial intercondylar bulge, and stops rearward, upper, and outer on the inner side of the femoral condyle. The raised rear, forward, upper, and inner ends outside the femoral medial malleolus, no matter the knee joint is straight or flexed, the anterior cruciate ligament is in a tense state. After moving.

Basic Information

nickname

Cruciate ligament injury

Visiting department

orthopedics

Common causes

Violent impact directly to the front or back of the upper tibia

Common symptoms

Severe pain in the knee joint, obvious swelling, hemorrhage in the joints, impaired flexion and extension

Causes of cruciate ligament injury

Violent overextension or abduction of the knee joint can cause anterior cruciate ligament injury. For example, when flexing the knee, external force is applied to the femur from front to back, or external force hits the upper end of the tibia from back to front, which can cause anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Anterior dislocation of the knee joint is often caused by overextension, which will necessarily hurt the anterior cruciate ligament. If it is caused by excessive abduction, medial collateral ligament rupture can occur at the same time. Anterior cruciate ligament injury with medial meniscus injury is also common. When flexing the knee, external force hits the upper end of the tibia from front to back, causing the tibia to shift excessively backwards, which can cause posterior cruciate ligament damage and even posterior dislocation of the knee joint.

Clinical manifestations of cruciate ligament injury

Patients with this disease mainly show severe pain in the knee joint, obvious swelling, hemorrhage in the joint, and flexion and extension disorders. Some ligaments or joint capsules gradually loosen, and when the meniscus ruptures, it can also cause the joints to stabilize in the early stage of injury and unstable in the later stage.

Cruciate ligament injury examination

Drawer test

Bend the knee at 90 ° and fix the femur. The examiner holds the upper end of the lower leg with both hands and pulls the tibia forward or backward. If the anterior cruciate ligament is broken, the tibia has abnormal forward movement; if the posterior cruciate ligament is broken, the tibia has backward abnormal movement.

2.MRI examination

MRI can display knee ligaments in a multi-dimensional, multi-level, comprehensive and clear manner. Among them, the cruciate ligament is the main ligament of the knee. They are important dynamic and static factors to keep the knee joint stable during knee joint movement, and their injuries can seriously affect knee joint movement. Its main signs are the following three points: changes in local or diffuse signals, interruption of continuity of ligaments, and changes in contours. Indirect signs: bone contusion, translation of the tibia, exposure of the posterior angle of the lateral meniscus, changes in the posterior cross line and posterior cross angle, increased posterior cross index, Segond fracture, and changes in Blumensaat angle Accompanying injury: medial meniscus tear, lateral meniscus tear, medial and lateral collateral ligament tear, etc.

Diagnosis of cruciate ligament injury

The diagnosis can be made based on the etiology, clinical manifestations and related examinations.

Treatment of cruciate ligament injury

1. Fresh cruciate ligament rupture

Rupture of the cruciate ligament, or obvious displacement of the tibial spine avulsion fracture, should repair the broken ligament early or reduce the avulsion fracture and internal fixation. Postoperatively, fix it with long leg plaster for 4 to 6 weeks, and strengthen the femur Quadriceps exercise. If there is no displacement of the tibial spine fracture, you can use the long leg plaster to extend the knee to fix it for 4 to 6 weeks after extracting the blood in the joint, and then strengthen the quadriceps exercise.

2. Old cruciate ligament rupture

Old cruciate ligament rupture, unsatisfactory surgical results, you should strengthen the quadriceps exercise to strengthen the stability of the joints. If it is very unstable, consider using the broad thigh fascia, or the medial part of the sacroiliac ligament, or A ligament reconstruction was performed on a nearby tendon.