PFT says a tear "is suspected." Tear could mean sprain. Keep that in mind.
Complete tear would require surgery.
Originally Posted by: nerdmann
The way I understand it, It depends a whole lot on what is torn.
MCL or LCL can heal by themselves. I had a torn MCL, I didn't miss a day of work and was running in 3 weeks
ACL or PCL take surgery. My brother, sister in law, Mom and a couple guys I played football with all tore ACLs. They all had surgery and took a year plus to recover from.
If you lace your fingers together and pull your hands apart, that is kind of what a ligament does when it is sprained or torn. If you pull a little, they stay laced together, if you pull all the way, they lose contact with each other.
A sprain is the same as a tear only to a lesser degree. If you pull them all the way apart, it is worse than if you pull them a little and the fibers of the ligaments are still laced together.
Really, sprain and tear are interchangeable. Just when people say torn, they usually mean pulled all the way apart or detached from the anchor point.
That is the way I understood it from being the patient and knowing people who were.
I'm no doc so I could be misunderstanding what I was told.
I want to go out like my Grandpa did. Peacefully in his sleep.
Not screaming in terror like his passengers.