ACL INJURY and weight loss

meggy009
meggy009 Posts: 3 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi All,
I tore my ACL at the end of may and I'm finally able to get a bit more active now. I have to be careful with what I do was told no running or treadmill.
I got to the Physiotherapist 1 or 2 times a week and do a pool excerise strength in routine. And I've been going to the gym and tracking what I eat.
I'm getting surgery in the new year and before then I would love to loose some weight (around 80 pounds)
Is this possible? Any recommendations on excerises etc.
Thanks for your time
Cheers,
-Meg

Replies

  • Snowhappens
    Snowhappens Posts: 28 Member
    I tore my ACL in April and had surgery 2.5 weeks ago. I worked out and tracked what I was eating before and am really glad I did the strength training that I did. Cardio was hard but I think stationary bike and elliptical were best for me.

    Why so long until surgery?
  • pug11
    pug11 Posts: 23 Member
    edited August 2015
    Sure it's possible to lose weight, it all comes down to the food.

    I broke my heel and completely tore the Achilles tendon last year so was off my feet for months. You can lose weight of course without exercising, it comes down to the cals but don't go too low.

    Ask your PT about exercises, you can probably do upper body but don't over do lower, you will regret it!
  • meggy009
    meggy009 Posts: 3 Member
    Snowhappens wrote: »
    I tore my ACL in April and had surgery 2.5 weeks ago. I worked out and tracked what I was eating before and am really glad I did the strength training that I did. Cardio was hard but I think stationary bike and elliptical were best for me.
    Why so long until surgery?


    Hope you are recovering well! And I could have surgery in January but I am a full time nursing student so I need to wait until after the semester is over.
    And yes I've been doing the stationary bike, Elicptical, Hamstring strengthing excerises and swimming.
    I've tried to lose weight in the past but have had motivation problems .. so hoping this recovery process will be more of a motivation to a) get my leg stronger and healed and b) feel better about myself
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
    meggy009 wrote: »
    Hi All,
    I tore my ACL at the end of may and I'm finally able to get a bit more active now. I have to be careful with what I do was told no running or treadmill.
    I got to the Physiotherapist 1 or 2 times a week and do a pool excerise strength in routine. And I've been going to the gym and tracking what I eat.
    I'm getting surgery in the new year and before then I would love to loose some weight (around 80 pounds)
    Is this possible? Any recommendations on excerises etc.
    Thanks for your time
    Cheers,
    -Meg

    @meggy009 An ACL injury is definitely something to take serious and it sounds like you're getting the therapy you need. Post-surgery, just work with that PT on rehabilitation. Was the initial cause like an accident in that you were physically hit by something that forced your body into an awkward position and the injury occurred or did you just move the wrong way and it happened? This may kind of dictate how you train after you're released from Physical Therapy. If the injury occurred during normal movement, walking and turning, running, running and turning, etc. it could indicate you have a muscle strength imbalance, a flexibility issue that's causing internal knee rotation or over foot pronation, perhaps you have hyper-lordosis, who knows. Hopefully your PT will have a referral for you to a trainer that can take over for him/her. If not, I would suggest a trainer that has a Corrective Exercise Specialization (CES) from NASM or even a Performance Enhancement Specialization (PES) from NASM. Also, a trainer with their CSCS from the NSCA would likely be very good as well. Best of luck to you, but I would not look to do anything different than what your PT has you doing and definitely don't try to recover on your own post-rehab. People that have a non-contact ACL injury have approximately a 25% chance of a 2nd injury if the issues aren't resolved.
  • GiddyupTim
    GiddyupTim Posts: 2,819 Member
    Hi Meg. I jogged, lifted weights and bicycled before my surgery. The jogging probably was not good. The weight lifting worked best, I think.
    Your surgeons will tell you that you do not have to worry about being active before surgery, that your ACL is torn and you therefore cannot do any more damage. (They sometimes recommend a brace to prevent any "giving-way" episodes when doing any activity with a lot of cutting and changing direction.) But I know a lot of people who continued to try to play basketball and/or tennis and/or other sports, and they think they did hurt their meniscus/cartilage by doing so.
    Lift weights, swim, maybe bike...Go hard with the exercise (so your leg is strong when you have surgery) and easy on the pounding!
    Good luck

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