The Day After ACL Surgery

Another question I hear all the time is “What is the Day after ACL Surgery like?”

I honestly think the first day after acl surgery varies a lot from person to person.

The first day for me wasn’t the most difficult, but it was very difficult to focus on anything for very long.  My mind didn’t really wander, it was just hard to keep a thought in my head for very long.  I’m sure it was the medication that was making me feel that way, but it is definitely a very weird feeling.

The first day after acl surgery was also when everything became more “real”. There was no backing out of anything and the only only choice was to move forward and deal with everything the best I could.  I hope that makes sense.

I had a drain tube still in my knee.  It kinda looks like a baby booger sucker. Anyway, it creates a slight suction and I did have to drain it  a couple times.  My mom was awesome about everything and didn’t complain about having to get rid of the fluid.  It was a little gross.  At the end of the first day, a nurse came by and took the drain tube out… we didn’t have to worry about it anymore after that.

That’s pretty much it for the first day after ACL surgery.  I did start doing some simple easy exercises that the doctor asked me to do. They were mostly bending the knee to start getting some range of motion back.

Some people get sent home the a passive motion machine that does that for you without you having to do anything, but I didn’t get one of those.  For me, it was just a knee brace and a little ice machine that circulated water around a pad that was on my knee.  That is a great invention.