Plantar fasciitis is a painful irritation on the underside of the heel. Learn how to diagnose and treat plantar fasciitis in this medical video.
Pain in the heel
Don't be confused by bone spurs
Recovery is 6-12 months
Consult your doctor
Charles A. Roth, M.D. works for the Andrews Institute, which is a world class facility that focuses on research and treatment of musculoskeletal issues. It is one of the premier orthopedic and sports medicine institutes in the nation and continues to build on that reputation while being lead by world renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews, MD.
I'm going to discuss PCL tears, which means posterior cruciate ligament tear. The posterior cruciate ligament is an integral part of the knee joint. It prevents the tibia, which is part of the knee, from dislocating backwards. The injury occurs when someone falls onto the front of their knee - it can occur in a car wreck - but usually the knee is flexed. It sustains a blow to the front and the tibia is driven backwards. It can result in dislocation. But oftentimes in sports, it is not a complete dislocation. It's just an injury to the ligament and results in instability of that structure. If the ligament is torn, if the posterior cruciate is torn, then the tibia, which is this bone here, abnormally would go backwards during normal activities of daily living or in sports. So that would cause pain. It would cause swelling and usually it results in abnormal function. A typical treatment for a PCL tear is initially immobilization of the knee. You have to determine on the exam whether they have associated injuries, whether it be to the medial collateral ligament or the lateral collateral ligament. That's important because combined injuries require surgery to repair the collateral ligaments and the posterior cruciate ligament. Isolated posterior cruciate tears can sometimes be treated without surgery. The initial evaluation is done by an orthopedic surgeon. They check to see how much the stability is present or absent in the knee joint. They will grade the instability and if it's severe then surgery would be recommended for that, particularly if there is associated injury. A typical recovery time after an injury of this nature, after a PCL tear, if it's treated nonoperatively, it's fairly rapid return to normal motion and as far as quadriceps strengthening that should be achieved within six weeks. So if they don't have surgery and it's an isolated posterior cruciate tear then they can be back playing probably between six and eight weeks. If they have surgery, you're talking between three and six months.
