Bone, Joint and Muscle Conditions
PCL Injuries Symptoms and Diagnosis
Symptoms of PCL Injuries
If your child's knee suddenly swells after an accident or injury, they may have a torn PCL or another serious knee problem. Besides swelling behind the knee, symptoms of ACL injuries include:
- Pain in the knee
- Knee feels wobbly or unstable
PCL Injuries Diagnosis
To help protect your child from more injuries that could hurt growing bones and joints, it is important to get a thorough evaluation and proper treatment.
When you and your child come to our clinic, doctors ask what happened before your child's knee began to swell and hurt. Next, we examine your child's knee. To doctors trained in sports medicine, knees with PCL tears often feel loose.
We cannot be sure that your child has a torn PCL until the swelling in the knee has gone down. This usually takes seven to 10 days. At that time, we may take:
of your child's knee to bet more information on what is wrong
MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
scan, if it is not clear that the PCL is torn or if we think your child may have other injuries.