ACL tear - I start my long journey to recovery!

[grapplingdude]

Day 277: BJJ went well last night but when I was sweeping I could definitely feel strain on the inside of the knee. I would not call it instability but it is a sensation and range of motion that I need to get used to again.

I feel good today and there is nothing out of the ordinary with the knee today. I went on the trampolin and I have done this about 3-4 times before since the surgery and I still get this slight floatiness in the knee when I do it.

[grapplingdude]

Day 278: Knee felt stiff in the mroning due to lack of exercise so I went for a gym session in the evening which was tough but good!

I think I will start doing weekly summary reports from now on since progress has slowed down and there is not much to report on most days.

[grapplingdude]

Days 279 - 285: I have had a week of mixed success:

Did 2 runs back from work c. 11.5k each - second run was quick - under 70 mins factoring in this is crossing the middle of London

Did BJJ and it feels good getting back into it and training long since disused muscles you will only exercise in grappling but there is still action in the knee when I do it and getting back into it slowly will be paramount!!

Did 1 group boxing session and 1 drill session myself - both felt strong!

Did another spinning session which is surprisingly good exercise - actually felt like fainting!

Today was a big letdown - was planning on a big leg session since I have not done much in the way of it and must not now slacken the reins - started with pistol squats and could only do an embarrassing 6 on the left knee but 10 on the healthy one then had another go on the left and did 9!!! albeit slowly.

I think what it is, is that my muscles on very deep contraction are still underdeveloped and "fall asleep" when I dont do them at least 2x per week!

[grapplingdude]

Days 286 - 292: Had  a slight summer cold all week but still managed to get some training done:

2x Boxing no sparring - very intensive but muscled through despite the cold

1x BJJ no sparring - no big issues but still feels weird around the knee

2x Windsurfing on the weekend - all day sessions.

2x light cardio sessions when my cold was at its wordst mid week.

Did not want to risk / push any advanced leg exercises such as pistol squats etc and planning on making up for it this week. I am more than 9.5 months post-op now and need to start thinking about when to try some full contact sparring again. I think at least 1-2 months off still but getting closer.

I still have some reesidual pop-out swelling and the knee is very crunchy - I hope this means that the scar tissue is being broken down?

[PiotrS]

Hi grapplingdude,

I was wondering how your knee was, because mine has been very crunchy as well of late. I also still have the feeling of some extra tissue on the lower lateral side. Overall the knee has been great, but crunching and popping are still happening.

I managed to injure my right foot when jogging a couple of weeks ago (fell into a hole, luckily with my non-operated leg) and couldn't do any exercise for a while, and certainly my knee was not happy about the lack of activity. It just felt a bit more achy - not necessarily loose - and some muscles around it became more painful.

Luckily I have been able to get back into exercise this weekend, and the knee feels much better for it. I don't have any issues now with most movements, and have started to try a few more agressive movements typical of football. So far all feels good, maybe I will go for a game of ultimate at the weekend to give it a bit more of a workout.

[grapplingdude]

Hey Piotr

Good to hear from you - been wondering about how you get on? My knee is pretty good in all.

Main complaints are:

stiffness,
some residual swelling,
scarring,
crunchiness and
the occasional floatiness.

The floatiness seems reduced since we last discussed this. I mainly still get that sensation when I do quick unanticipated lateral changes. Twisting is OK and acceleration / deceleration too.

The residual swelling seems unchanged on a low level and the crunchiness is up which hopefully is  agood sign - my OS said that around the 12 month mark the scar tissue starts breaking up in all earnestness!

Keep going and posting!

 

[grapplingdude]

Days 293 -299: this week has been pretty strong:

1x BJJ no sparring but getting more comfortable

2x Boxing no sparring

2 x leg workouts and 2 x upper body, managed to stay around the 10 pistol squat mark in both workouts

1 x ran 11k home from work

1x Did a timed 10k cross-country charity run, conditions were extremely muddy and slippy for about half the track. Stayed under 50 mins nonetheless and despite some heavy slipping the knee seems fine - a bit straiined with the usual niggles but nothing too serious 

[grapplingdude]

Days 300 - 306: I am now past the 10 months mark!!! Just! So what has been going on this week:

The knee has been strained from my track run at the beginning of the week but getting better towards the end!

2x Boxing no sparring

1x BJJ no sparring

1x Light cardio including 10 pistol squats and some clean and snatch at the end

2x Leg sessions including 10 pistol squats per session

1x Upper body circuits

The knee has been good overall and there is marked progress in overall fitness and performance levels. I a,m aiming to go Boxing sparring next week and start light BJJ sparring in maybe a month's time 

[grapplingdude]

Days 307-313: I have done the following this week:

1x Boxing drills

1x Boxing Sparring - 1st time doing sparring in a long time and the result was embarrasing got knocked around the ring but at least the knee held up! 

1x BJJ no sparring - I have been thinking about trying some very light sparring next week, maybe I will give it a shot...

1x 12k run home from work - my 1st run since my track run for charity, going strong!

3x mixed cardio, leg, upper body circuits - the main observation is again that pistol squats majorly depend on  my daily form! Sometimes 10 are kind of easy sometimes 5 are hard.... I am getting a bit better at my weightlifting technique and I find that specially the Snatch seems like a good thing to do.

The knee seems to be still making very slow progress in terms of the occassional floatiness and residual swelling 

[PiotrS]

Hi grapplingdude,

My knee is about the same as yours. I think I understand now about the floatiness, mine is like that as well, and I still have the swelling around the fat pad. In fact I managed to aggravate it again by falling off my bike onto my knee (problem with new pedals ). I guess the fat pad was doing its job and protecting my knee, and in doing so got hit again. Otherwise I think it is fine, but the fall made me a bit nervous about it again.

Still also experiencing a lot of snap crackle and pop!

[grapplingdude]

Hey Piotr

I think the clicking and floatiness is related to the scar tissue - according to my OS it will soften up after the 12 month mark which is less than 2 months away!!!! 

I fell on my knee (even though on Judo mats) when doing my BJJ drills a couple of times and it is never pretty. There is always that worry at the back of the mind that something may have gone wrong with the graft and you just didnt notice...

I feel pretty strong and confident overall though! 

[PiotrS]

Looking forward to the 12 month mark in that case!

This morning while I was brushing my teeth I heard a couple of big cracks in the knee and felt it turn inwards a little bit, like something released. Was worried at first, but actually it has made my knee feel better, so maybe it is the start of scar tissue breaking up. The knee is slightly less creaky as a result!

[grapplingdude]

Piotr

I know the feeling the bigger the crack / click the more comfortable it is afterwards! I get this all the time now but neither my physion nor my OS seemed too concerned when I first told them about it (which was months ago I guess).

Also, went a bit rogue yesterday and tried my first!!!!! BJJ sparring session since the accident. Was very apprehensive since some people say they started light sparring after 6 months and full after 8 months other say they started light sparring after 9 and full after 12 others again seem to say that it would be madness to start anything before 12 months at all.

In other words I had no clear guide lines other than that the OS said the ACL would definitely be pre-op strength by 9-10 months and my muscles seem pretty strong, in some areas better than ever.

At any rate so I tried sparring yesterday and whilst my performance in terms of success and conditioning / cardio was DEVASTATING, I felt no trauma other than "normal" sparring impact on the knee...

Today it is strained but not more so than after my mud track run or a very hard plyo leg session etc. as far as I can tell. Other parts of the body (back) / bloody lip seem to feel the strain a lot more.

I am however slightly worried that I have over-reached myself and I will monitor myself carefully over the next week (even though I did a cheeky 12k run this morning) 

[PiotrS]

I think my problem is I don't do enough varied exercise for the knee. I have been road cycling like mad, but that doesn't give the quads the same kind of workout as running. Yesterday I did a big mountain bike session, much more strength pedalling and less constant rhythm, and when I got back the feeling in my knee was much better.

Tonight will do a proper running and leg session finally - let's see what effect that will have.

[grapplingdude]

Days 314-320: This week I have done the following

My first BJJ sparring session

2x Boxing drills but no sparring - missed out on the sparring unfortunately

1x 11k run

1x 7k run followed by cycling and sauna

2x 7k run on track and lots of trampoline jumping and table tennis playing

The table tennis felt good despite the frequent unexpected changes of direction

The trampolining gives me a slightly strange feeling in the knee that results in a big satisfying click when I get off but I seem to understnad that it is very good for my knee...