ACL tear - I start my long journey to recovery!

[grapplingdude]

Hey Bigman thanks for the input - much appreciated!! Looking forward to starting jogging again!

Day 45: Was moving flats today so did not work out but had some uncomfortable knocks against the knee from the move but all seems fine

Day 46: Was good to have a day off and knee feels more mobile in the morning. Craving exercise though so I do a long gym session including jogging on the spot and dynamic lunges. Flexibility is unchanged and I can just pull my heel in at the end of a session... I ice at night and hope that I swelling wont flare up tomorrow!!! 

By the way, does any user have any advice when these temporary feelings of mild instability I still seem to get sometimes will go away?? Does everyone get them at this early stage?

[PiotrS]

Hi,

Well mine seem to have gone away in the last week. In fact today is probably the first day my leg and knee feel "normal". I think it's the first time since the operation that I have no pain or twinges, and stopped thinking about my knee when walking. Since I am about a week ahead of you in terms of time since the operation, I hope you will notice the same benefits shortly!

Still carrying on with the same rehab exercises: squats, hamstring curls and calf raises, with various other little exercises thrown in during sessions with my physio. I particularly notice the hamstring strength improving significantly in the last week. Not jogging yet, but doing more and more cycling.

[grapplingdude]

Piotr

That's good news. I am getting quite fine walking in running shoes but when I wear smart shoes I feel the strain after a while! Noticed that yesterday again...

Day 47: Had a good training session at night doing mainly steps machine and that feels great - really switches on the glutes in a functional way.

Day 48: Had an involuntary day off due to prolonged work committments and noticed how walking in smart shoes puts a lot more strain through the knee. I also spoke to my surgeon regarding my little accident a week and a half ago and he thinks it's fine - I d definitely know if the graft were affected 

[grapplingdude]

Day 49: Went to the gym and had a good decent length session. Knee felt really mobilised afterwards and pretty strong during the knee exercises. Flexibiliy was unchanged so I could just pull my heel in. Dull ache at the back of the knee persists but getting better 

[grapplingdude]

Days 50-54: Saw my physio and he thinks I am going real strong. He gave me a new exercise for the glutes and more jogging on the spot to do. Been exercising pretty much every day and want to go for a long session tonight. We talked residual swelling on the lateral side of the knee cap and he says to keep doing what I have been doing 

[grapplingdude]

Day 55: Did not go to the gym last night but went twice today - morning and evening. Doing much the same things and making slow but steady progress. 

Day 56: 8 weeks since surgery and I guess I am quite happy - I think I can start some jogging in the next 2 weeks - just the residual swelling annoys me right now...

[PiotrS]

Hi,

Well i've had a bit of bad luck - I managed to trip over a bag in my living room and landed on my operated foot with the foot turning inward. My knee twisted and I felt it start to go, but then there was a restraining force (ACL?), and everything snapped back into place. I was terrified I had done damage, especially as I had some trouble with bending and pain on the lower lateral side of the knee afterwards.

My OS gave my knee a thorough test (in fact the test was almost as bad as the trip) and said my knee feels stable, but recommended a scan just in case. This I will have done on Friday. My physio thinks I may just have bruised my fat pad, and it does seem to have swelled on the lateral side of the knee. After a couple of iffy days my knee feels better day, but I am taking it easy on the rehab for a while. Hopefully it's just a temporary glitch,  as everything was going perfectly until now. In fact just prior to the accident, my knee felt almost normal...

So I just hope that the graft is fine and strong enough for these small slip ups. The lesson I draw is to be careful and not get complacent - the knee is not yet ready for normal levels of abuse!

[grapplingdude]

Piotr

Sorry to hear about your accident. I havent had anything so significant yet but I can sympathise strongly. Now that I am getting more confident and walking around quicker etc I also sometimes get stucha nd trip.

I think it is because the motoric abilities are not back to normal yet and muscles dont always switch on as quickly as they should. Sometimes I feel like I "underlift" my foot just by a couple of millimeters when I carelessly walk up stairs and then just get stuck and trip. Havent fallen yet but I think that this is a critical phase.

Good luck with your scan on Friday and do keep me posted!

[PiotrS]

Well I breathed a sigh of relief. Just had my scan, and the news is that my reconstructed ACL looks as good as the natural one in my good leg.
There is absolutely no slack and the response is perfect. No damage to the other ligaments or to the menisci. I got away with it this time! I still have a bit of pain around the fat pad area, but it is getting a little better every day.

The lesson I draw from this is that I really need to step up the physio. I have asked my therapist and he agreed that we could do more. In particular I would like to do more work on the glutes, as I think that's the current weakness and possible the reason why my foot tries to turn inwards and probably why it did so when I tripped. I notice a bit of an imbalance on walking, and that I tend to drift to the left (my left leg is the operated one), because the muscles on the right and left side are just out of balance. Proprioception is the other issue I would like to do more on.

I understand now even more why it's so important to get those muscles to full strength and protect the graft. I can see the advantages of an aggressive rehab regime, although I understand it may not be for everyone. Anyway, I hope your rehab is continuing to go well, hopefully by spring time we will both be on top form!

[grapplingdude]

Piotr

I am relieved for you and I guess myself that a graft can survive such a serious accident so well at this early stage. I had an insightful session with my physio today discussing the residual swelling and what it does to restrain full normal movement. It seems that on full extension it slightly catches the patella and slows down the last bit of movement which also leads the popliteus to slightly seize up making walking not quite natural yet.
He thinks this is perfectly normal at this stage - just under 8.5 weeks - and says not to worry much about it. He says to start jogging across the matted area in the gym on top of my standing jogging and we added upper body rotation to my single leg squats and lunges - Happy days!

Other tahn that

Day 57: Had no time for the gym unfortunately.

Day 58: Went to the gym early to make up for yesterday, saw the physio over lunch and will re-visit with my new exercises tonight 

[grapplingdude]

Day 59: Day off - more flat moving and DIY 

Day 60: Big day in the gym - about 3 hours 

Day 61: Knee is puffed up a bit more probably because of my big session yesterday. I saw the physio this morning and he says that the only thing where I am not far ahead of schedule is the sodding swelling - it's pain-free but restricting my movement and sense of stability. If it werent for that I would be on the treadmill by now 

Well, the physio says to have 2 rest days per week and for the next 3 days I should be doing the following:

- Easy gym sessions with 20 mins light cycling, upper body workout, foam roller and stretching NO leg exercises / hard cardio
- Anti-inflammatoires
- Icing

Seeing him again on Friday and we will then re-assess the jogging

[PiotrS]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your swelling issues. Reading through other diaries it seems that almost everyone experiences some kind of stumbling block during the recovery. Maybe easing off the exercises will help with your swelling, I guess if things are not getting better then changing the routine is a good step.

I have gone back to icing the knee the last few days and it seems to have done the trick for the swollen fat pad (or whatever it was that was restricting my flexion under full body weight). I had a full workout today including lots of quad stuff that I couldn't do after my little accident.

I am starting to feel a bit more positive again that things are OK and I am starting to make progress again - lost about 10 days through the accident. My walking is a bit more balanced, and my foot is no longer wanting to turn inwards. I have been giving the glutes and hamstrings my all while I couldn't do the quads, up to a point that I actually got cramp in my glutes this morning!

So now I will start to step up on the quad work again, and doing lots more cycling which I love. I got myself a new racing bike just before the operation as a motivator - can't wait to take it out when spring comes...

[grapplingdude]

Piotr

Good to hear you're getting better! i am annoyed because my muscle strength and proprioception is ahead of even the aggressive protocol I am on but the stupid remaining swelling    Well, I took it easy yeterday and wearing a compression sleeve as well taking anti-inflammatories now. Forgot to ice but will do tonight! It's already going down a tiny bit.

Day 62: Did well on the stretching front only doing 10 mins of low resistance / slow cycling and lots and lots of stretching 

Day 63: The swelling seems a bit better and I will stick to the new routine as planned!

[grapplingdude]

Day 64: Did 2 easy sessions yesterday just doing some low resistance cycling, TRX workout for the upper body and lots of stretching. Sticking to the icing routine and wearing my compression tape.

Today I am planning on having another easy session tonight and my try a bit of swimming...

[grapplingdude]

Day 65: Was too busy at work yesterday and finished very late so no training  Saw the PT this morning and the sodding swelling is unchanged so we decided to go back to normal routine and I did a light session afterwards and will do a full leg session this evening