REHABILITATION PROTOCOL AFTER ISOLATED POSTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT RECONSTRUCTION

ABSTRACTTo create a rehabilitation protocol following reconstruction of the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), through a literature review. The literature review was conducted in the Medline and Embase databases, to search for data on biomechanical concepts and analyses relating to the posterior cruciate ligament of the knee. The search strategy was set up using the following rules: problem or injury in association with anatomical location terms; or surgical intervention procedure in association with rehabilitation terms. We began the process in this manner and subsequently introduced restrictions on certain terms to improve the search specificity. To design the protocol, a table was created for better data assessment, based on the time that elapsed between surgery and the start of physiotherapy. A rehabilitation protocol was created to improve weight-bearing control in the initial weeks after surgery, with the aid of a knee brace. Our aim was to achieve gains in total range of motion of the knee, which should be attained by the third month, thereby avoiding contractures resulting from the tissue healing process. Strengthening exercises and sensory-motor training were guided accordingly, thus avoiding overload on the graft and respecting the healing phases. The protocol proposed through this review was based on the current evidence relating to this subject.