Question about rehab after ACL reconstruction surgery

[Jeff7181]

As the thread title says, I suffered a knee injury that involved a torn medial meniscus and ruptured ACL... the surgeon also found bone chips.

The injury occurred on Dec. 24th last year. I have one surgery on Jan. 13th to remove the foreign objects from the knee, which was when the ruptured ACL was discovered. On Jan. 27th I had a second surgery to reconstruct the ACL with a donor graft. Both were arthroscopic.

I was in P.T. for about a week and a half between the surgeries, and started P.T. again the week after my second surgery, so I've been in P.T. for two full weeks now after my ACL reconstruction. My prescription is to go 3 times a week for 6 weeks, and I do all the P.T. exercises at home twice a day. After that I'm not sure what the plan is, but that's not relevant to my question.

Before I ask my question, I've already spoken to my physical therapist and surgeon about it, I just want more opinions. My surgeon says it's going to be about 6 months of rehab in total before I'm back to normal, so I have to be patient. My physical therapist says I'm doing well, but his actions tell me he expected me to be doing better.

My question had to do with my rehabilitation, specifically range of motion. After two weeks, I've noticed I can straighten my knee well, almost lock it. What has me discouraged is that I can only bend it about 75 degrees with minimal pain and about 90 degrees before it's so painful my muscles basically freeze. This is how it was my first day of P.T. after my ACL reconstruction, and this is how it is today. I feel like I should be making more progress seeing as how my strength has improved so much. Is it normal to hit a wall like this?

There's still significant swelling, which I'm sure is causing some of the pain. The strange thing is, when I have my knee bent 90 degrees, it feels to me like it's bent much more... like my foot is only a couple inches away from my butt.

Cliffs:
- torn cartilage and ruptured ACL
- had surgery to fix it
- now that I'm in P.T. I feel like I'm progressing slower than I could/should be
- is it normal to hit a wall and remain there for a while?

 

[FirewolfX]

The biggest issue is the bone growth around the screw anchors where they drilled into your Tibia and Femur. DON'T RUSH IT. Trust me, I've had ACL/Meniscus on both knees.

You will feel like you can do a lot more, but it will truly take several months to recover.

 

[StageLeft]

Yes a wall can be normal for sure. Joints are such fvckery that unlike a big ole flesh wound, predicting the recovery is extremely hard. If I had surgery today I'd expect not to feel 100% normal for many, many months. Even after that, your knee is probably compromised in a way that you will, even if you feel perfect, want to avoid truly exacerbating stresses such as a sharp cutting movement while playing soccer, for example.

 

[RagingBITCH]

I'm very surprised they haven't given you a locking knee brace that limits your range of motion. It takes time to recover...your strength and range of pain free motion will come back in time. Long story short, don't rush it...if it was meant to be pain free and a short turn around time, well, you'd be better by now.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
I'm very surprised they haven't given you a locking knee brace that limits your range of motion. It takes time to recover...your strength and range of pain free motion will come back in time. Long story short, don't rush it...if it was meant to be pain free and a short turn around time, well, you'd be better by now.

They have... I just don't wear it while doing P.T. as it irritates my incisions even after the stitches were removed and some tape put over them. Extension is limited at 15 degrees and flexion is limited at 120 degrees. I'm also still walking with crutches, which I hope to ditch at the end of the month... but judging by how things are going so far, I don't think I will.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
As the thread title says, I suffered a knee injury that involved a torn medial meniscus and ruptured ACL... the surgeon also found bone chips.

The injury occurred on Dec. 24th last year. I have one surgery on Jan. 13th to remove the foreign objects from the knee, which was when the ruptured ACL was discovered. On Jan. 27th I had a second surgery to reconstruct the ACL with a donor graft. Both were arthroscopic.

I was in P.T. for about a week and a half between the surgeries, and started P.T. again the week after my second surgery, so I've been in P.T. for two full weeks now after my ACL reconstruction. My prescription is to go 3 times a week for 6 weeks, and I do all the P.T. exercises at home twice a day. After that I'm not sure what the plan is, but that's not relevant to my question.

Before I ask my question, I've already spoken to my physical therapist and surgeon about it, I just want more opinions. My surgeon says it's going to be about 6 months of rehab in total before I'm back to normal, so I have to be patient. My physical therapist says I'm doing well, but his actions tell me he expected me to be doing better.

My question had to do with my rehabilitation, specifically range of motion. After two weeks, I've noticed I can straighten my knee well, almost lock it. What has me discouraged is that I can only bend it about 75 degrees with minimal pain and about 90 degrees before it's so painful my muscles basically freeze. This is how it was my first day of P.T. after my ACL reconstruction, and this is how it is today. I feel like I should be making more progress seeing as how my strength has improved so much. Is it normal to hit a wall like this?

There's still significant swelling, which I'm sure is causing some of the pain. The strange thing is, when I have my knee bent 90 degrees, it feels to me like it's bent much more... like my foot is only a couple inches away from my butt.

Cliffs:
- torn cartilage and ruptured ACL
- had surgery to fix it
- now that I'm in P.T. I feel like I'm progressing slower than I could/should be
- is it normal to hit a wall and remain there for a while?

Alrighty, hopefully I can give you some info that is beneficial to your recovery. First of all, you are two weeks into physical therapy. The physical therapist I worked with most closely on knee injuries said that he usually doesn't expect to see much strength/apparent progress for several weeks at the beginning. However, I do believe range of motion (ROM) is supposed to improve as you go along. Your PT has you doing some stretches from ROM, right?

Things that I've seen done for stretching: grab a rope/wound up old t-shirt/special stretching cloth thing and start improving the ROM forcefully. I'm not saying tear your knee out - I'm saying stretch your leg at a 4/10 level of pain/stretch comfort. Stretch both flexion and extension. You'll feel this in your quads and hammies. I would even make sure to stretch my calf against a wall or off a ledge. This is your passive ROM. You definitely need to work on it because if you just worked on your active ROM, your progress will be very slow. Also you definitely need to be taking some serious ibuprofen to help with the swelling. Fish oil also helps with inflammation so you may want to look into that as well.

Next - you are two weeks into therapy after a serious surgery. There is a certain amount of time where your body is still extremely shocked and where your progress will be limited. You said you didn't wear the brace because it hurt with your incisions/scars? To avoid scar tissue pain and such, lightly massage the incisions in the same direction while going up/down/left/right/diagonally in all directions. This helps keep the scar tissue from being immovable, which it will be if you don't actively prevent that. It's very useful. I actually just was playing around with this technique with a significant cut I had on my thumb. At first it was painful, but now my comfort and ROM on it are back to normal. It's a very useful tool.

That feeling you're having is just a normal proprioceptive response to the intense amounts of swelling. The skin feels so tight that the only position the body thinks it would be that tight in normally would be full flexion. That's completely normal. Like I said - to help this, you need to be on fairly large doses of ibuprofen (personally, I'd say 800mg ibuprofen every 4 hours) if your stomach can take it.

If there are any other questions you have, feel free to ask and I'll try to help as best I can. I know injuries are bothersome and you want to get better ASAP. However, you also have to be patient, give your all in therapy (safely), listen to your body, and let your body rest. I honestly would say you shouldn't be doing all your exercises every day, unless they're stretching-only exercises. Your body needs time to heal and recuperate. You keep aggravating it with exercise and it won't do anything really.

 

[Jeff7181]

Thanks for the info, SociallyChallenged. I'm doing a handful of exercises... I'm not sure what they're called so I'll just describe them in the order I do them.

First one is just bending my foot at the ankle... full extension, full flexion. I started doing 3 sets of 10, I now do 8 sets of 10.
Next one the doctor calls knee presses... it's a little hard to describe, basically my leg is straight and I flex my quads almost like I'm trying to press the back of my knee into the floor. I started doing 3 sets of 10, I now do 8 sets of 10.
Next one is single leg lifts, pretty self explanatory, I'm on my back and lift the injured leg. Started doing 3 sets of 10, I now do 8 sets of 10 with a 2.5 pound weight on my ankle.
Next is the same as above, but on my side, so I'm lifting my leg to the side. Started with 3 sets of 10, now doing 8 sets of 10 with a 2.5 pound weight.
Then I lay on my stomach and lift the injured leg up/back, sorta the same as the previous 2. Started with 3 sets of 10, now do 8 sets of 10 with a 2.5 pound weight.
Then I do leg curls, still on my stomach, bend my knee as far as I can. Started these a week into therapy doing 6 sets of 10, now do 12 sets of 10 with a 2.5 pound weight. So I can do more sets now even with the weight added, but the range of motion has not improved, 90 degrees is where the pain increases significantly. (when I go to physical therapy, we do the last two sets with a strap around my ankle so I can forcefully pull it a few more degrees than I can with my leg muscles)
Last I do basically the opposite of that, lay on my back with a board under my thigh to lift it up about 45 degrees then straighten my leg, bending at the knee. Started these a week into therapy also doing 3 sets of 10, now doing 6 sets of 10.

I take a percocet (5mg oxycodone, 325mg APAP) and motrin (200mg ibuprofen) about an hour before I do the exercises. Takes me about an hour to finish all those because I rest for 30 seconds or so between sets. When I'm finished with the exercises I ice my knee... I have an ice-water pump with a pad I put on my knee and wrap with an ace bandage to keep it in place. It pumps ice-water through the pad... it'll maintain 45 degrees for about 5 hours, so that's how long I ice it after exercising. My physical therapist has said not to use heat yet.

The surgeon also said I can put weight on it as tolerated. After talking to my physical therapist about it I'm starting to put weight on it now while walking with crutches. I can put about half my weight on it before I start to feel pain which I believe is from the swelling... and it feels unstable because the muscles aren't really strong enough to stabilize my knee I suspect. So I'm taking that slowly.

I guess you're right... two weeks doesn't sound like much time since the surgery. It just feels like it's been a lot longer so I'm getting impatient.

*EDIT* Also wanted to clarify, I don't wear the brace to do exercises because of the discomfort. I do wear it to and from P.T. and if I need to move around the house more than just to go to the bathroom. I also wear it when I sleep because I tend to move around at night, and I woke up one morning in a normal sleeping position for me, but it was extremely painful when I tried to move from that position.

When I go see my physical therapist, he massages the area with Biofreeze after I finish my exercises and then hooks me up to a machine with electrodes on my knee and ice for 20 minutes before I go home and use my ice-water pump.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

To be perfectly honest, the amount of volume you're doing sounds too high. It seems like you should be doing 3x10-15 of everything and you should be increasing in difficulty if you can do them with no problem. 8 sets of any one exercise is too much IMHO. Also, you're not taking enough ibuprofen. 200mg barely touches the swelling. You can take 4 of the 200mg tablets at a time and be perfectly fine, especially if you have something like your knee injury.

Also, 5 hours of ice is A HUGE NO NO. Not only are you possibly inducing necrosis to your skin and muscle cells, but you can damage nerves. Along with the cell damage, icing for more than 20 minutes actually induces a blood flow phenomenon where the area actually fills with blood to try to prevent damage to the body (in an effort to bring the temp up). It's a response to hypothermia-like conditions. Therefore, the 5 hour ice-pack is actually doing you more harm than good. It's CAUSING swelling. I usually tell people 15 min on, 15 off, 15 on, 15 off, and then be done. No heat should be applied for something like this.

 

[Jeff7181]

Hmm, interesting. Normally that's what I'd do... 15 or 20 minutes of icing. However, for the first week after my surgery, they told me to keep the ice-water thing on it 24 hours a day. Part of the reason for that I'm sure is that it's not the same as icing it... the pump maintains 45 degrees in the pad that goes on my knee... so it's not as bad as literally putting a 30 degree ice pack on it. Now my physical therapist and surgeon both say to use the pump for at least 3 or 4 hours after doing my exercises. Maybe I'll ask about that to find out what the reason for that is.

I can say right now, the swelling is quite a bit worse than it was after icing it last night. When I took it off last night it looked pretty good, I could see my knee cap quite well about 12 hours ago. Now, after sleeping with it elevated and not wrapped or iced, it's swollen again to the point that I can't tell I even have a knee cap.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
Hmm, interesting. Normally that's what I'd do... 15 or 20 minutes of icing. However, for the first week after my surgery, they told me to keep the ice-water thing on it 24 hours a day. Part of the reason for that I'm sure is that it's not the same as icing it... the pump maintains 45 degrees in the pad that goes on my knee... so it's not as bad as literally putting a 30 degree ice pack on it. Now my physical therapist and surgeon both say to use the pump for at least 3 or 4 hours after doing my exercises. Maybe I'll ask about that to find out what the reason for that is.

I can say right now, the swelling is quite a bit worse than it was after icing it last night. When I took it off last night it looked pretty good, I could see my knee cap quite well about 12 hours ago. Now, after sleeping with it elevated and not wrapped or iced, it's swollen again to the point that I can't tell I even have a knee cap.

Try the 15 minutes on, 15 off method. You may get an even better response. I would never suggest to leave it on so long. Four hours means that you are absolutely killing cells. You're inducing frostbite, whether at the surface or deeper in the tissue. 45 degrees is still enough to harm your cells. I am just worried because I've seen a woman kill the nerve on the outside of her knee that's responsible for dorsiflexion of her foot. Now she cannot keep her foot cocked for the rest of her life. It effects pretty much all of her movement and I wouldn't even want to risk something like that.

I would also make sure to take at least 400mg of ibuprofen before going to bed since that's when most of the healing process actually occurs. Inflammation hinders flow of blood/fluid and therefore promotes slower recovery. If you can get that down, especially while you sleep, that will help you out a great deal.

Also it might be good to talk to your PT about how much rest you should get. Doing those exercises twice a day, in my opinion, is probably not optimal. I would like to hear what your PT has to say about that. I've noticed the best gains in progress during physical therapy when the patient attends therapy 3 times a week and then stretches every day (but doesn't do strength exercises). I mean, you wouldn't work the same muscle groups every day or twice a day when working out normally, right? Why would you do that now?

 

[Jeff7181]

I think the reason he wants me doing the exercises so frequently is because I'm not really being limited by those muscle groups. What has been limiting my ability to do the exercises is the pain in my knee, which pretty rapidly decreased over these past couple weeks.

It may not be the smartest thing to do, but I haven't really questioned anything they've told me to do until now when I started feeling like the progress I felt like I was making came to a halt.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I think the reason he wants me doing the exercises so frequently is because I'm not really being limited by those muscle groups. What has been limiting my ability to do the exercises is the pain in my knee, which pretty rapidly decreased over these past couple weeks.

It may not be the smartest thing to do, but I haven't really questioned anything they've told me to do until now when I started feeling like the progress I felt like I was making came to a halt.

It's always good to ask why they have you doing certain things. I usually ask multiple professionals and see what's common/expected/optimal. Like we've already both acknowledged, you're only 2 weeks out and it's a bit too soon to judge. The techniques are just ones I haven't really seen used and I don't know the logic behind them. It doesn't mean that they are wrong. They may just be customized to your predicament. Always question why you do something. It's good for the betterment of your knowledge and gives you something to refer to when researching.

 

[Jeff7181]

I talked to my physical therapist today and he confirmed he wants me to keep icing it for at least three hours after exercising. He said the reason is that the swelling is not being caused by the exercising I'm doing, only exacerbated by it. He said 15 or 20 minutes isn't enough for the cold to penetrate the area unless we use a really cold ice pack directly on the skin and apply compression, and he doesn't want to do that because of the skin/muscle/nerve cell damaged possible. The ice-water pump doesn't apply such intense cold, so there's not as much risk of damage to the soft tissue but needs to be left on longer. He said I can check for sufficient blood flow after icing by making sure the area has warmed up and doesn't feel cool to the touch within 15 or 20 minutes of removing the ice. I'm going to verify it this evening when I take it off, but I'm pretty sure it's fine because it usually takes me 15 minutes to get upstairs and into bed after removing it and when I get into bed it doesn't feel cool anymore.

I asked about the exercises too and he said they're not really for much strength building right now... just to build enough strength so I can work on range of motion with my leg muscles and not force it by pulling with straps and other equipment. He wants me doing high repetitions because my knee tightens up because of the swelling and it takes 2 or 3 sets just to get back to where I was when I finished the last exercise session.

The last time I saw the surgeon he said to expect it to be swollen for a couple months, so I'm not real concerned about that. I mentioned that to the physical therapist and he agreed and said only to be concerned if there's bruising visible.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
I talked to my physical therapist today and he confirmed he wants me to keep icing it for at least three hours after exercising. He said the reason is that the swelling is not being caused by the exercising I'm doing, only exacerbated by it. He said 15 or 20 minutes isn't enough for the cold to penetrate the area unless we use a really cold ice pack directly on the skin and apply compression, and he doesn't want to do that because of the skin/muscle/nerve cell damaged possible. The ice-water pump doesn't apply such intense cold, so there's not as much risk of damage to the soft tissue but needs to be left on longer. He said I can check for sufficient blood flow after icing by making sure the area has warmed up and doesn't feel cool to the touch within 15 or 20 minutes of removing the ice. I'm going to verify it this evening when I take it off, but I'm pretty sure it's fine because it usually takes me 15 minutes to get upstairs and into bed after removing it and when I get into bed it doesn't feel cool anymore.

I asked about the exercises too and he said they're not really for much strength building right now... just to build enough strength so I can work on range of motion with my leg muscles and not force it by pulling with straps and other equipment. He wants me doing high repetitions because my knee tightens up because of the swelling and it takes 2 or 3 sets just to get back to where I was when I finished the last exercise session.

The last time I saw the surgeon he said to expect it to be swollen for a couple months, so I'm not real concerned about that. I mentioned that to the physical therapist and he agreed and said only to be concerned if there's bruising visible.

Cool. All good reasons. The higher temp "icing" things makes sense. I just wanted to make 100% sure.

Oh, I wasn't aware he didn't have you doing a warmup before. Usually we had knee injuries warmup on one of those laid back exercise bikes. I understand that not everybody has access or uses those in their therapy though.

Yeah, it definitely will be swollen. I'm really surprised they didn't give you more medication to keep it down though. Just for tendinitis, the doctor prescribed me 800mg tablets of ibuprofen and I really didn't have significant swelling. Tendons are slow in their healing process and any kind of inflammation gets in the way though so that makes a bit more sense.

Well, it seems like your PT knows what he's doing so you just gotta trust him at this point. Be patient, do the exercises, and stay positive. I hope you start seeing some tangible progress soon, man. Best of luck.

 

[Jeff7181]

Thanks for the kind words, and thanks again for the information.

I'm trying to stay positive but I'm starting to get nervous about going back to work. I'm practically chained to my desk all day, and my cube/job doesn't lend well to periodically icing my knee and keeping it elevated. I'm planning on going back on the 25th so I'm going to talk to my supervisor about that this week to see what kind of accommodations we can arrange.

 

[Selena32]

I am 11 days after ACL surgery and my doctor said I need to start bending my knee. I am really trying but I just cannot. I do not know why? Someone have any suggestions?

 

[Sixguns]

Some people just have issues. There was a guy who had his repaired the same time I had my fusion of L5-S1 over two years ago and he is still struggling with it. He goes the the same gym as me and he is always in there trying to bend his knee on a few of the leg machines. I think that might be the dumbest thing ever to stack weight and force it but its not my knee so whatever. While we were doing PT, he seemed to not care or even try and I bet that is the reason why he still has issues 2 years later.

 

[Selena32]

Some people just have issues. There was a guy who had his repaired the same time I had my fusion of L5-S1 over two years ago and he is still struggling with it. He goes the the same gym as me and he is always in there trying to bend his knee on a few of the leg machines. I think that might be the dumbest thing ever to stack weight and force it but its not my knee so whatever. While we were doing PT, he seemed to not care or even try and I bet that is the reason why he still has issues 2 years later.

It just feels like i barely start to bend it and it want to pop. I'm thinking maybe because it has been straight all this time. But I don't know. I'm scared to re-tear it again.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I am 11 days after ACL surgery and my doctor said I need to start bending my knee. I am really trying but I just cannot. I do not know why? Someone have any suggestions?

That is due to many reasons, one of them being that they purposely make your ACL too tight in surgery so it needs to be stretched out. A tight ACL can always be stretched with time - a loose one requires another surgery. The doctor doesn't expect you to bend your knee very much - he just wants to make sure you're challenging it a little bit. You should feel a light stretch when you bend it, but you shouldn't push into pain. It also has to do with muscles being cut - they essentially turn off. That and you are going to have some scarring that occurs, resulting in some limitations in range of motion. Overall, move it within your comfort zone unless instructed to be more aggressive. Physical therapy will come soon enough and they'll work on making sure you get your range of motion back.

 

[Selena32]

That is due to many reasons, one of them being that they purposely make your ACL too tight in surgery so it needs to be stretched out. A tight ACL can always be stretched with time - a loose one requires another surgery. The doctor doesn't expect you to bend your knee very much - he just wants to make sure you're challenging it a little bit. You should feel a light stretch when you bend it, but you shouldn't push into pain. It also has to do with muscles being cut - they essentially turn off. That and you are going to have some scarring that occurs, resulting in some limitations in range of motion. Overall, move it within your comfort zone unless instructed to be more aggressive. Physical therapy will come soon enough and they'll work on making sure you get your range of motion back.

Thank you, I will continue to at least try and bend it. I start my rehab Wednesday. Hopefully I will learn more about this. It's just my doctor told me if I don't start bending it, it will stay straight. I don't want that to happen.

 

[Jadow]

don't use the same Drs that Mat Gamel used

 

[chan0909]

I hope this thread isn't dead. Its been four months since i tore my ACL while sparring. Have no idea how it tore but it just did. ( The fight wasn't even mildly aggressive!! Had a MRI scan to confirm the tear. My doctor actually recommended surgery. But i won't be able to speak to the surgeon until this coming friday. Like WHAT??!! Read alot of post-op horror stories and was wondering if i should delay the surgery. I'm having an important exam in mid may (will have to delay my graduation for a year if i were to fail the exam) Won't be going back to muay thai or any form of sports meanwhile. I can't... I'm a female and i don't have strong quad and hamstring muscles. However it is strong enough for me to be misdiagnosed and for me to carry out most of my activities without much trouble. Still i'm not comfortable with weight bearing on my left knee after it gave out on me just recently. And now knowing that i've a torn acl and is risking damage to other parts of my knee i don't even want to put any weight on it. This is causing much strain to my right leg. Any idea if i should delay my surgery until after exam? I'm really afraid my right leg will take a toll on me if i do so, especially when i still have to continue relying on it after my surgery. Plus i haven't been able to focus on my studies after knowing that my ACL is torn and might not be able to do sports ever again if my reconstruction were to fail. ( At the rate i'm going i might fail my exam even without the operation.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Feeling so lost now :S

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I hope this thread isn't dead. Its been four months since i tore my ACL while sparring. Have no idea how it tore but it just did. ( The fight wasn't even mildly aggressive!! Had a MRI scan to confirm the tear. My doctor actually recommended surgery. But i won't be able to speak to the surgeon until this coming friday. Like WHAT??!! Read alot of post-op horror stories and was wondering if i should delay the surgery. I'm having an important exam in mid may (will have to delay my graduation for a year if i were to fail the exam) Won't be going back to muay thai or any form of sports meanwhile. I can't... I'm a female and i don't have strong quad and hamstring muscles. However it is strong enough for me to be misdiagnosed and for me to carry out most of my activities without much trouble. Still i'm not comfortable with weight bearing on my left knee after it gave out on me just recently. And now knowing that i've a torn acl and is risking damage to other parts of my knee i don't even want to put any weight on it. This is causing much strain to my right leg. Any idea if i should delay my surgery until after exam? I'm really afraid my right leg will take a toll on me if i do so, especially when i still have to continue relying on it after my surgery. Plus i haven't been able to focus on my studies after knowing that my ACL is torn and might not be able to do sports ever again if my reconstruction were to fail. ( At the rate i'm going i might fail my exam even without the operation.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Feeling so lost now :S

I think you're putting wayyy too much thought into each and every stressful aspect of your life right now. ACL tears are pretty hard to miss. There are special tests (anterior drawer, Lachman's tests) that can be very, very obvious. In addition, if you got an MRI that showed it, it's pretty much confirmed. Not getting the ACL repair would pretty much ensure you would never return to competitive sports. However, ACL surgeries are arthroscopic and very common. I've seen people go back to combat sports, military life, professional soccer, etc after ACL repairs. It just takes a fairly long time - up to 12 months and sometimes longer.

Depending on when you actually have your surgery, a mid-may exam shouldn't really create a huge problem. You'll have to stand up and do exercises/take breaks, but I've had people with very, very busy lives keep up with what they need to do for work and school right after surgery. Failures of ACL reconstructions is highly unlikely and they almost always occur when people do not follow their doctor's or physical therapist's instructions. There is a specific timeline that you must follow and not go beyond when you're feeling good. Honestly, it's one of the most straight-forward rehabs most of the time... it just takes a while and a lot of physical therapy.

 

[virtuamike]

I hope this thread isn't dead. Its been four months since i tore my ACL while sparring. Have no idea how it tore but it just did. ( The fight wasn't even mildly aggressive!! Had a MRI scan to confirm the tear. My doctor actually recommended surgery. But i won't be able to speak to the surgeon until this coming friday. Like WHAT??!! Read alot of post-op horror stories and was wondering if i should delay the surgery. I'm having an important exam in mid may (will have to delay my graduation for a year if i were to fail the exam) Won't be going back to muay thai or any form of sports meanwhile. I can't... I'm a female and i don't have strong quad and hamstring muscles. However it is strong enough for me to be misdiagnosed and for me to carry out most of my activities without much trouble. Still i'm not comfortable with weight bearing on my left knee after it gave out on me just recently. And now knowing that i've a torn acl and is risking damage to other parts of my knee i don't even want to put any weight on it. This is causing much strain to my right leg. Any idea if i should delay my surgery until after exam? I'm really afraid my right leg will take a toll on me if i do so, especially when i still have to continue relying on it after my surgery. Plus i haven't been able to focus on my studies after knowing that my ACL is torn and might not be able to do sports ever again if my reconstruction were to fail. ( At the rate i'm going i might fail my exam even without the operation.) Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Feeling so lost now :S

When I tore my ACL, I put off surgery for 9 months so I could get through my 1st year in college, spent the summer in rehab. Had a complete tear and damaged meniscus but thankfully the rest of the knee was intact. Couldn't really do much with a torn ACL, knee would slip and buckle if the joint was pushed wrong but I was walking around ok, just couldn't do anything active (no bowling, biking, tennis, running, skiing, etc). Really depends on what the doctor says and what shape your knee is in. Wouldn't worry about misdiagnosing a torn ACL, especially not after they've already done MRI - other than cutting you open that's as good as a confirmation as you can get. Good luck.

 

[clarkey01]

When I tore my ACL, I put off surgery for 9 months so I could get through my 1st year in college, spent the summer in rehab. Had a complete tear and damaged meniscus but thankfully the rest of the knee was intact. Couldn't really do much with a torn ACL, knee would slip and buckle if the joint was pushed wrong but I was walking around ok, just couldn't do anything active (no bowling, biking, tennis, running, skiing, etc). Really depends on what the doctor says and what shape your knee is in. Wouldn't worry about misdiagnosing a torn ACL, especially not after they've already done MRI - other than cutting you open that's as good as a confirmation as you can get. Good luck.

I'm in the same about as Virtualmike. Have been walking on the injury for 16 months and finally decided to get it sorted, go for surgery next month.

I’ve spent an age researching rehab and how best to recover. I have booked 3 weeks off work to make sure I get the rest and rehab I need.

At my gym I’ve had people recommend me ‘questionable’ substances to help with the recovery but I’ve declined.

However from what I’ve read and been told, added plenty of vitamins will help your body recovery.

I do a lot of leg work and my quads/hamstrings are strong so I’m hoping this will aid my recovery further