ACLr completed!

[Alison_NL]

Hey Everyone!
My surgery is finally set! June 14th, just a few weeks away...  I'm really happy that this will all be over with soon!
Couple questions..
- What kind of physio can I expect to do in the hospital?
- Is the cryocuff neccessary?  I'm from Canada, and my surgeon has never used one on a patient post-op.  I'm sure I could order   one, but if a bag of peas will do the trick, I'll do that.  What do you think?
- How long were you all in the hospital after your surgery?
- How long until you could weight-bear?
- Anyone else getting their surgery June 14th?

I'm sure I'll have lots more questions as the surgery gets closer, I guess I'll just put them here as i think of them!

Thanks for your help!

Alison

[jb-knee-geek]

- What kind of physio can I expect to do in the hospital? minimal, few days to reduce swelling, treat pain, check for infection; try quad isometrics and heel pumps.

- Is the cryocuff neccessary?  loved my cryo cuff for the compression and convenience, check ebay, ice packs will do, but have a couple spare in the freezer.

- How long were you all in the hospital after your surgery? a few hours, in at 7:30AM, home by ~2PM

- How long until you could weight-bear? speak to your OS post-op,  depends on meniscus or other work.

good luck

[lurchyboy]

- What kind of physio can I expect to do in the hospital?
I was taught to stand, walk with crutches, do stairs and how to do my very first rehab exercises (quad tenses and heel slides)

- Is the cryocuff neccessary?  I'm from Canada, and my surgeon has never used one on a patient post-op.  I'm sure I could order   one, but if a bag of peas will do the trick, I'll do that.  What do you think?
I personally didn't use one. If you have one handy I'm sure it's not a bad idea. But I was / am totally fine with just one bag of peas. Genuinely. I iced for 20 mins every 2 hours (about 5 times a day) for a week, now I ice three times a day.

- How long were you all in the hospital after your surgery?
Op was 8:00 am Tuesday morning, was out early morning ~11:00 am Wednesday.

- How long until you could weight-bear?
Do you mean without crutches? With crutches I could walk on the day, easily on the Wednesday. Without crutches, confidently, about 10 days.

- Anyone else getting their surgery June 14th?
May 8th for me, I'm about 5 weeks ahead, check out my post op diary in that section if you want to see how my recovery is going!

Oh, and good luck 

[enzo]

Hi alison

Just to quickly say You definately must use a cryo cuff. It's vital. It the hospital don't supply one, please buy one. It is particularly important for the compression in the first 3 days post op. Stopping the internal bleeding (haemarthrosis) as much as possible in the first few days is the name of the game; compression is the key part of RICE for doing this. The more you do this, the less you'll have problems with knee swelling, regaining ROM and quads shutting down and later on knee stiffness. Lots of people get this part wrong in the first few days post op (including me!).
Also, the aircast cryo cuff ices your knee in a much better way than an ice pack etc. Tests have proved that compression socks, tubigrips etc just don't do the same job for compression. It's the compression that's particularly important here. You wear the cuff pretty much all the time for the first few days, removing it only for ROM exercises. The iced water in the barrel gets recharged regularly. Your physio will tell you how often to ice. They're not too expensive and you can always sell it later at half price and get some money back.

 - What kind of physio can I expect to do in the hospital?
Ask your hospital to make one appt with the physio before the surgery so they can explain this and give you a written set of instructions in advance. It really helps to know before rather than have it explained when you wake up after the surgery. On the day of surgery, after you wake up you should be asked to put your leg into full active extension and full passive hyperextension. I suggest you confirm with your physio and OS before the surgery that they will get you to do this. You'll be doing this regularly thereafter as it's very important. I recommend you practice doing it now (+ your other post op exercises) so that you know what you're going to be doing. On the day of surgery you will also be asked to put your leg into 90 degrees of flexion. Your first few days is mainly ROM exercises and rest. You'll be on your feet as little as possible for the first week (in order to discourage the knee swelling)


- Is the cryocuff neccessary?  I'm from Canada, and my surgeon has never used one on a patient post-op.  I'm sure I could order   one, but if a bag of peas will do the trick, I'll do that.  What do you think? - As above. DEFINATELY. A bag of peas does not do the same trick at all.
- How long were you all in the hospital after your surgery? - day surgery (23 hours is also typical)
- How long until you could weight-bear? Straightaway. But avoided any walking for 1st week (important).
- Anyone else getting their surgery June 14th? Had mine 22nd Feb.

I wish you really good luck Alison (+ with your exams). I bust my acl when I was 21 which I thought was young but you're only 16! You should heal fast and make a great recovery and I hope you go on to have a great sports career on the basketball court. Keep your muscles working right up to the day before surgery. Please make sure you understand exactly what you'll be doing the first week post surgery. The key points, for the first 5 days once again are:-

Control the pain (it's not that bad by the way)
Stop the haemarthrosis (internal bleeding from the surgery). RICE for this but you MUST use the cryo cuff, especially in the first 36 hours. It makes a big difference.
Regularly put your knee into full extension as per your physio's instructions.
Regular bed exercises as per you physio's instructions.
Don't be on your feet except for the toilet.

enzo

[lurchyboy]

I hate to be a voice of dissent here... but I really don't think a cryocuff is a necessity. Sure, it's probably good if you can afford it, but I disagree with you enzo (sorry!) that 'you definitely must use a cryocuff'.
I use(d) tubigrip 24/7 except when icing, sleeping or at the physio, and a bag of peas for 20 minutes every two hours and now, at two weeks post op, things are going (touch wood) swimmingly. I have full extension, little bit of hyper extension, still working on that, about 120+ of flexion and almost no swelling.
Sorry this post is so short, I have to be somewhere, but I really just wanted to say that you shouldn't feel that not having a cryocuff will seriously affect your rehab. I didn't have one, was a little concerned it was a mistake not to have one pre op, but now would say that a single bag of peas is plenty. If you have the money and it is easy to get one, by all means get one, I'm sure it won't do any harm. But tubigrip and bag of peas, worked for me!

[enzo]

Hi Lurchyboy

Was just my opinion re cryo cuff. I'm glad your tubigrip and peas worked for you. I was the same, no cuff (except on day of surgery when they used one on me). I used tubigrip and peas too and I had minimal swelling, had full extension from day 0, 130 flexion day 7, full ROM from week 9. But if I could turn the clock back, I would definately use a cryo cuff with ice bucket!

I guess you just don't know how much your knee is going to react to surgery, how much bleeding, swelling etc. I'm told that tests have proved that using a cryo/cuff as part of RICE optimises your rehab especially with combatting a haemarthrosis. The same articles that I've read say that a tubigrip/compression sock just does not do the same job. Maybe you and I were lucky with the amount of swelling etc or else we did all the other things right. I don't know but I do know that if you do have a haemarthrosis and swelling these things provide you with the best possible option.

I don't know about Canada but an aircast cryo/cuff costs £100 in the UK. You can probably sell it afterwards for about £50 so overall that's £50 very well spent IMHO. So, just my opinion as I say, but I think it's essential kit.

The first week of recovery is v important; I think it really pays to do everything possible in that week in particular to maximise your chances.

tubigrip +  peas  = compression + ice
aircast cryco/cuff = better compression + better ice

enzo

[Baseball_Canada_21]

Hey Alison, I am from Canada too and I had a patellar tendon graft on April 2nd this year
- What kind of physio can I expect to do in the hospital?
-- i don't believe i did any physio in the hospital, the physiotherapist just showed me the 3 exercises they wanted me to do. quad contractions, heel slides, and i cant remember the other one, and they should be how to walk with crutches. I only had to take one step before they told me to sit back down because I am practically a pro with them.. i don't think that is a good thing but oh well
- Is the cryocuff neccessary?  I'm from Canada, and my surgeon has never used one on a patient post-op.  I'm sure I could order   one, but if a bag of peas will do the trick, I'll do that.  What do you think?
- I didn't use a cryocuff and I was fine. I had a bag of peas but I would suggest having a couple bags of peas just to make things easier if you have to ice every hour
- How long were you all in the hospital after your surgery?
my surgery was a day surgery... i think i was at the hospital around 9 am and I left at around 5pm
- How long until you could weight-bear?
I was weight bearing with crutches right away... I was off my both crutches at two weeks, and walking around with one crutch day 8 or 10
- Anyone else getting their surgery June 14th?
not, me got that over with

[Alison_NL]

Thank you everyone!
You've all been really helpful.

I'm going to look into getting the cryocuff, I'd have to order one but I think it would worth my while!

Thanks again

ps:  I've graduated to a 'MINIgeek' hahaha

[enzo]

Good call Alison!

I probably exaggerated the cryo/cuff a little in my reply - let's say they are highly recommended.
Tubigrip/compression sock + peas seems to be adequate for lots of people but I think they're just too old skool. 2 to 3 days of a cryo/cuff+ cooler post op. Your knee will really appreciate it! 

Hey, I just graduated in knee geekness terms too -  obviously spending too much time on this website, not enough on my rehab!

enzo

[pt striker]

I am a frugal one, but let me tell you the $ I spent on the cryocuff were WELL spent. I learned to ADORE that thing. I used it almost continuously for the first week or two (even while sleeping) and the convenience and SERIOUS cooling power put peas to shame. Plus there's no dripping like you get with peas or ice bags. It reduced my need for painkillers to almost to nil. I say treat yourself and get one, even if you have to beg, borrow, or steal...

pt

[jb-knee-geek]

these are probably stolen,    (only kidding....)

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&_trksid=m37&satitle=cryo+cuff+knee&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=94597&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search

[Annika]

Was in hospital for several days ! (They do it differently in France). I had a sort of compression cast for two days and three blood draining tubes coming out of the knee with bottles for another day! As soon as the 'cast' came off physio added icing to the exercises. She said I should have had it earlier - and was well not pleased with the nurses for not icing from scratch...Iceing helps alot, I think she should have asked and told me that day one herself.... I started on bags of peas at home but bought an ordinary hot/cold therapy bag and was lent an old fashioned silicon ice cube bag - both of which I still use. Physio said not to ice the knee cap itself!

Annika

 

[miltonc]

I am about 3 days Post op now.  I have the cryo cuff that they sent me home from the surgery center.  But I just started renting a GameReady unit for 14 days yesterday.  This unit is of course expensive, but renting out for 14 days is not bad.  It is the mother of all ice machines.  I wish I had rented it from the day of the surgery.  (I waited 2 days after surgery before I got it).  I am very pleased with it.  Needless to add, it has improved morale too.  Which sometimes may be key in getting healthy. 

[Alison_NL]

Thanks everyone.

I think my stay at the hospital will be longer as I'm 16 and going to a childrens hospital, so the rules are probably different there.  I'm sure if I'm feeling fine, they'll let me go!  I hope..!!

As for the cryocuff, I'll probably be ordering one within the next week.  And miltonc.. I've never heard of GameReady.. worth looking into by the sound of things!  10 more days until surgery!!
Hows everything with your knee, miltonc?

Alison

[ermintham]

Thanks everyone.

I think my stay at the hospital will be longer as I'm 16 and going to a childrens hospital, so the rules are probably different there. I'm sure if I'm feeling fine, they'll let me go! I hope..!!

As for the cryocuff, I'll probably be ordering one within the next week. And miltonc.. I've never heard of GameReady.. worth looking into by the sound of things! 10 more days until surgery!!
Hows everything with your knee, miltonc?

Alison

check out our thread

http://www.kneeguru.co.uk/KNEEtalk/index.php?topic=36990.0