Conservative treatment for rugby football players with an acute isolated posterior cruciate ligament injury.

We investigated the outcome of the conservative treatment from the point of athletic performance for rugby football players with an acute isolated PCL injury. The subjects were sixteen competitive rugby football players, with an average age of 21 years. After exercise consisting of quadriceps muscle strengthening and range of knee motion, the players were allowed to return to sports activity when swelling and pain disappeared. At one year after the injury, the period of return to pre-injury level and the self-evaluation for eleven performances during rugby football were surveyed by a questionnaire. Each performance of the athletic skills was rated as normal, nearly normal, abnormal or severely abnormal. Fourteen players (88%) returned to their pre-injury level. The time to return to pre-injury level ranged from one to seven months, with a mean of three months. High-speed running was the most affected skill (9 out of 14, 64%). These results showed that performance of athletic skills was apparently affected in rugby football players with an acute isolated PCL injury though the conservative treatment was effective

Knee dislocation following anterior cruciate ligament disruption without any other ligament tears.

We report a rare case of complete knee dislocation following anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) disruption without any other ligament tears. The pathology of the knee joint was torn ACL, intact other ligaments, osteochondral fractures and bone bruise of the lateral femoral condyle, and torn lateral meniscus. In this case, osteochondral fracture resulting from the anteriorly sublaxiation of the tibia following ACL disruption was considered to prevent from spontaneous reduction. This case suggests that anterolateral knee dislocation and spontaneous reduction may occur in ACL injuries.