MCL & LCL Reconstruction
Will you need surgery following a medial or lateral collateral ligament tear? If so, what’s involved? Alex Dodds, knee surgeon for The Cotswolds, Cheltenham & Gloucester, explains.
Does a ligament tear always require surgery?
No. There are lots of non-surgical ways to recover from an MCL or LCL tear. We explore treatments for minor ligament injuries here, but even more significant tears may heal without surgery if given time and the right treatment.
Where surgery is required, it’s usually because:
- You’ve torn more than one ligament
- The injury is severe (particularly the case with LCLs)
- Non-surgical approaches haven’t fully resolved your symptoms; or
- You’re going to be putting abnormally high loads through your ligament (perhaps, for example, because you’re an athlete) and want to limit the risk of future ligament damage
Non-surgical treatments for MCL & LCL ligament tears
Beyond over the counter anti-inflammatories and the POLICE method of self-treatment explored here, ruptures can also be treated in the following ways:
- Use crutches: Taking weight off your knee can help give the ligament time to heal.
- Physiotherapy: Physiotherapy may be a vital part of your treatment whether you have surgery or not. It can help you rebuild the strength of the joint and recover your full range of motion.
- Wear a knee brace: You give your torn ligament a better chance of healing if you can prevent it from moving. Some specialist knee braces may help do this, but you should only wear a brace if advised by your orthopaedic consultant. Don’t be tempted to wear an ‘off-the-shelf’ general purpose knee brace as it may at best be ineffective and at worse do more harm than good.
What does MCL & LCL reconstruction surgery involve?
If you need ligament reconstruction via our Cheltenham knee surgery, your torn ligament will be replaced with a graft (often from your hamstring) that will effectively act as a new ligament. Alternatively, the graft may be used as a sort of scaffold that enables the original ligament to heal around it.
Once your recovery from the surgery is complete, you will need physiotherapy to regain motion and strength in the joint.
How long will my recovery from an LCL or MCL tear take?
Recovery time from a torn MCL or LCL depends on a number of factors, including the severity of the tear and whether you need surgery to repair the damage.
Where an MCL rupture doesn’t need surgery, you might expect a mild tear to heal within two weeks. A more severe tear will take at least four (and more likely six) weeks. LCL tears typically take at least double the recovery time of an MCL tear.
Where surgery is required, you can expect full recovery to take several more weeks beyond the timeframes outlined above.
Knee surgery in Cheltenham, Gloucester and the Cotswolds
If you suspect you may have damaged your knee ligaments, book your appointment with Alex Dodds, knee consultant for Gloucestershire, now.
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Appointments
To make an appointment please either fill in the contact form and you will be called back by our secretary to arrange a convenient appointment time or get in touch directly.
Call Chrissie Holmyard 01242 246549 at Nuffield Health, Cheltenham.
