Anyone else Post Injury / Surgery? Seeking for friends for the recovery trip!

total knee replacement..can't do all the things I use to do but, I don't let it get in my way of my workout. I push as hard as I can.

36 years old and 6 weeks out of a total knee replacement. I started the bike again last week and lifting (upper body only), and I plan on getting a timeline from the doc for lower body. I can already tell my knee is better and stronger, but I have to be careful not to overdue it. My range of motion is lacking at this point, which is to be expected. I am only at about 95 degrees for bending, so my goal is to get to 120. From that point on, it's time to get back to it. Feel free to friend me!!

I tore my acl in October, I had acl repair in January using patella tendon graft.. Lost almost 50lbs now through mostly diet, and now starting to be able to work out... It's doable!

I've got hyper mobility disorder and my knees dislocate regularly, as does my elbow. You can shed calories without exercise but it does take longer. The most important thing when starting back at the gym or any other exercise is to listen to you dodgy bit of body. It will give you signs if you're doing too much. Stopping sets or cutting short goals is frustrating but better than re-injuring yourself.

Hello, I had 70% of my lateral meniscus removed two weeks ago, and I have to be careful not to make my arthritis worse as I'm only 30 (I put off surgery way too long...several years). I am used to doing the treadmill and elliptical so I'm sure it'll be a lot of trial and error to see what works for me. I'm thinking a stationary bike will be my go-to for now and in a couple weeks I am hoping to do slow laps in the pool. Getting in the pool to do some basic water aerobics feels great for the time being. I have seen a lot of improvement in my mobility from the water. Of course, most of my weight loss will have to come from watching what I eat. Aiming to do small meals/snacks.

As for PT I am there 3x a week and I'm up to 7 minutes on a stationary bike, but I could go longer. Still can't do stairs regularly, theres a lot of pain with it (and can't bend/straightening my leg due to swelling), but I can walk around fairly well these last few days. They have me moving up to 1.5lb weights for most of my exercises and I recently started the leg curl machine.

Thank you! I just re-read my post and I meant to put I can't bend/straighten it quickly enough while doing the stairs. I can do it otherwise.

I am running this all past my PT and doctors and will take it gradually. Baby steps. Thanks again!

Almost 8 weeks out now and I feel noticeably better. ROM is around 110 and I'm up to 20 minutes on the bike. I think my ROM would have been better if I rested more, but with two kids, it just didn't happen. I should have been. Water with the ice and elevation too, but what can I say? I feel like I am starting to feel back to normal, with some bad days thrown in here and there. My last knee surgery had a much more painful recovery than this one, although the stiffness is a bear. Not having knee pain is great though!

A little late to the party...

I had an left ACL allograft on May 17th--cadaver because I'm "old" and the surgical team didn't want to further compromise my knee structure. I started rehab 3 days after surgery (and had to pre-hab 6 weeks before the surgery). Prior to this I was pretty healthy--a couple of broken bones and a concussion when I was a kid, one breast biopsy in my 20's, and childbirth were really my only major health events.

Know this--every week gets better. My ROM is ~-1 to 130--certainly better when I'm warmed up. I notice the lag in that knee when I am doing planks--so that's something I'm still working on. Most pain-free, but a little stiff, sometimes a little achy--mostly at the insertion (I'm chalking that up to the screw/staple in my bone there). I'm to the point now that I barely think about taking stairs. I go for 5 mile walks and can ride my bike for 45 minutes (inside on the Kickr). My doctor is very conservative with rehab--I'm not allowed to cycle outside until late September. Don't know when I can get back into the swimming pool again. He doesn't want me running until November (but has already warned me not to expect to run a half marathon again). I will not have a ski season this year Both my surgeon and my PT think I'm doing fantastic, but I still worry that I'm behind on my recovery.

I've gained about 8 lbs since I tore it (end of March). Not thrilled about that but I did a lot of pity eating. Overall it's not too bad--it boils down to not running the 15+ miles per week that I was running while maintaining the same intake. Now that I'm feeling better (and able to exercise more) I'm consciously tracking what I eat and trying to undo the weight damage by Christmas.

My biggest fear is that I'm not going to be able to do the things that I loved--skiing, surfing, yoga, horseback riding, running, etc. Some days I'm sad because of that--I guess that's normal, but still...

Feel free to add me for commiseration...

I am post knee injury as well! I got thrown from a horse twisted my knee because I tried to stay on, my hand got caught in the reins and I was dragged. At the time I was doing training for a bikini competition and was probably in the best shape of my life. After the accident I had a lot of trouble walking. Went to a doctor and they didn't even look or test it... Even though I hobbled in there in such pain. Got sent for X-rays though. Never heard back. Put up with it for months and months. Stopped
Working out -couldn't run, or work out legs. I still trained upper body, but eventually I gave up and got depressed. Pizza and chocolate became my new best friend. I gained 30 pounds. Finally here I am 2 years later after 7 months of hard and careful work I am down 20 pounds. Although leg day still scared me because I feel unstable doing squats and leg press.

All in all, it's a slow process! I know how you feel to be stuck and able to do so little. It's frustrating. But do what you can! Don't do what I did and turn to food and alcohol lol. Not a good road

Forever_Country09 wrote: »

I am post knee injury as well! I got thrown from a horse twisted my knee because I tried to stay on, my hand got caught in the reins and I was dragged. At the time I was doing training for a bikini competition and was probably in the best shape of my life. After the accident I had a lot of trouble walking. Went to a doctor and they didn't even look or test it... Even though I hobbled in there in such pain. Got sent for X-rays though. Never heard back. Put up with it for months and months. Stopped
Working out -couldn't run, or work out legs. I still trained upper body, but eventually I gave up and got depressed. Pizza and chocolate became my new best friend. I gained 30 pounds. Finally here I am 2 years later after 7 months of hard and careful work I am down 20 pounds. Although leg day still scared me because I feel unstable doing squats and leg press.

All in all, it's a slow process! I know how you feel to be stuck and able to do so little. It's frustrating. But do what you can! Don't do what I did and turn to food and alcohol lol. Not a good road

Ouch. Have you had an MRI? A regular X-ray won't really show much. My X-Ray came back clean, but I tore 70% of my meniscus. Even my MRI showed a small tear but once he was in there it was obviously much worse.

If anything else, I would ask your dr for physical therapy to see if they can help strengthen the muscles around your knee. Even post-op I'm not allowed to do squats...don't force it if it doesn't feel right.

Hang in there and good-luck!

Yivs_87 wrote: »

Tomorrow I turn 7-weeks Post Op. As of this Monday I've gained full flexion and extension. And today was my first swimming gig. My PT said that starting month 2 I can look at going into the gym for weights training. But then again they told me that my case is like "ACL post op recovery poster child". There are two other cases in the center where I'm going and one of the guys there is 3 months post op and is hardly at 100 degrees flexion, extension at 15 degrees.

But yeah, what I was told was that running can be started around month 6, on soft surface (treadmill and slowly, no incline); For skiing and surfing (I can do neither, so I didn't question them much) my surgeon said that eventually next winter and it might be best if I do them with some sports brace.

Honestly, I think it's very weird that you are still not allowed to hit the swimming pool at 3 months post op. Don't know if it's because of the cadaver... I'd check with a second opinion if I were you.

(And adding you )

I'm not too worried about the no swimming thing right now... With the Olympics on television, my son had asked me what was different about all of the strokes (I was a competitive swimmer when I was younger. He took basic swimming lessons, but not much more...). I was showing him the strokes while laying on the living room floor and free, back, and fly were all fine, but breaststroke (which had been my best stroke) was painful. I'm pretty sure that I will get clearance next month when I go back to see him, but even from what I have read breaststroke is the last stroke I should be doing. (My surgeon is very well-regarded here in Boston, so I'm not too worried about a second opinion.) Incidentally, my next-door neighbor--another 40-something mom to teenagers--also tore her ACL this winter and had surgery 5 days before I did, and while her doc/PT are a little less conservative than mine, her restrictions/recovery are pretty similar to mine.