I was just wondering... if you have arthrofibrosis, is it possible to get a "normal" (I use this term rather relatively) knee back without seeing a specialist?

I've browsed through the forums on here, as well as the tutorials. I wasn't told by my OS or PT that I had arthrofibrosis specifically, but they both agreed my body just produced massive amounts of scar tissue, which I believe is essentially arthrofibrosis? I have keloid scarring over my patellar tendon incision, which my OS told me indicated my internal scarring probably didn't fare so well either.

Anyway, my knee history is below this post, so I won't go into too much detail about those. I'm one week post-op from my second surgery, and I feel like my knee cap is already getting stuck. I didn't have full extension before the second surgery (2 degrees off, although it wasn't clear whether this was because of my prominent screw or scar tissue-- most likely both) and I had about 120 flexion. As of now, I finally got 0 on extension and am at about 100 flexion, and got up to 115 with my PT really working my knee.

I can feel a "clunk" under my patella when I go from flexion to extension about half of the time, and despite doing patella mobilizations and rubbing out my incision, there is virtually no up and down gliding motion. The side to side movement already seems to have reduced since the first few days after surgery.

I'm entering into my first year of college in a somewhat rural college town (2 hours off from the big city), and there's not much choice in terms of OS's and PT's. I know there is a specialist in the city, but since I have very limited transportation and time, I don't know if I'd be able to see him. On top of that, I have no idea if PT at school will be able to deal with my scar tissue formation. I know there are people on here who've traveled hundreds of miles and devoted so much time and energy to get to arthrofibrosis specialists, but I just don't think this is possible for me this upcoming year.

Is it possible to overcome this problem without supervision of a specialist?

I have to agree with Decruz. I have been battling this AF for a year now and there is nothing more important to me than trying whatever it takes to improve my situation. It does not go away. I was in physical therapy for 6 months after surgery and manipulation. Never improved the 15-95 cold and 10-135 range after an hour of PT. As soon as i walked out the door I was limping, in pain and stiff.   Now I am just working on building up my quad and getting ready for surgery next month with an "AF specialist".  There are no guarantees but I will not settle for the way things are now.  I just hope and pray for improvement.

I actually work for the surgeon that did my ACL repair. I think highly of his skills but I know he does not know how to treat this miserable complication. I will be traveling 3 hours each way to see my new surgeon but I have confidence in his protocal. You really need to see a specialist.