Seven weeks out
Today I’m seven weeks post-op for my ACL repair. At this point physical therapy and self discipline seem to be the name of the game for me. I’m going to PT once a week now, and a typical routine looks like this:
- 8 minutes on a stationary bike to warm-up
- 8 minutes on a device they call the “total gym”, which basically facilitates diagonal squats.
- Lunges. Straight ahead, 45 degrees ahead, 90 degrees, 45 degrees back and straight back. Left and right. These are the most tedious part.
- Wall squats, usually with a ball between me and the wall.
- Balance Exercises - there are several of these, i’m bad at all of them.
- Toe raises
- Russian Stimulation
- Ice.
It all seems to be working because my leg feels quite strong, with my quad coming back to life. I’ve been riding my bike on a trainer at home. As of this week i’ve began turning up the resistance and doing some intervals. It helps so much to be clips in w/ bike shoes for me.
In other news it’s been a pretty bad snow year here in the Pacific Northwest, so i haven’t had to spend too much time lamenting my inability to ski this winter.
hmmm…’russian stimulation’? adjacent to the word ‘ice’? sounds too much like vodka to me…
I tore my ACL riding my ATV the day after Thanksgiving…attempting to stop the 700 lb ATV from tipping over (was only going 5 mph or so)… incidentally, found out my knee cannot support that much weight! So, doctor wanted to wait until my swelling went down and finally had surgery on January 13th, with a double-strand allograft. I am now 11 days post op and have full extension and about 100 degrees of bending (flexion–i guess). Anyway, the quad muscle is the hardest to get back. Even before my first PT appointment (3 days after surgery), I was doing quadriceps flexes, because I knew it was weakened. My brother had his ACL replaced a few years ago and said the extension would be the hardest to get back and suggested sleeping with my heel up on a couple of pillows (letting the knee “sag”) and that seemed to work for me. I have now found out that people who use their own hamstring, really REALLY have problems getting full extension. I am glad my brother told me about the pillow trick! I got a bike trainer to use at home and I am in the process of setting that up. My PT said I can bike every day if I want, as long as I don’t get a bunch of swelling. I am wondering how many people out there have been given a post-op brace to wear for 4-6 weeks? My brother said he had his but did not wear it religiously. I see other folks in PT without braces and I asked my PT and he said that it is purely surgeon preference. It seems that bracing is “old school”! Oh well, I am happy with my progress… so will continue bracing. I have been very religious about doing my home PT as I think that greatly contributes to successful rehab! Love to read everyone else’s stories!
Hi! I’ve been checking your blog every few weeks. I had torn my left ACL last June playing soccer (tore the right one in 2007, but didn’t have surgery - it’s pretty stable). I had an autograft surgery right after the new year and I’m now at 7 1/2 weeks. I had used a brace 24/7 for the 1st 2 weeks, then only at night for another 2 weeks. I have full extension, 115 degree flexion, and I am on track, except for the swelling that occurred this week at work (grrr). I’ve been off of work for the first 6 weeks, went back to work with desk only duties, but suffered swelling, and pain in the knee/leg this week. I have found that stairs “hurt” the most, and I have a tendency to favour my knee then. I’ve been put on an intense rehab plan, and should be back to athletics within 6 months. My surgeon told me the first 3 months is the healing of the graft itself, then the following 3 months is the time to rebuild the surrounding muscles (which definitely have lost a lot of strength).
Good luck to all of you.
Any ideas on best choice for ACL replacement? Patellar, hamstring, or cadaver? I’m hearing about the benefit of cadaver, but am worried about rejection of the “foreign” material. Thanks! Miko
I went with the cadaver. My doc assured me that rejection rates are very low, and issues he’s had were people overestimating their abilities (or underestimating the strains of activities) during the recovery process. With the patella, he had warned that there’s some potential for knee pain, and if you have that as a side effect, he can’t do anything for that. With the hamstring graft, he’s generally concerned about reducing strength in the hamstring when I’ll need it most. I felt I had pretty strong hams & quads pre-surgery, and PT is humbling, so I’m glad I didn’t compromise my hamstring.
Another point made to me was that Tom Brady went allograft and had issues. Acquaintances highly recommended the cadaver over an allograft, as well (including two who’d had both).
I’m eight weeks post-op, and happy with my choice so far. Good luck!
Thank you so much for your info and I’m happy to hear you’re eight weeks out and feeling better. Miko
Miko
There is another blog topic for just type of graft with over 200 posts. I found the info there sooo useful prior to my surgery.
I am almost 2 weeks out (tuesday) and went with allograft. I did not want to compromise my hamstring and didn’t want knee pain.
Recovery so far has been uneventful. I had one day of real pain. I only used the meds for 3 days.
I have full extension and am probably at 100-110 flex. The only problem is that I also had a meniscus repair so have to wear my immobilizer brace and I have been watching my quad atrophy on a daily basis in spite of doing my “exercises”. PT session 2 is this tuesday and I am hoping they turn up the intensity.
Must admit the hamstring graft adds to the whole “pain”. Wasn’t aware that hamstring grafts had issues in the future w/ extension.
My doc wanted me to do the allograft as well but I decided to use my own because with 2 really young kids I didn’t want to go through this agin IF my body would reject the graft. And a rejection can happen up to 12 months after surgery!
HAd ACL reconstruction and meniscectomy last Monday. Pain was pretty bad! I rather give birth!!! I have been “flexing” at home and should be almost @ 90. Extension - hmmm not that good yet. And it’s still pretty swollen! Should not forget it has been only a couple of days…