Cruciate ligaments :

Playing at 4 months - - Posted by estogirl696 (estogirl696), 23 January 2005

Hey all,

Just want to give an update to any who care.  I am almost four months post op and I just got home from my first basketball practice back.  Everything went GREAT!  My knee felt strong, there is minimal swelling and there is no pain.  I had a scare once though when i landed on it, hard, and everyone held their breath.  But to my relief, it felt like a normal knee and held up perfect.  After two more practices that go well, I get cleared to start playing games.  Just thought I would post for those who want some hope after surgery.  There is a light at the end of the tunnel, and it is not an on-coming train!
Posted by dominatnthagame (dominatnthagame), 23 January 2005

That awesome! Good to know that returning in 4 months can be done. Any advice to make it go as well as yours did would be great. Good luck on the court!
Brandon!
Posted by jbluestein (jbluestein), 23 January 2005

Hi Egirl, congratulations, that's amazing recovery time. You are beating the odds and must be an excellent athlete.

If you don't mind, I have a few questions: What kind of graft do you have? What kind of interference screws were used? bio-absorbable or titanium?

Walk me through your rehab protocol.  How long did it take for the swelling to go down after surgery? How often do you work out? Daily, # hours? Type of excecises, etc....

What level of basketball and how often do you play? Do you wear a brace? If so, what type?

Keep up the good work and be careful out there.


Posted by estogirl696 (estogirl696), 23 January 2005

Hey, thanks for the replies!

For the new ACL, they used part of my patella and they attached it with a titanium screw.  My swelling was never really that much of an issue.  After about the first month-month and a half, 90% of the swelling was gone.  At 3 months, all of the swellign was gone and my knee looked fully normal.  Fortunately, my knee never swelled after workouts or anything.

For rehab, I went to rehab three times a week and did weights on the off days, save sunday.  Once I was able to run, I ran six days a week for 30 minutes, did rehab 3 times a week, and did weights 3 times a week.  Rehab was about an hour and a half and i did weights for about 45 minutes.  

I play highschool varsity basketball.  Six days a week.  Two and a half hours a day.  I wear a brace only when I play and my doctor pescribed the breg womens X2K.  It is an INCREDIBLE brace.  

I hope that answered everything.  If you have any other questions, you can just e-mail me!
Posted by Gab (Gab), 23 January 2005

Wow, very impressive. Congrats!
Posted by jbluestein (jbluestein), 24 January 2005

very impressive egirl, way to go! It sounds like all your hard work is paying off.

This old Forum was so valuable that we have kept it as an archive. It is just for reference. If you want to ask questions or offer advice, there is also a current Bulletin Board which you can access from our home page.

Hunting for information is a slow process. browsing through these topics will probably raise a lot of questions in your mind. Don't forget that there is a whole site behind these forums - just click the 'KNEEguru' home button at the top left of your page when you are ready to access it.