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Published on: April 30, 2014
Posterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction in Elite Athletes: A Narrative Review
Darby Amelia Elliott1,2, Chinmay Madhukar Gupte1,2
1Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine, London, UK.
Background:
Posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries are uncommon in sport but may be career-defining for elite athletes. Controversy remains regarding indications for reconstruction, optimal techniques and the role of braced non-operative care. This narrative review summarises evidence on operative and non-operative management of PCL injuries in elite athletes, focusing on return-to-play (RTP), graft selection, reconstruction strategy and elite-specific considerations.
Methods:
A narrative review was conducted in PubMed and Embase (inception-April 2025) with reference list screening. Clinical studies reporting return-to-play outcomes after operative or non-operative management of isolated PCL injuries and PCL-based MLKIs in athletic cohorts were prioritised; 51 studies were included, and heterogeneity precluded meta-analysis.
Results:
Isolated PCL injuries in elite footballers are rare, whereas PCL-based multi-ligament knee injuries (MLKIs) are more common in collision sports. Early dynamic bracing with quadriceps-focused rehabilitation enables > 90% RTP in selected acute isolated grade II-III tears in high-level athletic cohorts (Level III evidence). For chronic instability or MLKIs, anatomic single-bundle reconstruction remains common, with double-bundle and tibial inlay approaches offering biomechanical but limited clinical advantages. Modern elite MLKI cohorts report 80-90% RTP, though full return-to-performance is less frequent.
Conclusions:
Management of elite PCL injuries requires individualised, sport-specific decision-making that balances biological healing with performance demands. High-quality, sport-specific outcome data remain limited.Level of EvidenceLevel V, narrative review.
