My experience so far

[dancer49]

Macker,

I am so impressed with how much you can do at 4 weeks post op!
My knee is so swollen is extremely hard to get it to bend- I can do it, but only a few times and then it hurts to much.
(8 days post op)
The fact that you are so much so quickly is amazing!
Keep up the most excellent work here!

Love that your little one calls you PegLeg!!! Too funny!
ARRRR!!! ARRRRR!!! Avast yee Maties!! 

Dancer49

[sheilaw]

Hi Mark  Scott my son is out of hospital now after  passing all the tests! He's coping very well with his exercises. Its very encouraging to read everyones experiences. Hopefully his only problems now will be boredom!!

[macker]

Well i thought everything was going really good.  Since my last visit to the Physio i had set my self a little circuit.  In my circuit for a few of the exercises i adjusted them and performed them as 3 sets of 10 reps with a minutes break between each.


 Well the first day it seemed ok, however by day 5 i had a lot of swelling above my knee, and a lump where the vastus lateralis goes under the knee cap.  Which worried me alot.
I did hijack someone elses thread, the one on swelling, to find out what to do.  Though the only sensible thing was a days rest, with RICE protocol.  Well the swelling has gone down.  What should i do now with my circuit?  Just do 1 set each day for a week?  Have a days rest between each circuit? 

[dancer49]

Mark,

You seem right on target with your physio- I'm so jealous of your 133 degree flex!
I believe our types of injuries are going to be on and off with the swelling for quite some time.
The more exercise we do the better we get, but our bodies respond with swelling, so we need
to rest and ice them again as needed for a long time yet.

Some people will have cronic swelling I think and then others won't.
My husband's friend has had two ACLr's (both knees) and swears that it's just 6 months of intense rehab and then
her knees feel like nothing ever happened to them!

Hopefully, we will be just like her!
Keep working at it- notice small improvements and be happy! 

[macker]

Hello Dancer
you are spot on.  Sometimes i forget what has been done on my knee.  I'm still going to keep pushing it, but i will always remember RICE.  Which has brought the swelling down and i'm exercising again.  I walked to the shop today, it's about half a mile.  I've done it on a couple of occasions before, and i would get this ache from just below my knee cap.  I guess where they drilled through in my Tibia.  Well today i walked there, slowed myself down, and it didnt hurt. 

A small improvement.  Thanks for your words.

[nellsa]

hi macker
just been reading through your posts again, and as always I've found your words really helpful.  With you just being a few weeks ahead of me, and same NHS hamstring graft, its really interesting to see the ups and downs, good and difficult bits.  I was just looking at what you said about stairs, as at 3 weeks post op I'm still finding it hard going up let along coming down!  Good also to see when you were able to get on static bike.

I don't feel such a baby now about my reluctance and lack of confidence when going out with the elbow crutch as you mention it too (though I think you've been braver than me).

thanks again

nellsa

[macker]

Hello Nellsa
its really good that we can read each others words, and gain help from them.  That is what first drew me to this board.  I have already made some new friends at the acl clinic i attend, ones i guess i am with for a while, like the people on here, Feeny - Fergie - Dancer and yourself.  I am so jealous of the ones who are running.  I am also lucky that i can do alot.  I did work really hard 14 weeks pre-op in the gym, so some of that is paying dividends.  I also can not wait untill i can swim, and begin some form of aikido and football training.

A kind word for you though, braver is not always wiser!  Confidence is a big thing in life, it is sometimes the difference between winning and losing!

Thankyou!
Physio for me tomorrow morning at 8, yeah!

Mark

[dancer49]

Macker- have fun and enjoy physio! For me, it just feels good to move my muscles again!

Tibia discomfort- my tibia didn't bother me at all until a few days ago- (where they drilled) and
I asked my PT about it today- she said that the body has natural 'numbness' from the surgery and that as
we gain more feeling back, we will experience new sensations almost daily- it's a good sign, as it means we are healing!

One day at a time!

[nellsa]

Hi macker
how did your physio go this morning? hope you got some interesting additional exercises to do - something which stretches you just a little bit must be great !  Its good you've got an acl clinic with others in the same boat - I think I would like that too, so I'm going to ask my physio at the hospital next week if they have got others rehabbing too.  I know that when I went for hydrotherapy after my injury, there were six of us in the pool with a wide range of injuries, ages, and backgrounds, but it was a great support (and quite fun too) .... and strangely social if you know what I mean.

Like you I did a lot of pre op work - had to really as my leg was such a mess after the injury - and I'm missing the cross trainer most of all at the moment , and the bike.   On my thread earlier I mentioned to dancer49 that I'm trying to find some exercises that will eventually help with pivoting, turning and twisting  (not that I intend to do anything like that for 6-9 months or to whenever the OS says I can.  But my passion is Salsa dancing and I really want to work with my physio to design an exercise programme that will help with those sort of movements.    What do you think?

nellsa

 

[macker]

Nellsa, go for it young lady. 

To all  have a great 2009, lets hope the rehab is great, and so is the healing.

[nellsa]

happy new year macker

[macker]

I went to the gym yesterday.  3 sets of 10 full squats, just with a 20 kg barbell.  Also did some deadlifts, again 3 sets of 10 with a 20 kg barbell.  2 mins rest peiod between each set.  Also did a few sets of Peterson steps.  Knee felt good. 

I went swimming today, 15 mins of front crawl, i was shattered, and also got tight quads!  Knee felt good though, a bit swollen.  However i exercised and was out of breath 
Great feeling.

[nellsa]

" However i exercised and was out of breath Great feeling. "

oh lucky you macker ....

nellsa

[dancer49]

Wow! Squats! You are doing well Macker!!! 
I haven't done any yet, but on Friday they may add them to my routine-
I'm jealous of your squats! LOL!

I can totally understand you being out of breath though after swimming-
it takes a while to build up stamina again- I get exhausted so easily now-

You sound like you are right on schedule here - I'm looking forward my
my own 'out of breath' moment!
Very happy for you!!

[macker]

The physio told me off for doing the squats, with weights, and also the deadlifts.  My usual physio, an attractive young lady, was at a meeting, so i had someone else.
I was given a lecture, that went along the lines of the graft dies off, and you'll be putting too much strain on it and there is a risk that you may cause damage.  Time to back off he said, he also said i will get plenty of time to build the strength up.  He also told me there are no shortcuts, and cited an example of a professional footballer who came back too early and has had problems continually ever since.  No football for a year.  I didn't really want to hear it.