Sometimes doctors disagree about your degree of disability. Often, the workersâ compensation carrier will request that you be evaluated by an Independent Medical Examiner (IME). That is a doctor hired by the workersâ compensation carrier to assess your degree of disability and the causal relationship of your accident.
Treatment. On average, it takes six weeks for a MCL injury to heal. The initial treatment for most grade 1, 2 or 3 MCL tears focuses on reducing the pain and inflammation in the knee while immobilizing the knee to keep it stabilized. A grade 2 tear can take from two to four weeks to heal. 2  A grade 3 tear usually takes from four to eight weeks to heal, unless it is associated with damage to the ACL, in which case the recovery time may be longer.
Symptoms of MCL and LCL sprains and tears will vary by the severity of the injury and whether the injury occurs to the MCL or LCL ligament. There is usually mild or moderate swelling near the ligament, but in some cases, no swelling is apparent.