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Hi Quickrecovery,Welcome!You are over the worst of it and now each week it will get better! I'm just past 12 weeks post-surgery. I am now without a brace but using crutches to walk. My physio wants me to focus on 'form' and see me walk 'normally' without a limp before getting rid of the crutches.On your questions:- How do you manage to go down stairs? When were you able to do that comfortably?No, not comfortable at all! We have fairly narrow, steep stairs with no handrails, so my physio didn't let me attempt stairs until my leg was strong enough to hold me if one of the crutches slipped . So I only started going up & down stairs about a week and a half ago (I was allowed to do my front doorstep about 3 weeks ago-its a big step but at least there is only one so less for the crutches to go wrong on). If I had a handrail on one side of my stairs they would have let me do them much sooner though I think. Now I am quite happy going up them with the crutches (good or bad leg) but I've really had to work hard on coming down them with the two cructhes safely. Two crutches down, then bad leg down with foot very slightly angled so that the foot is firmly all on the stair, then good leg down.- How long did it take for you to get to 90 degrees? My OS basically upped it by 30 degrees and told me to spend the next fortnight increasing the ROM every 2-3 weeks. So week 2: unlocked to 30; week 4: unlocked to 60; week 8 unlocked to 90; week 10: take the brace off and go as far as you can. Although I seem to have hit a complete block at 90, where it has been for about 3weeks now. - When were you able to drive?Not driving yet, good question. I certainly woudn't do it prior to being able to walk unassisted as you risk not only your own life but others too if you aren't strong enough to react in a potential accident situation. My best friend was hit & killed at 15 by a lady that shouldn't have been driving due to a medical condition and despite her son saying how awful she felt and how she was on anti-depressants as a consequence etc. the truth is nothing compared to how it was for my friend's Mum & Dad and brother, they never truly recovered and even now nearly 3 decades on I can see how their heart breaks every time they look at me and think of what could have been.- When were you able to do single leg raises?About where you are now. But the trick with this is to focus on each step. Step 1: Get that quad muscle just above the knee really contracting strongly Step 2: Put a towel under your knee and do the half leg lifts first, start with a really big bath towel folded twice over length wise and then rolled up Step3:Gradually make that towal smaller and smaller by not folding it so much and then switching to a smaller towel Step 4: Then straight leg lifts will come. I will warn you those towel ones absolutely killed me at first, painful! But the move to SLRs were relatively easy once those were easy. The other thing I did was while sitting on the couch lift the leg out straight from bent position (I'm working online from home just now so do these alot while working). - How long did you need physio for?Again. I'm still very much in the world of physio, I guess it will vary person by person and based on their progressUpdate from me: I'm now doing 30 seconds standing on the bad leg alone while using the wall to balance myself, feels a bit like when first trying to do those SLRs but getting easier each day. I've just started practising on an aerobic step going down with the good leg first, while holding on to rails/table either side. OMG I feel my lack of ROM in the bad leg when doing that-it just seem to stick behind me! Waaaaagh will this leg ever move past 90 degrees it seems to have just got 'stuck'!How is everyone else doing?Diane
Hey allWhen did you guys start sleeping without the brace on?