Leg spasm after ACL rupture

[LV]

Had ACL complete rupture and medial meniscus shoehorn tear three months ago followed by immediate arthoscopcy, and then another to release stuck down fat pads. No reconstruction yet.

Due to loss of muscle recruitment, excess nerve pain and muscle spasm, was disagnosed with forme fruste CRPS (Pain Mgt consultant treating with Pregabablin 100gm, + lidocaine patches). Also, just started phsyio (hydro pool and some gentle exercises).

Muscle recruitment now much better, nerve pain much better BUT muscle spasm kicks in when trying to engage the quads and prevents leg from straightening. So walking on bent leg - puts lots of stress on rest of body.

Oh and quad muscle has almost dissapeared on inner side of thigh.

Has anyone had a leg spasm or anything similar? Any advice?

[gigi67]

is that med u r on   (  Pregabablin) an anti seizure med? dont know what that is but I know with CRPS they like to try anti seizure meds also vaso dialators work good to warm those areas up good!

MY CRPS was so sensitive it hurt for the wind to blow against it or wear a sock or shoe but I pushed through it and tried various treatments and now it is MUCH better...no longer purple and no more unbearable pain  currently...only now and then al ittle discomfort..my husband messaged it every day and so did I and  rehab did " desensitizing" on it  with various types of materials. and I was on the vaso dialator, percocet, hydrotherapy, some back to basic exercises especially proprioception( balancing) I dont have acl  probs but I did  x perience muscle spasms///my leg would make big sudden jerks...and alot of small little tiny spasms..esp the back of my calf area..the skin would twitch...before doing ur x r cise program do you warm the muscle up with a hot pack and stretch it out good..thats what they did 4 me and it helped AND after hot showers I would rub it pretty vigorously, and stretch it out good ..also .I think time is needed sometimes to stop those spams..keep in mind the nerves are all re-routing from the injury and CRPS  involves messed up " wiring" of the nervouse system anyways....With me my spasms just stopped one day...over time I cant really tell you how long it took but it was longer than 3 months..probably more like a year or longer...but different problems too...all those nerves and muscles are " waking up" in there after hibernating a while...18 months my quad is still pretty soft and smushy  I know I really need to be more agressive with my work outs but time is an issue for me..as with so many of us unfortunatley.

[LV]

thank you for your reply - it's amazing how long it takes to rehabilitate!

yes, pregabalin is anti-seizure med - I think it's having a good impact - like you, my knee is less purple, it's moving better and the terrible shooting pain has almost gone etc... but I'm now getting quite a lot of small scale nerve pain - some shooting pains and tiny pin pricks all over my skin (not just my knee); they're like tiny electrical currents! I think that must be my nerves waking up?? I'll ask my surgeon on next visit.

best, LV.