ACL recovery

Sarah1023

Anyone else with recent ACL recovery within the past 6-12 months? I'm 4 months post op and just trying to get a general idea of everyone else's recovery experiences. I still cannot even straighten my leg fully and it's frustrating!!

tomeddington

Hi!

I had a patella tendon graft ACL reconstruction back in August, so I'm a little past the 5 month point now, at about the 4 month point I was given the go ahead by my physio to start running again. I had a lot of trouble at the start because I was very ill after the surgery (I ended up losing about 28lb in 3 weeks, not good) and was doing my exercises incorrectly. I had to do some serious turn around work to get back on track and healthy and probably got used to doing more exercises daily than average and just carried on until the point Im at now… still a bit sore and very occasionally gives under my weight but more or less stable now, just quite weak.

How is your mobility now?

Foulou

I also had patella tendon graft around the same time as tomeddington. so its been about 5 months.

For me it seemed to heal in bursts. I would go weeks without much improvement, then wake up one day and be able to do something I was struggling with.

Just don't skip out on therapy or exercises at home. They suck, but really speed things up.

Also about the straightening your leg... Do you have hyper extended joints? double jointed its called sometimes? I did, and I don't think i'll ever get full extension back. but my leg is perfectly straight unless you compare it to my other leg that almost bends backwards.

How straight does your leg get?

danimalkeys

My son had a full ACL tear in high school. He had surgery and they started PT a couple days after that. 4 months later he was wrestling, albeit with a knee brace, but his recovery was pretty much complete. He was back to squatting and deadlifting good weight and his range of motion and ablity to cut/pivot were normal.

What kind of PT are you doing? Getting range of motion, then building strength back in the knee are paramount for recovery. I wouldn't expect to have the recovery of a 17 year old, but a full recovery with no repercussions should be expected for anyone who is in decent shape.

Foulou

That is amazing recovery for your son! Ahhh to be 17 again.

danimalkeys

That is amazing recovery for your son! Ahhh to be 17 again.

lol I know. It'd take me years to recover. They even used his own patella tendon to replace the ACL. He's 26 now, and says that knee feels better than his other one.

Foulou

That is amazing, and good to hear. How much did he weigh? I think my healing been dampened a little because of my extreme weight (250 currently).

Its good to hear that his leg is even better. I look forward to it.

I heard around 4-5 months the graft is physically healed, but its just strengthening your leg back up to its original strength that is the most difficult.

Question for your son. Did he have a numb spot on his leg after surgery and did it go away? Also is his leg smaller?

danimalkeys

He was about 260 (6'2" tall) when it happened. He was a wrestler, and was at a national level tournament down in Disneyworld when he got hurt. This was late June, he had surgery in early July and started rehab right away. He was the heavyweight on the team- 260lbs but could run 5 miles like a walk in the park. There is no in shape like wrestling in shape. He was squatting something like 480 for 10 reps, things like that.Basically a beast that I had created down in our basement weight room.

While he rehabbed he decided to drop down a weight class for the following year, and by the 1st day of wrestling practice in November he was 214lbs. He did it with lo-carb, we joked it was the "chicken wing" diet because that's mostly what he ate.

His leg is not smaller, and as he rehabbed he was still able to do upper body work at a pretty heavy level, even got to the point where he could rip out 15 chinups still weighing in the 220's. Once given clearance, began lifting heavy again for lower body too. He graduated that year, and the following year did a 610lb deadlift and a 385lb bench at a competition at 218lbs bodyweight.

I'll have to ask him if he has a numb spot, he never said anything about it. The only scar is where they took the patella tendon graft. The rest was a couple poke holes where they did the surgery.

Foulou

So i cannot compare myself to your son. He is a human machine. I couldn't do 15 chinups right now even if I was being chased by bears.

That is great to hear. Didn't seem to slow him down at all.

I have sparred with boxers and wrestled with wrestlers and I have no doubt he was in impeccable shape. Wrestlers always wear me out.

Hmm I have a couple scars. On the patella graft area and a second semi large scar, and then like you said a couple little poke holes, for cameras I guess?

danimalkeys

I think 1 hole was the camera and 2 other holes for the actual instruments to do the repair. 1 longer scar (maybe 3") where they donor tendon was removed.

I think the reason people can recover so fast from this now is the surgery is very non intrusive. Back in the day they'd open your whole knee up for this and the recovery would be long and painful. He was walking without crutches a few days afterwards, and he only took pain killers for 2 days afterwards.