ACL Surgery FAQ
These are the questions I hear the most.
How can I tell if I have a torn ACL?
Sometimes it’s tough to tell. Even for the doctors. When you tear your ACL it feels a lot “looser” than your good knee. It almost feels like it could pop out of place at any minute. The stability just isn’t there. When some people tear their ACL, they hear a “pop” when it happens. It’s usually pretty loud and noticeable. This is what happened to me. Although, at the time I had no idea what that “pop” sound meant. If you have a torn ACL it also usually swells up immediately… the pain isn’t always severe, but swelling is a tell-tale sign. Your knee will also go out of place pretty easily.
Do I really need surgery?
There several things that will affect this answer. Do you plan on playing sports or are you happy giving them up and doing things less stressful on the knees? If you can give up the sports that are rough on the knees, you might get by without surgery. Does your knee “go out” a lot? If it does and you have little control over it, surgery would probably be your best bet. If you would like to try rehabbing your knee and wearing a brace to see if that works, go ahead. Just keep in mind that every time your knee goes out of place, there is more damage being done. That is the route I took and I’m a little bit sorry about it. I ended up doing a lot of damage that I could have avoided.
Should I get an allograft or autograft?
This is something you need to discuss with your doctor. As a rule of thumb, most doctors will tell you to go with autograft. An autograft means the tissue being used for your new ACL will come from your own body. Most often this is either the patellar tendon (the tendon that attaches your kneecap to your tibia) or the hamstring. An allograft means the tissue for your new ACL will come from someone else. Cadavers are used for this. Don’t let that scare you off though, this method is safe and works well. The tissue taken from the cadaver isn’t “living” tissue, so there is almost NO chance of contracting any sort of disease or virus. It’s NOT the same thing as having a organ transplant. You won’t have to take any drugs that suppress your immune system like you would for a organ transplant. And since it isn’t “living” tissue, there isn’t a problem with your body “rejecting” the new ACL.
There is generally less pain involved when having an allograft. Since you won’t be harvesting tissue from your own patellar tendon or hamstring, the pain will be minimal. That is one of the major advantages of an allograft. An allograft isn’t considered to be quite as strong as an autograft, but close. Recovery time is also a little bit quicker. Allografts are also used most of the time if you have had a previous ACL reconstruction.
Autografts are used in the majority of first time ACL reconstructions. They tend to be strong, but also result in a little more pain than the allograft. However, the pain isn’t overwhelming by any means, so this fact alone shouldn’t be a major deciding factor. Talk to your doctor.
Should I use patellar tendon or hamstring graft?
This is another thing that you should discuss with your doctor. There are a lot of different opinions and reasons for one over the other. First off, you should probably go with the method your surgeon is good at. Surgeons will perform more of one type than the other and will soon get better with one method. Now, don’t get me wrong, the surgeon can and will do both types of surgery, they involve a lot of the same principles, but one will be his “favorite” method and as a result, the surgeon will be more comfortable with it. BOTH methods work. The Patellar tendon graft is considered to be a little stronger, but that can be debated. Most professional athletes go with the Patellar Tendon, the slightly stronger graft may be of use to them, but hamstring grafts will work just fine for most everyone. If you are fairly short and have short hamstrings, the surgeon may not give you a choice. Discuss this stuff with your doctor.
Should I use general anesthesia or regional?
Either way will work. There are people on both sides of the fence that will tell you one is better than the other. Don’t always listen, it’s a very personal choice. With general anesthesia, you will be unconscious and have no recollection of the surgery. It will feel like you have simply blinked and the surgery will be over. General anesthesia has a bad effect on some people though. It could make you sick to your stomach for a few days. Doctors don’t know exactly why or how general anesthesia does what it does, so there is always a slight risk. Some people are afraid they won’t wake up. But the risk is very, VERY small.
Regional anesthesia can be given to you a couple different ways. It will either be an epidural or a spinal. They are very similar. Both are injected into your back. As a result, the pain signals from your knee never reach the brain. They are blocked by the regional anesthesia. This will allow you to be “awake” for the surgery. Now I say “awake” because you can choose your level of awareness. You can choose to have a regional anesthetic and still not be aware or remember a single thing from your surgery. This is done by giving you a sedative. The anesthesiologist will probably ask you what level you want. 1.) Awake, Aware, but unconcerned. 2.) Awake, Somewhat aware, not concerned. 3.) Awake, and not aware. Or 4.) Hammered. (They will give you enough of the sedative to make you sleep, but if you were to wake up during the surgery, you wouldn’t care and probably wouldn’t remember waking up anyway.)
What type of graft and anesthesia did you use?
I had the Patellar Tendon graft and used general anesthesia. I didn’t want to be awake or aware of anything in the operating room. I didn’t have much of a problem with general anesthesia, but the morphine injection immediately made me puke. The same with the codeine pain pills they sent home with me. Make sure you take those pills with food, or you will more than likely not be able to keep them down. Even food doesn’t help some people.
How long will it take to return to sports?
Everyone recovers at a different rate. The most standard answer that you will hear from the doctor is six months. It’s possible to return sooner than six months, but the risks for re-injury are higher. It takes about 12-18 months for your new ACL to be in peak condition. At six months, it is about 80-85%, this is considered to be strong enough to return to sports. Usually wearing a brace of some sort, but not always. My doctor doesn’t believe in any kind of bracing after recovery.
How hard is physical therapy and does it hurt?
Physical Therapy isn’t all that bad. Some things are easy and some are hard. One thing that is a little painful are the extension and flexion exercises. And after a while, those don’t really hurt that much either. I’ve heard horror stories from people who say that PT (Physical Therapy) was the worst and they cried every time they had to do it, but that wasn’t my experience at all. The exercises get tougher as you go, but it’s a good feeling to be doing some work.
Should I use a brace for sports afterwards?
Your doctor will have a say in this. Some doctors believe in bracing, some don’t. Mine, fortunately, doesn’t believe in using braces for sports after 12-18 months. That was good news to me, I personally don’t like braces. They serve a useful purpose in recovery and for a partial ACL tear, but in my opinion, if you are going to have ACL surgery to fix your knee, a brace isn’t necessary. I used a brace for 5 years after I tore my ACL and before I had the ACL surgery. In that time, I continued to have problems with my knee “going out” on me at least twice/year. Even with the brace on. Since the surgery, I haven’t worn a brace for any sport and I haven’t had a problem. I have to admit, I was real nervous at first since I had previously worn a brace all the time, but now it’s been a while and most of the fear has gone away.
If I use a brace, should I buy a custom brace or over-the-counter brace?
A custom brace is always the better bet. It can be fitted to you specifically. No “over-the-counter” brace will ever be as effective. With that said, I believe that braces in general are ineffective for sports. In certain situations (like football) braces can serve a useful purpose. They do protect the knee from direct contact. But any other sport, they don’t do much for. Most of the time it’s the twisting action that tears your ACL and no brace will prevent that.
When can I take a bath/shower after ACL Surgery?
It seems silly, but you will have to get your doctor’s permission to take your first shower. Baths will be allowed later than showers. You will be given permission to shower usually somewhere around 5-10 days. The doc wants to make sure the wound is healed enough so the risk of infection is minimal. He will also tell you to wrap your knee in a plastic bag, or something similar and tape the top and bottom so it is watertight. You need to keep the water out so there is no chance of infection. After a couple weeks, he will give you the ok to go ahead and take a “real” shower or bath.
HOW will I be able to take a shower after ACL Surgery?
Very carfully! The easiest way for me to take a shower was to actually put a lawn chair in the shower and do it that way. Then I could sit on the chair and keep my leg up. It worked pretty well.
Why does my knee have a burning sensation?
Most of the time the burning sensation is cause by the drilling of your bones. When the surgeon performs ACL reconstruction, he drills a hole through your tibia and femur bones. That results in the “burning” sensation. Ice should help control this, but it will last for a while. The drilling will also cause bruising in your leg.
Is bruising like this normal? It looks bad.
The bruising is normal and will vary from person to person. My bruising looked absolutely terrible. At one point, it was funny, when I would go in and do physical therapy, there were a few days when they would close the curtain around me so other patients in the PT room couldn’t see me. The PT assistant just smiled and said they didn’t want to scare away any of the other patients. Most of the severe bruising was looking better after a couple weeks.
How much should I ice my knee?
As much as you want. For me, the more I iced, the better it felt. So I iced a lot. It helps a great deal with the swelling and with the pain. I had to stop taking the pain medications the 2nd day post-op because they made me sick to my stomach. Ice was a very good pain reliever.
When can I get off these crutches?
The doc will usually give you permission around the two week mark. Unless you had meniscus repair. If you had the repair and not the removal, you will be on crutches significantly longer. This will allow the meniscus to heal. I had meniscus removal and honestly, I was off crutches in less than a week. Everyone is different.
Do I have to take all this medication?
Unfortunately, you do. If the medication doesn’t make you sick to your stomach, it does help a great deal. The ibuprofen also helps with the swelling in your knee. Just be aware that a side effect of the pain medications (codeine, vicodin, morphine, etc.)… is that it will make you constipated.
How long will it take after surgery to have a bowel movement?
I didn’t realize that I would be constipated from the surgery and pain meds until it actually happened. No one warned me. I don’t remember exactly how many days it was, but it was somewhere around 5-8 days.
When will I get full ROM (Range of Motion) back?
It depends on how hard you work at it. For me, extension came back way before flexion did. Extension took less than a week to return. And flexion, well that’s a different story. I got most of it back within a month, but I really don’t think it’s all the way back. I can get it to flex the same as the good knee, but it takes a while. I can’t just squat and do it. I have to “warm it up” first.
I feel weird pains in my knee, is this normal?
Yes. You have to remember that no matter how good doctors get at ACL surgery, it is still a major procedure that will effect you for a long time. At about 16 months post-op and I still got unexplained pains. They never lasted long, but the were always popping up in different spots and varying degrees. I just took it as a reminder to take it easy once in a while. I’m still VERY happy that I had my ACL surgery.
Do I really have to do all these exercises?
YES, YES, YES! You have to follow your doctor’s protocol. It’s there for a reason. The stronger you can get your leg, the better off you will be. You will also have to work hard to regain the flexion and extension in your knee. I know it’s painful at times, but it is all for the best. You don’t want to only be able to bend your knee half-way for the rest of your life do you?
When can I kneel again?
If you have the Patellar tendon method, this will take a lot longer than the hamstring method. If you go with hamstring, you will be able to kneel pretty quick. I had the patellar method and it took a few months to be able to kneel. I can kneel now, but it still feels different than the other knee. It also depends on the floor surface. I could kneel on carpet and outside on the ground WAY before I could kneel on hardwood floors.
Will glucosamine help me?
It might. There are no studies that say it helps. But there are also no studies that say it doesn’t. Glucosamine isn’t all that expensive, so I would say go out and get a bottle, take some and find out. Make sure it is quality glucosamine though, don’t just go out and buy the cheapest stuff possible.
My knee pops a lot, is something wrong?
Probably not. My knee pops all the time. I must admit it is a little annoying, but it’s never caused a problem. I asked my OS about it and he said it was probably scar tissue. I’m not sure what to think about that explanation, but like I said, it’s never given me a real problem.
How long until I can drive?
If you have ACL surgery on your left knee, you could be driving within a week or two. Just make sure you aren’t on any medication that will impair your driving. If you have surgery on your right knee, it will be a little longer. As soon as you can bend your knee and press down on the brake with some force, you will be ok. It took me about 3 weeks because my doctor wouldn’t let me get rid of the big brace until then.
I fell, is my knee ok?
It’s probably ok. Did you twist it or did your knee “buckle”? If not, it’s probaby ok, but if you are worried about it, then by all means, call the doctor. You aren’t going to do much damage to it simply by falling on it. Still, be careful because there’s no doubt about it, if you fall on it, it hurts. It hurts a great deal. But your graft will more than likely be ok.
Why do I feel depressed?
Sooner or later, this feeling happens to everyone. It is more severe in some people than it is in others. For example, me and my friend both underwent ACL surgery. Neither one of us had a problem with depression, but there were a couple days during the recovery where we were depressed. It helps to keep busy. I started learning to build websites and that passed a lot of the time. Before I knew it, my knee was better and I could do stuff again. If you have a lot of setbacks, depression is normal, just make sure you realize it when you are starting to feel depressed and do things that you like to do. Don’t let your depression get too far.
528 Comments
Im Elena, Im 15 .. I tore my acl about a month ago, Im really dedicated, I play Soccer & run Cross Country . Im having surgery on the 11th, is it normal to be nervous/scared/anxious? Im young, I didnt want this to happen to me but it did .. & Im starting to feel depressed because I cant do the things that I love, that’s the only was I relive me stress & now that I cant run or play soccer, Im feelin’ pretty down .. any help? tips? Im kinda scared for surgery, its gonna take awhile to recover .. & Im already wanting to play & start running .. :/
Hi Elena,
It is very normal to be nervous and scared about it. I know I was. But I also wanted to have it fixed so I could play sports again and not have to worry about my knee all the time.
It’s pretty easy to feel depressed too… Just know that it will take some hard work but just keep thinking about how much you want to play soccer and run again. And you know what? YOU WILL!! The doctors are so good at ACL surgery now that you will be back to normal when the surgery and recovery are over.
The first few weeks seem like they take forever, but as the time passes and you start doing harder and harder exercises, the time will start to go faster and you will be able to do more things.
Oh ya… and make sure you do all the exercises that the doctor tells you to do. He made me do a lot of exercises every day, but I’m glad he did. It helped me get better.
Hi I’m mike I had meniscus surgery about 8 months ago and just played my first game last night and tonday I feel very sore were my surgery is almost if as I re injuried it please let me knoo what too do
That would be normal to be sore. Try icing it after doing a lot of activity and that should help. Also keeping it elevated while you ice would be a good idea.
I totally understand how you feel!! i just had my surgery on monday and it was a month after I tore my ACL. I play lacrosse in college (im 19) and it was pretty devastating. Honestly, what helps me with the depression thing is thinking about how good it will feel once I’m able to play again and I like to talk to my teammates because they understand how much you love to play and participate in your sport. Surgery isn’t that bad, i had a lot of trouble keeping food down but that was the only bad part. My pain is almost all gone and it’s only been three days! You’ll recover just fine, you’re young and in shape. Lacrosse is my outlet too and it was taken from me but staying around my team and getting support from them is really the best, just try and stay busy too! Good Luck!
Not to to complain or anything but this was my first year doing football, the second day of official practice, 3 days before the first game I completely tore my ACL and my later meniscus, i’m out of sports for 6 months MINIMUM. I’ve had scholarship opportunities for soccer. They were going send scouts out this year and I’m completely out of the football and soccer season. As a Senior in High School. :/ You’re young and you still have time over your high school year.
Hi. I just had ACL surgery on dec. 21 2011. I’m like you, I’ve been playing soccer since I was 5 and now I can’t, plus I HATE the doctors so I was VERY scared. It’s really unnecessary tho. Let them know you are nervous , and if you are like me and you hate needles, they will take care of you. Rehab isn’t too bad but I’m not gonna lie, soccer seems so far away. I was captain when I left my team due to the injury, it’s hard having to Go to every game and not play. What you need to do is find something else you can do for now to make you happy!
I am an avid runner (marathoner), bicyclist, and snow skier. I had ACL surgery (allograft) May 20. Yes, it is a bummer is being sidelined. But that is only temporary.
I was previously registered for both Chicago (Oct 2011) and Ney York (Nov 2011) marathons. I accept that I cannot run Chicago, and probably should not attempt New York, but I cannot bring myself to officially withdraw though I did cancel the motels. But, I will return to running, and am planning snow skiing for Jan 2012. I am also determined to run marathon in March 2012, which I am already registered for. They tell me no running for another 8 weeks. So, I am biding my time walking 5-6 mile and riding bicycle for 60-90 minutes.
The secret to successful recovery is to maintain a positive attitude. So, you like soccer do you? You want to return to soccer? Okay, accept that you cannot at this moment, but be adamant that you will return to it. Be patient. In the meantime, make the physical therapy your passion. When you do physically therapy, do not go about it lackadaisically. Do it with enthusiasm, do not skimp. View it as a step to returning to the soccer field (or whatever your true passion is). Perhaps no soccer for now. But, as soon as you are able, get on a bicycle. It will help keep the legs in shape, will definitely help with flexibility, it is great cardio and will help keep you motivated.
That is a good way to go about it. You’ve got a great attitude and you will do great with your recovery. I would not be surprised if you were able to run in November. Be sure to get the OK from the doc though before you try it.
And yes… make rehab your passion. That really does help.
Please do come back and let me know how things go in November.
Just wondering how your training is going. My surgery was in March, and I have just started running. I am impressed if you are running already!
Hey Steve,
Your comment really interested me because I am in the same exact situation as you are. I tore my ACL last February skiing in Alta, Utah. I had my surgery May 9th using Patela Tendon from a cadeaver. I also tore the lateral meniscus and that was repaired using stitches. Like yourself, I am an avid runner and skier. I was wondering how you are feeling at this stage of rehab. I have been biking everyday at the gym and just started doing standing climbs on the spinner bike. I usually go for about an hour and the next day my knee blows up! My P/T wanted me to do some leg extensions, but I read on a lot of forums that many doctors urge against it. How are you doing at this point. Do you have full leg ectension?
-Brett
i am a month out of surgery and i went tubing on a boat and i fell off my knee hurt for the rest of the night but my knee did not swell bad and it doesnt hurt the day after a lot. it is just a little sore. do you think im okay? and i have this popping on the outside thats normal right because i had that popping in the same place when i first tore it. should i be worried?
You are probably just fine. I had small accidents too during recovery and everything was ok.
Just see if it continues to feel better. If it is really worrying you, you could have the doctor check it out. Never anything wrong with that.
If the popping doesn’t hurt, it is probably normal. Mine does still pop quite a bit, but it has never given me any trouble.
Next time you see the doctor for a checkup, ask about those two things and see what he/she has to say about it.
I have not been able to bend my left leg 100% to kneel. I can only go about 80% range of motion. It was a work injury two years ago. The doctor told me I was fine and x-ray showed know problems. The doctor seemed like he wasn’t sure about the problem and acted like I was a fake. I had a week off and that was it. What exercises can I do to help me get back to kneeling on Sunday? I swim an hour a day and it is still not helping am I over working the muscles or not working the right muscles? I have known money to see a doctor the job ended and health insurance cost are too high. I am taking extra B and C vitamin along ,methylsulphonylmethane, with no improvement.
One exercise you could do is sit with your back against the wall, legs straight out in front of you. Then with your foot flat against the floor, you can start sliding it towards your body. Bring it in as far as you can and hold it for 5 seconds. Then slide your leg back out straight. Then repeat and try to get a little more each time you slide your foot closer to your bottom.
Those are called heel slides.
It is easiest to do those on a smooth floor like tile, hardwood, or something similar.
Those really worked well for me. I would do about 15 of those 5 times a day or so. You really can’t do it too often.
If it makes your knee feel better, you can ice it (or use a cold pack) and cool down your knee when you are done.
I do heel slides on the wall, supine, with my injured knee side’s foot resting on top of my other foot. I’ll change the angle of my bad side from sideways to more parallel once I’m warmed up. It works really well. I do this for 5 minutes, 3 x 4 times a day. This is only 1 of my about 8 ROM exercises I’m doing after my ACL tear pre-surgery, which I’m hoping to have in a few months.
Morning all!
I’m set for a recon in 15 days time and counting! I was wondering if you could tell me, if my knee has become swollen again since I was given a surgery date could they send me away again when I arrive? I’m a pro athlete and whilst iv obviously not been doing anything to cause impact too the knee I have done a fair bit of card in the gym, however whilst it causes me no real pain it has swallon again as I said, would you recommend I stop now and get the size down or will his not be in issue, cheers kieran
That’s a great question! I don’t know the answer to that one. I would think you would be fine. You should probably ice it down after workouts and keep it elevated to get rid of some of the swelling.
Would you be able to ask your doctor to see what he says and then let us know here? I would like to put that question and answer up on the FAQ.
Cardio work in the gym* typing error! Sorry guys.
Kiera
hey! this site is really cool, im acually all the way from sweden and found this site randomly, (my english is not perfect!!!) I had my ACL surgery, almost 5 weeks ago
Hamstring. And im recovering well acordning to my pt, but i dont know.. It feels so wired to walk for me. My whole leg feels “wrong”, she says its normal but is it really? haha, somehow i dont know. It just feels unstable, maybe because its so soon? Sometimes , if i walks a longer while, i’ll get like “cramps” in my whole leg, especially in my backsideleg (haha dont know the word for that!) where they took the hamstring.. its so wierd and im starting to get scared.. do you have any experience with this?
I don’t have experience with the hamstring method since I had patellar, but my friend had hamstring method and he said this is normal.
He felt that way too. He just kept working at it, doing the stretches and exercises and it eventually got better and better.
I would love to visit Sweden sometime. I bet it is great there!!
Sofia, I had the same thing in the back of my knee and am still having some of it at times depending on the weather, ha ha, I stepped off the tailgate of my truck while I was working in the bed of the truck on tucking in plastic around my carport at the top, broke the top of the tibia where the acl was, tore the acl, messed up the outside tendon a bit and something under the patella tendon wasn’t right, had to wait for the bone to heal then finally had surgery, I’m almost at 5 months post op and am still experiencing lots of pain (Oklahoma weather) storms, and feel like a weather forecaster. I have had to do my own physical therapy after going 15 times for the break before surgery…. i’m broke… lol so since I don’t need to pay someone 30 to tell me to lift my leg, and also since my minor is sports medicine (athletic trainer) opted out of being more broke…. I am just hoping that the feeling that my leg is just dead or that I have a couple of screws loose and the knee is on fire will stop sometime soon.
Yes, I know what you mean about the weather forecasting thing… From time to time if my knee aches, I can tell the weather is about to change. It’s weird.
Sounds like you did a good number on your knee.
I hope things continue to get better and better for you.
And you are right about some of the physical therapy. There were times I knew I could do the same thing at home and I didn’t need a cheerleader.
Hi. I’m already 3 months post op from acl surgery.. I felt like my knee is stronger than the first two months..I’m just worrying about my acl graft inside my knee when I moved my left knee right side way with no force,,I felt like there is something stretched but it doesn’t hurt.. Is my acl graft ok? I’m just worrying all time about this and I want to have a peace of mind..Is this normal to worry always about the care of your knee? It really make me stressed about this problem.. Thank you..
Your knee is probably ok. If you have real concerns about it, you should see your doctor and have him check it out.
Eventually you will stop worrying about your knee as your life returns to normal. It takes a while, but there will be a time where all the sudden you realize that you haven’t worried about your knee for a few days. After that you really stop worrying about it.
Thanks for sharing your information. I tore my acl probably about 5 years ago and did not want to take the surgery path. Even with a torn ACL, i was still able to run and cycle. I always wore a brace while playing sports, but still managed to pop my knee. The last time it happen, I just knee i needed to take care of it or stop playing sports. I just had my surgery about a week ago, took the tendon from my hamstring. My recovery is actually going really well, my post appt was couple of days after surgery and taking a look at my knee, very minor brusing. I was able to get 95% of motion back in 2 days. Anyways, the information on this site helped some of my questions. When I was at my doctors, I either forgot to ask him certain questions or either forgot what he said. haha. Well I will be seeing him Monday and then starting physical therapy Monday as well. Thanks
Glad to hear everything is going well for you. I see you took the same long path to surgery that I did.
You will be so stoked when you get back to 100%, you won’t even believe it. You won’t have to worry about your knee anymore.
Good luck with everything.
I tore my knee about 16 years ago playing basketball in college. I had it reconstructed using a patellar graft. After 10 months of rehab it tore it the first day of practice the next season. I did not get my next surgery until about 7 years later. The second surgery was performed by an excellent doctor using a graft from a donor. I healed quickly but I have never been the same. I have pain when trying to play basketball on the outside of my knee. I feel tremendous pressure on my patellar tendon. I often feel pain at the bottom of my knee cap. Does anyone have any suggestions for reducing the pain during physcial activities? When i dont cut or jump I usually feel very little pain.
I’m not sure what to say about that one. Have you been back to the doc to have him check it out?
I tore my acl in football and had surgery about a week ago and im doing well with recovery. But I have pretty bad bruisin on the inside and underneath the knee is this normal? Other than that doing well! Thanks for the info.
Very normal. I was shocked at the amount of bruising that I had. I had no idea it could do that. No one warned me.
Good luck with your recovery.
Be sure to do all the exercises so you can get back to 100% as quick as possible.
I had knee surgery (shreaded tendons) about 6 weeks ago and I have been in the immobilizer the entire time as my doctor will not let me bend it. I return tomorrow for him to make the decision on if i can start bending it. I went for a test run and it does not feel as if I will be able to bend it more than 20% is this normal and if so how long before it will fully bend? Thanks
Just wondering… why would he want you to be in the immobilizer for 6 weeks? That is an awful long time. I’ve really never heard of any doctor these days that would want it immobilized that long.
Most time, doctors want you to start moving your knee the day after surgery.
Maybe I’m not understanding what surgery you had.
It will take quite a while for the mobility to come back since it has not moved in such a long time.
He stated that the tendons needed to get strengthen that bending the knee would rip them again at this point. I start physical therapy on Tuesday and can now only wear the immobilizer for long walks. The knee will only bend slightly at this point. I’m hoping it gets better after therapy. 3 days a week should show some progress. I know it may take a while but do you have an estimate on a 50% bend? Thanks
forgot to add it was a patella tendon rupture but worse because I shreaded the tendons completely.. nasty
I am recovering right now from the same exact injury. I go back to the doctor next week (6 weeks since my surgery). I have the same questions that you have. I was wondering when I will be able to drive since I’m currently in an immobilizer and I can only bend my knee slightly.
I wish I could give you a timeline, but I really have no experience with that particular injury. That would be a great question to ask the therapist when you visit them. Come back and let us know what he/she says.
I torn my acl and almost three months post-op. I used my patella tendon as the graft. I was just wondering if it is possible to stretch the graft if I flex my knee all the way? I am pretty flexible that way. I know that my graft is at it’s weakest point in the healing right now and I want to make sure I am not over doing it.
Thanks!
As long as the doctor did the surgery right, there is really no chance of stretching the graft if you flex your knee all the way.
The doctor will actually do that during the surgery after he has placed your new acl in there and secured it. What I mean is, the doctor will bend your knee all the way during surgery so he can be sure the tendon isn’t too tight or too loose.
I am currently 3.5 months post-op from repaired meniscus and acl recon from a hamstring graft. The torn meniscus slows down the recovery process a great deal! I wasn’t allowed to bend past 90 degrees until 6 weeks after my surgery! I am currently able to bend at 127 degrees (only 13 more degrees to go to be 100%!). unfortunately I tripped slightly last night and my knee buckled. I hit the floor and my knee bent the complete 140 degrees! Today I am in a lot of pain and have a limp again but this could be due to the severe swelling. I’m definitely concerned that I have Retorn my ACL, but out of all the info I’ve read today… This comment alone gave me some comfort. Thanks so much, and good luck to everyone during their recoveries!
I am a 49 year old female, 5 months post-op. I had a partial mcl and meniscus tear, and had a patellar tendon graft. I am in good physical condition, do my exercises faithfully twice a day, swim, walk. How long before my knee stops hurting? It hurts in the morning and when I go up stairs. I am getting discouraged, frustrated and depressed. Help!
Oops! Did I say 5 months after acl surgery? Don’t get me wrong, the pain is not bad… I just wonder if my knee will ever be “normal” again?
Oh yeah… it will feel normal again.
The pain gets less and less and eventually one day you will notice you haven’t even thought about your knee.
It may take a while to get there, but for me, the turning point was being able to do stuff like I did before the injury and srugery. While my knee may have gotten sore, or I could feel a small amount of discomfort while doing something specific… I knew that as time went by, it would get better and better.
So anyway, YES… it will feel normal again. It actually took me a couple years to be able to do EVERYTHING I did before. For example… it took a long, long time to be able to kneel on the floor because it hurt where they took the tendon from when I did that. It is very normal, but it was annoying.
I don’t know the exact time line on that, but I can tell you it doesn’t hurt at all now and hasn’t for years. One day I was kneeling and realized… I’m kneeling and it doesn’t hurt. Wow.
Hello ………
I want to know some answer… if i exersise a lot… does it pain a lot….
I’m not sure how to answer that. Does exercising hurt after ACL surgery? Yes, some. Not unbearable. Definitely worth it.
I think I understand Vikram…does it hurt more to exercise more. For me, the answer is YES. I know that’s part of the healing process…but I sometimes overdo it and have more pain.
thank u……….
Hi everyone….
i am 25 year old I have got my acl surgery on 2nd of july and its already 3weeks and 2days gone and still i have got swelling in my knee how many days does its take to see my knee normal as my other knee and does it feel normal to keep ice on my knee after every workout….. and my doctor did not suggest me to go for physical therapy is it ok. or i have to go physical therapy….. is it very important to go physical therapy after acl surgery…
The swelling is normal. It will take at least 2 months before your knee will start to look like the normal one… maybe longer. It took mine almost a year to look like the normal one. It wasn’t really noticeably bigger at first glance, but when you compared the knees, it was easy to see.
Ice after every workout is a great idea.
Physical therapy is VERY important. You can go to formal physical therapy and have someone guide you, or you can have the doctor give you a list of exercises to do and you can do them at home. A combination of both would probably be the best. Go to a physical therapist and have the them help you get started, then do it on your own. After a few weeks, go back again and have them show you new exercises. Keep doing it like that if you don’t have insurance or you don’t have the money to see the Physical Therapist all the time.
Thank uuuuuuu….
so im 3 weeks post op with the patella tendon graft and i was not instructed to move my leg for the first 2 weeks after surgery. i had my brace took off 2 days ago and some excercises were given to me by the phsyio therapist, however the front of my knee feels extremely tight and feels like its going to burst when i try to bend my knee, im just wondering if this is normal and if the fact that i havnt moved my leg for 3 weeks has any affect on my recovery or what not
thanks
That feeling is normal… especially since you are just starting to move it.
You should still be able to get to the same end result of bending your knee all the way, but it will take longer to get there.
I’m not sure why some doctors aren’t instructing the patients to bend and straighten their knee the day after surgery. Getting it moving right away seems to be what most doctors prefer.
Of course, there could be other reasons why the doctor didn’t want that because I can never know all the details of each person’s acl surgery.
Is it normal to have depression after acl surgery. I am about three months post-op, rehab is going well, and I feel I am getting stronger everyday. But every thought is consumed about my knee. I am driving everyone around me crazy including myself. Any suggestions? Thanks….
I’m experiencing the same thing. I am 5 weeks post-op. I ruptured the tendon completely from my knee bone. The doctor said that I could not bend my knee and so I have been in an immobilizer all of this time and I have not been able to drive. My knee is getting better because I’m feeling less and less pain but I’m just so sad every day. No matter what others say to try to make me feel better about this situation and no matter how many other productive alternative things that I could do while I’m recovering, I still am sad. All I can think about is how I wish I could be back to walking, driving, and playing softball. My mind is totally consumed with thinking about all of the things that I wish I could do. So to answer your question, I think depression is part of the process. The reality is that we are experiencing a loss; even though it’s temporary, it’s still a loss.
See the advice I gave to Don D. It applies to you as well.
Things will get better!
Very normal!
The way I dealt with it was to make sure I was doing a lot of things I enjoyed. I also kept my mind busy trying to figure out how to make this website.
I did still feel depression, but it was much easier for me since I knew I was feeling depressed.
I would suggest that you find some things that you really enjoy… it can be anything really. Movies, reading, learning something, etc. Just get your mind doing something positive. Creative things helped me a lot as did having lots of stuff to read and watch.
I must say this website has been the most helpful to me. More than any other.
Thank you for that! I had almost all of my meniscus removed. I am about three months post-op and still have some “clicking” on the medial side of my knee, where the meniscus used to be. Just wondering if you experienced that too? If so did it ever go away? Also at work as the day goes on my knee will get more swollen, How long did it take you for your knee not to swell up anymore? Sorry for all the questions.
You are welcome. I’m glad my site could help you out.
Yes, I did have that clicking also. It did eventually go away, but I really don’t remember how long it took. At some point along the way I just noticed it didn’t click very often anymore.
It never did bother me though. I was just happy to have my knee back to where I could play sports. The clicking never hurt, so it never really concerned me much.
The swelling you are talking about takes a long time to completely go away. I remember it just like you described… If I was up on my feet all day, I would notice that it would start to swell up. Not huge or anything… just bigger than the other knee. Again, I wish I could give you a time frame, but I just don’t remember how long it was. It was much like anything else… once it was feeling ok, the slight swelling didn’t bother me so I stopped paying attention to it. I would still ice down my knee after playing sports or something, but it was more just because it felt good. I don’t really think I needed to do that.
You can ask as many questions as you’d like. I don’t mind at all.
I tore my acl on June 24th. I have been going to physical therapy 3 times a week since then. My doctor wanted a better range of motion and the muscles around the acl to be stronger. I am scheduled for surgery August 9th. My doctor informed me I will be returning to pt approx 2 days after surgery. I’m a little concerned about the pain level so soon after surgery. I also wanted to know if I am going to be able to get around at all. They are using my hamstring for the reconstruction. How immobile will I be?
Starting 2 days after surgery is very normal and usually what most doctors want you to do.
You will be able to get around with crutches.
The pain level isn’t so much that you won’t be able to do anything. It will hurt some, but not terribly bad. It will actually feel good to start doing things with your knee. Sort of like having a really good workout… It might hurt a bit, but when you are done, it feels so good.
I just had my acl reconstructed with an allograft 3 weeks ago. For those having the surgery,
1) do not underestimate the pain in the first couple of weeks. As a single mom, I had lined up lots of help and needed all of it.
2) Start doing your pt within a few hours of your surgery. I was off crutches after about 3 days and am doing stairs. I am getting ready to move so at three weeks, I am carrying stuff around the house and off pain meds.
3) Ice is your best friend. I have about 5 packs I cycle through my freezer and am still taking time to ice. It is more effective than advil in controling the pain.
I am still really sore but functional.
Thank you for the good suggestions.
Glad to hear you are getting along so well. Congratulations!!
Also had my help lined up… my doc told me no weight or exercise for 3 days… and then I could start the exercise..I guess its just according to the doctor and what was done. I had the allograft done. I am at 2 1/2 weeks after surgery and I am frustrated and getting depressed. I feel like i take 2 steps forward and 3 back… day one of pt i was at 50 degree flex… I can now get from 94-100… I am going to pt 3 days a week for 2-3 hours each time. I feel like i am behind and should be doing more.. I do what I am suppose to do at home too on days I don’t have pt, however the day after PT my leg…and yes i say leg because from knee to foot I am swelled and have a rough day afterwards and can barely walk. I am having hip pain, and foot pain and even bruising on and around my ankle sometimes my foot and hip hurts worse than the knee. Is it normal to get my Rom up and then for it to keep going back like that? And do I seem to be behind at 100 degrees ROM??Extention is 0 and once on the neg side… I just feel like I am not getting anywhere.
Hi I’m already 3 months post op….I want to know if what are the things not to do in order not to harm the graft? and is the graft very strong that it can only be torn by forced twisting and sideways?
Usually, the only ways to tear it are the same ways it can tear in the first place. Twisting, sideways, hyper extension, a direct blow to the knee… things like that.
The graft itself is certainly not 100% yet, or even 80%, but it should be plenty strong for everyday things like walking, biking, stairs… normal stuff.
Your site has been SO helpful. I’m a 45 year old professional dancer and dance instructor. I’ve been dancing since I was 3, and when I was 25, had been diagnosed with a slight tear to my ACL. I never did anything about it. I snow ski, skate, and still tumble, but while teaching dance class 2 weeks ago, it finally “went”. I felt the internal pop, and went down hard. My question is regarding my “good” knee. Since I’ve been obviously favoring my bad knee, I’m starting to have some nasty pains in my good knee. Is this normal? I’m finding that I can’t walk normal, I have to limp, which I’m sure, is not helping those pains in my good knee. My injury happened on July 12. Is it normal to still be limping around?
I’m anxious to get back to the dance studio, when you’re 45, it’s an awful big loss to lose a year recovering from the surgery, but I know it will be worth it. Thanks for your site, I’ve found it more informative and comforting than anywhere else!
It can be normal to get some pain in the good knee from favoring the injured one.
You should probably go have it checked out so you know what you are dealing with. Torn meniscus will cause a lot of pain.
I know it really does seem like a waste of a year to have to go through all of the surgery and recovery… but it really is worth it. Plus, you just might learn something about yourself in the process. Everything that happens to us in our time here is part of life. Just because it seems like it might be a bad thing… you never know… it just might bring you something great.
Hey guys.
I am two weeks post-op. I tore my ACL back in May and did PT until my surgery as recommended by my doctor. I got back to therapy within a week of surgery. I started walking within two weeks without crutches. Best advice is to have someone rigorously massage the entire leg twice a day to reduce bruising. I had two major bruises that were just awfully painful, but through massages, they disappeared quite quickly. I just had a question about the heat and how warm my knee feels. I know its because of the screws into the bone. I have been using the aircast and everytime I take it off, my knee feels so warm, I even woke up due to how warm it was. Any suggestions?
Ps. Great site Geff.
Great suggestion on the massaging!
I think it’s pretty normal for the knee to be warm like that after being in the aircast. It might be a good idea to ice your knee down when you take that off. If nothing else, the ice will make your knee feel better. You can ice it at any time.
If you start getting a severe burning sensation along with it, you will want the doctor to check it out. There is always the possibility of infection and you don’t want to mess with that. That is not a common occurrence though.
Thanks for the compliment.
hello guys……i ruptured my acl two weeks ago and im just waiting for a op now. im a pro footballer and have been told by the surgeon i will be be back to my 100% around 9 months after my op. at the moment i can only bend my knee to 90 degrees before it just stops……did anyone else suffer with this??
Yes, that is common. There is still some swelling and fluid in your knee.
Good luck with your surgery and recovery! I bet you can’t wait to get back to playing. You will get there.
I was wondering if you ever compared your reconstructed knee to your other? I can move my tibia farther forward on the knee I had fixed vs. my other knee, when I am sitting down.Do you think it is because of some swelling in the joint and the soft tissues around my knee, that It is still loose? My doctor didn’t seem concerned. Also I have a snapping on the middle side of my knee cap and joint line, just about every step of the day. It is very concerning to me. Did you ever experience that? Thanks!
Not sure about the knee being a little looser than the other… If the doctor wasn’t concerned, then it is probably fine.
I did have a similar experience as far as the popping/snapping go. When I asked the doctor, he said it was probably scar tissue that formed and it would eventually break up and it would go away. That is pretty much what happened. One day I just realized that it wasn’t doing that anymore.
Thanks for the reply. Every day I wake up and hope that today is the day that the popping and snapping stop. I actually have some anxiety over it, it’s hard for me not to think about since it happens almost every step. I go to your site every day and read what you say to me and the other folks. It gives me comfort. Thanks! How is your knee holding up? Are you still active in all your sports?
My knee is still doing great. I don’t play as many sports anymore, but that’s more just because I’m busy with everything else. I have a son who will turn 1 in a couple weeks… I like spending my free time with him.
Does it hurt at all when it pops and snaps or does it just make noise?
And thanks for the compliments about the site. I’m glad it can help you out.
It only hurts a little, it gets irritated from snapping all the time and heats up a little, but my knee is generally warmer than the other one because of the healing going on I suppose. I do massage it and try to pin point the area a lot, that might irritate some too. How long did it take for your knee to look normal again? The tissue around my knee cap is still pretty puffy, do you think that will ever go down?
I’ve had a torn acl + meniscus since June of 2010, and because health care is slow in Canada it took about 8 months just to find out whats wrong with my knee. My personal story is that I fell over on the soccer field and heard a pop and felt a pain sensation right away. I waited for about 15 minutes before trying to get up (this was a pick up game and I told my friends I just wanted to sit it out for a second) once i took my first step forward i fell straight on my face, it was like i had lost the feeling in my leg. My friend drove me to the hospital and after an X-Ray they had told me that there was nothing wrong with me, gave me pain killers and told me after 2 weeks I should be fine. I got meniscus surgery earlier on and it was a weeks recovery time. I got my acl surgery a week ago, felt lots of discomfort with the “cast” they give you. The first two days were the longest and most uncomfortable so far. Right now im experiencing bruising and having problems sleeping at night. I found that I really need to put the ice on my knee before I fall asleep and take one of the pain killers prescribed. I feel like I can walk without the crutches but I can’t bend my leg at all. Also I cannot lift my leg off my bed. A tip I’ve found is to tie two belts to each other, and lasso one end of your leg and use your arms to lift it up and off the bed. So now you won’t be as reliant on your family and it will feel like “freedom”.
I had my surgery 2 weeks ago, i found that using my other knee that hadnt been operated on and use that leg to lift my other bad knee was the best way to do it, its faster and so long as your careful not to kick it o let it slip its the best way to get in and out of a laying down position
For the tip, make sure you lasso the bottom of your foot, and make sure to be very careful when trying to take it off your bed. practice with somebody near you the first few times until you can get the hang of it. I would have went a little more in depth on the story of how I found out I had torn my acl because the hospital did nothing for me, but the story is already very lengthy
I had ACL surgery 2 weeks ago, it was a meniscal and ACL repair and i needed to get 8 staples (disolvable) into my meniscus as well as a normal routine ACL repair. I am still not able to straighten my knee completely and my flexion is only at about 75 degrees. Is this normal? should i be pushing it more or should I just keep going at this rate?
Yes, you can push it more. Flex and extension are two exercises that are pretty safe. You aren’t going to tear your new acl by trying to bend your knee too far.
For extension, you can sit on the floor… leaning up against a chair or the wall. Roll up a towel and put it under the heel of your bad leg and then let gravity pull your knee down and straighten out your leg. That was the easiest way for me to get extension back. Make sure your heel is off the floor.
Hope that makes sense.
Great site! Here’s my question as a worried mom of a 15 year old who had his acl surgery just shy of 6 months ago–any suggestions for protection when he’s in water such as a lake or river in which the bottom may not be even? He’s really good about wearing his brace during all activities, but I don’t know what to do about this water issue.
The biggest thing is to make sure he is still doing all his exercises. It is really important to get the quads, hamstring and calf muscles as strong as possible. This will help keep the knee stable on uneven ground.
It sounds like he is doing just fine. After 12 months or so… if he’s done all his exercises, he shouldn’t need that brace for anything anymore and even the uneven lake bed won’t be a problem.
Of couse, I’m not a doctor, so if the doctor told him to wear a brace for activities from now on, that is up to you.
I’m just saying that my doctor said no brace after 12 months and I would be fine. He said I had the ACL surgery to fix the problem and wearing a brace was not needed at that point.
His surgery was only 6 months ago, and he hasn’t been cleared for sports or gym yet. He’s doing really well with exercising, no more PT, but doing the gym, stationary bike, and running on his own. Broke his tib/fib in the same leg 1 yr prior to acl tear, so he’s aware of the importance of strengtening that quad. I was just wondering if there was something he could wear into the lake or river to be more secure on the uneven bottom. He’s probably fine, I’m just a worried mom! Thanks.
I wore my brace in the water up at the Boundry Waters, very uneven ground. It didn’t harm the brace or my knee at all. I also wore it in a pool, swimming with my kids. Have him wear the brace in the water. It will be the safest and give you peace of mind.
I had ACL surgery on 7/19. My hammy’s seem to be the tightest right now. I was standing doing a weighted hamstgring curl and I heard a pop and sting in the lower ham string area(behind the knee). Obviously I probably need to call the doc and PT and let them know. Has anyone done this? Is it possible I just pulled/sprain or broke up some scar tissue or possibly did something worse as I know they used it for my graft. Please let me know your thoughts.
I’ve never experience that, so I can’t really say much about it.
Definitely get it checked out. And, if you have time, come back and let us know what it was. I’d love to have this as a reference for other people. I’m sure you aren’t the only one this has happened to.
hie guyzzzz….nw im 22 n i completed my b.tech..the acl injury was hapend wen i was 20..i was undergone acl reconstruction surgery about 18 months ago..stil i feel uncomfortable..coz my 2 legs were injured..n the acl reconstruction surgery was done 2 my left leg..stil ri8 leg has 2 be done..bt i dnt feel any improvement after da surgey..i feel acl repair is the worst injury than any other..im a cricketer..i given up my favourite n loving sport..wen i play any sports r if i just run a few meters i feel my knee is gonna be twisted n sumtimes it does happens..n i had a desire 2 enter into army..dis was the dream i had frm my childhud..i am a looser..
coz i culdnt fulfil my dreams..wen ever i thought of dis injury tears rollout frm my eyes..nw also…i felt very sick of dis frm da past 2 years..i hate my life..
Hi everyone i got my acl surgery done on 2 july and still i cant bend my knee full and now it already 5 weeks and can i put my body weight on the operated knee… and i am still limping and for how many days i have to do these exercises and yesterday while doing the exercises i increased the weight on my leg and i tried it very hard and not i got pain back of my knee and if i put some weight on my knee while walking its very painful do i have to consult my doc…. or its normal….
Not really normal to have a lot of pain like that at this point. It could be a meniscus tear that is causing the problem. I know I would have sharp pain once in a while before I had the surgery and torn meniscus was the reason.
Or does it just ache and hurt all over?
Im 6 months out from surgery and my knee will hurts for a day or two at a time. Is it something i should worry about?
Not necessarily anything to worry about. Hurt like aches, or sharp pain?
Hi Geff, I was wondering how much of your meniscus you had taken out? I had about 2/3rds taken out and it concerns me long term. I remember reading about your injury and you said you had a lot taken out as well. Now you are about 12 years since your surgery and seem to be doing fine. I have some anxiety over this and can not get past that. I am learning a thing or two about my self trying to deal with this. I guess I was hoping you could give me some reasurance that everything will be fine. I know there are no guarantees, every injury is different. How long did it take for your Knee to feel normal?
I’m not sure of an amount that they took out. So far, there is really no signs or symptoms of problems with that. I’m hoping it stays that way.
My knee felt pretty normal by 12 months. And by normal, I mean I noticed I didn’t think about my knee much anymore. I still had a hard time kneeling (since they used the patellar tendon method) for a while after that tho. Eventually that went away too.
The only lingering issue from the ACL surgery is numbness in the skin on a small portion to the outside of my scar where they made the incision.
That is NOT an issue though and the weird thing is that you can feel everything underneath the skin, but some of the skin itself doesn’t feel anything. It’s kind of cool really. The spot has gotten smaller and smaller and it is most right next to the scar and that’s about it.
Years ago when I first started this website, I had a message board. After some time, I had to shut it down since I didn’t have the time to keep up with all the messages and moderate it.
So my question is this…
Would it be helpful to you guys to have a message board where you can talk with each other about some of your questions, concerns and such?
I think that would be great.
Hi geff vikram here it has been 1 month and 9 days after my acl reconstruction and still there is swelling in my knee.. I just wanted to Know how many days does it take to see my knee without swelling as my other knee.. and now i am able to walk normally but only thing is that bothering me a lot…. is swelling in my Knee and i met my doc today and i told abt my aches and he told me that its just a muscle pull because i workedout very heard….
It takes a long time for all the swelling to be gone. It took me months before there was no swelling. It didn’t cause me any problems though.
Hi, there I am 3 and 1/2 months out, through out the day my knee swells up but it doesn’t hurt. My leg just gets tired. It is warmer than the other one too. I saw my Dr. last week with some questions about that, and he told me “there are a lot of things going on in there”. Meaning healing. I had the patellar graft from my own knee, so that has to heal and it remodels as well as the graft itself. The joint and cartilage gets it’s nutrients from the joint fluid, so when it is healing it is going to need more nutrients. Google “remodeling” of acl graft, it is interesting to read and kind of explains things.
Awesome! Thank you for coming back and letting us know about that. I love when readers do that. We can never have enough information.
Hi every one
I live in Kabul, Afghanistan, I had an ACL injury during Kung Fu exercise about a month ago, at first the Doctor couldnt diagnose that, and I went to exercise two times againe, but now after MRI test it diagnosed complete tear, but I can walk and work normaly and I dont feel much pain, I need you guys to guide to to a good hospital and Doctor to is it necesery to surgery or not.
thank you
khalid.massoudi@gmail.com
Since I’m from the United States, I don’t know any doctors in Afghanistan. Maybe one of the readers can help you out.
hi i had an acl surgery in last month …. and i am doing regular exercise whatever said to me by docter now i feel much better than before but the main problem is i can,t bend my knee more than 90 degree…….can u help me to tell about how much time it will take to bend completely after surgery……before 90 degree pain is started so thats why i cant try to more bending ou knee
Being able to bend your knee all the way again can take a while for some people. For me it wasn’t that bad, but I know some people who said it was really painful.
Since it wasn’t all that painful for me, I’m not sure I can answer your question honestly.
You do have to push past some of the pain a little bit, but if it is absolutely horrible, you may want to ask the doctor about it. Sometimes a lot of scar tissue can form in there and that makes it really difficult and painful to get much bend.
I am 6 days post op from acl surgery with allograft. My doctor has me doing home therapy using a CPM machine two hours at a time three times a day (6 hours total each day). It bends my knee over and over. I started the day after surgery at 40 degrees and at 6 days am now at 70 degrees. The goal is to my knee to bend 125 degrees with this machine ultimately. I will be using this for three weeks, then moving to different therapy – I was told to expect 6 months of physical therapy.
Sounds like you are on your way. CPM machines can be good. The are very good for range of motion, but they it will not help you get any strength back. Do they have you doing any exercises as well?
hi i’m already 4 months from acl surgery…I want to know if what are the things not to to do in order not to harm the acl graft???thanks..
hi i’m already 4 months from acl surgery…I want to know if what are the things not to to do in order not to stress the acl graft???thanks..
At 4 months, with regular physical therapy, you can do a lot of stuff. The things you would want to stay away from are things with sudden stops and starts or side to side movement. Uneven ground is still a little dangerous at this point too… So I would want to go jogging down a hiking path or anything like that.
Normal everyday stuff should be fine though.
Hi there, just wondering if anyone else feels like there knee is a little loose after being on it for a while? I am on my feet 8 hours a day at work. When I make certain movements I notice it seems a little loose, not painful though. I am about 4 months post-op. Has anyone else experience this? And yes I am still doing my exercises every day. Thanks.
Yes, I did have the feeling when I did certain movements. That feeling went away after my legs were back to full strength. That can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months usually.
Hey Geff, thanks for creating this website it answered alot of my questions throughout my recovery. I hurt my knee last year from jumping off a fence last year and had a scope done to repair the medial meniscus and had the ACL done as well. The surgeon i went to did the same method of repair as yours. I am 2 and a half weeks post surgery and my knee feels a little bit strange. I tried jogging at physiotherapy today but every step i would take hurt alot. Is that normal? And if i re-hurt my knee 3 weeks after surgery, could right after or would i be in alot of pain? When did you start jogging again? Is it possible that the repaired ACL slipped out or the stables de-attached?
**** Sorry made a mistake……And if i re-hurt my knee 3 weeks after surgery, could i walk right after or would i be in alot of pain? When did you start jogging again? Is it possible that the repaired ACL slipped out or the stables de-attached?
You had a full ACL repair? If you did, and you are jogging at 3 weeks, you are a superhero.
Most people, me included, take at least a couple months to do that.
If you hurt your knee again after 3 weeks, there may be pain or there may not. Just depends on what exactly got hurt and how.
The ACL itself feels no pain. The pain comes from the surrounding muscles, bones and ligaments. There would usually be swelling, but if you are already swollen up, you may not notice.
Was the pain sharp or was it more like an ache. Most times, the sharp pain can be meniscus that is torn a little and it gets caught in the joint. Scar tissue can hurt when it gets caught in the joint also.
I slipped on wet floor and initially i felt the sharpest pain at the hamstring area and then the back of my knee started hurting. I was walking normally after though. My surgeon has been on a 6 week holiday so i havent really had my knee assessed. I just hope my ACL is still in place.
I dont know how to describe it, but i feel emptiness in my knee.
I love the site, so much info! I’m 16 and tore my acl and mcl during football this summer. Its been 4 weeks and I have surgery in early Sep. I play football, basketball and baseball. But I was wondering if you think it is possible to get back to baseball this year which starts in early Feb. I almost have my full range of motion with out help and have it with help. I’ve been going to pt 2-3 times a week and been doing all the pt exrcises at home 3 times a day. Also have been going to the gym and walking in the pool and stretching it out, which I found very helpfull to get motion back. Also have been biking 2-3 times a day for 20-15 mins. So I was wondering if you could brake down the recovery time like when I could start running, hitting and fielding. Also my main goal of making it back onto the field by Feb. Thank you so much for this site!
Firstly id like to say thanks Geff, this is a really great website in my opinion.
Today I recieved results from an mri scan showing a torn acl and meniscus damage on my right knee following an injury sustained during a football match. a year and a half ago i had a very similar injury skiing. This previous injury was diagnosed as a lateral ligament injury however i am now wandering if this was incorrect. 2 and a half years ago i seriosuly damaged my left knee – fearing it was serious i did not seek any help or advice at all but the pain i was in for a very long period was greater than that now. I am therefore wandering if I tore my left acl 2 and a half years ago? is this possible???? it sounds ridiculous but i have read that sports people with strong musculature can tear an acl and provided the other ligaments are intact go on without too many issues. I stopped playing football because i was constatly getting problems with my knee. running and more recently weightlifting (heavy squating and olympic lifting) has however been no problem. having had tonights news i am in complete denial about what this means, but i know that im going to be in bits. I am training to be a strength and conditioning coach, running, working hard in the gym and training hard is a massive part of my life. Is there an alternative to surgery? what will happen if i dont have it? thanks for any response, stu
I had an ACL surgery and meniscus repair 1 year ago. But if my knee isn’t stretched, like when I’m sitting, after a few minutes, I need to stretch it for a few minutes to get it to stretch again and walk comfortably.
Anyone knows what can it be?
btw: I did physiotherapy for 6 month and afterwards I went for 5 month to the gym.
Do you stretch several times a day? I found massage to be helpful, too.
hi again..did you experience a pain in the knee cap while squatting in one leg?..it really hurts when I do it everyday…Do you also have suggestions in how to prevent this??thanks.
Did you have the ACL surgery using patellar or hamstring?
I used the hamstring method..
It’s pretty normal for that type of pain after surgery and doing rehab.
Is it a sharp pain or more of an ache?
Sharp pains could be scar tissue. An ache would more likely be soreness from the exercises. Has the pain always been there?
it’s more likely an ache…the pain started in 3 months from surgery and it really hurts especially when I squat one leg..does this pain go away????thanks again…
It should go away, yes. Some things take a lot longer, but within about 18 months everything was like normal (except for kneeling, but that was from the harvesting of the patellar tendon… it takes a long time for that to not feel pain from kneeling on it.)
I didn’t experience the pain you are talking about for very long.
I would be interested to know what the doctor says. So if you have a follow up visit sometime, ask him about it and let us know what he says.
Geff, et al: this is a great sharing of ideas and problems. To those who wrote about being depressed: I wrote too, a month ago. Here is what has helped: 1) Do your homework, and make sure your expectations are realistic. I honestly thought I would be the rare patient who achieved full recovery in 4 months. I’m now 6 months, feeling great (maybe 90%) but know I need to keep working for another 6 months. 2) Do your therapy. I mean every day. Maybe skip a day once in awhile, but try to do something every day. 3) Set goals. But MAKE SURE THEY ARE REALISTIC. I Have finally started running, but it is slow going. I plan on entering a super-short triathlon in a month, even tho I have done longer. It took a while to get inspired, but after 6 months, I am finally getting better. Emotionally and physically.
Awesome, awesome post! Thank you for that.
It’s so hard to know what it’s like until you go through it. I too thought I would be fully recovered faster than normal… I was going to work hard at it.
I did work hard at it, but there is no replacement for the time factor in healing.
Thank you again for those great comments.
Feeling that same way right now. I have been working so hard but feel “stuck” and like I should be further..I am only 2 1/2 weeks in after surgery, but expected myself to be doing better than ave 97 degree flex, 0 extention. So it is starting to depress me. Then after I get the 97… the next day I have to start over to get it back to at least that…frustrating!!!
Hi Barb, I am about 4 months post-op, and I have been dealing with some depression and anxiety over my injury. Some days I’m fine and then without warning I won’t be. I have never experienced this before in my life. I do feel my knee is getting better, but it is a very very slow process. My rehab. is mainly biking walking and stretching I do some one leg squats and the leg press from time to time, if I’m not biking. I won’t talk to my wife about it anymore because she’s heard enough about it already. This week for some reason seemed to be a little more stressful, maybe because I have been biking more than normal and my leg is more tired. I was just wondering if you ever felt that in your recovery you would take one step forward and two steps back if you know what I mean. Sometimes I feel I am getting no where in my recovery. Did you ever experience that? Anyways this website helps me cope….
I’m 3 months after acl surgery and i still hear a buckling sound everytime i walk, is this normal? and it feels unstable
Hi Peter, I am about 4 months out and I hear and feel things almost every step too. Some times the the sounds are on the middle side, some time on the lateral side. It also depends on the time of the day. In the morning not much at all, but as the day goes on things start clicking and my knee feels a little more loose. The pace that I walk and if I turn to the left or the right all make a difference.
I know how you feel, I was very worried about that. But I notice that it doesn’t do it as much, or it takes longer in the day to start. My doctor said that the body is a very dynamic organism and the knee will balance itself out. He also said “time is your friend”.
I never paid so much attention to the way that I walk in my life or what leg is my dominant one or how I normally stand, or kneel, or cross my legs. I catch my self watching other people walk and how they take it for granted that they don’t have the “clicking” every step. I used to be one of them. But if it ever goes away I will be the most grateful person alive, and never ever take it for granted again. Don’t get me wrong I am very grateful that I can still walk. It’s a beautiful thing….
I tore my ACL in half and ripped my inner meniscus on June 28. I was weed eating of all things and slipped on a small hill and my knee bent completely backwards with a loud pop. I had my surgery on August 12th and I swear I felt better before surgery. I have had my leg in a brace since the accident first happened and could bear no weight on that leg ever since. During surgery the doc also trimmed out some arthritis, dont know where that came from as he said it wasn’t from this injury, and I guess I had some cartileage that just fell off when he touched it. I guess I knew I would have a lot of pain after surgery but was down deep expecting a miracle cure. I have been using my CPM and I am 3 physical therapy treatments in. It seems to me that the therapists care about nothing other then the piece of paper in their hand and keep spouting off about “protocol”. Everyone is different and heals at a different pace and I wish they would keep this in mind. The two things that are worrying me the most are, one – I can not lift my leg. I try and try to concentrate on doing a leg lift off of the table and my leg will just not move and two – I have the absolute most worst burning , firey, numb, pain in my thigh at night. It scares the crap out of me and has caused many rude awakenings in screaming pain. It’s almost like that pins and needles pain that you feel when a body part is falling asleep only 10x worse. I can’t get an answer out of my therapists as to what this is. I go back to see the doc this wednesday for an after surgery check-up so hopefully he will have some answers for me on this. Has anyone else had the problem of not being able to move their leg? I grab a hold of my brace and litterally pick my leg up to move it around along with my husband cradling my heel to get my leg on the bed.
Wow, your injury pained me just to read it! As for lifting your leg, be patient: it will come. Do your therapists use the electric stimulator, or “stim?” This will help you focus on contracting your quads to lift. As for the burning, that does not sound normal. See your doc. My doc gave me a muscle relaxant for night-time. I have restless legs and would really cramp up at nite.
No, they haven’t used the stimulator and have said nothing about using it yet ?? They have a piece of paper they look at that they keep saying “well protocol says you should be doing this, this, and this by now.” I see my doc for my surgery follow up appointment in 2 days to get my stitches out and for him to see how I am doing and I am definately bringing up the burning pain first and foremost. What I wouldn’t give for a nights worth of sleep. I even told my husband that a muscle relaxant sounds like it might help me. I don’t epect much though from anyone as I am on government funded health insurance and everyone seems to look down their noses at me. I’m sorry that my husband is disabled and we can’t afford expensive health insurance right now but I think I deserve to have good health care regardless.
Sounds like you need a new PT… My Pt has been using the Stim almost every day, because I am having the same problem. Muscle relaxers didn’t help me but what did was a heating pad on the underside of my thigh and I had ice on the knee. It really helped a lot to relax the muscle and keep it from the cramps, the RLS and that kicking thing it kept doing. good luck.
Hello,
I’m a freshman in college this year and recently tore my acl (about 3 weeks ago). However, this isn’t the first time, my junior year of high school i had torn the same knee. I was supposed to play softball for my college team in scholarship, but obviously that won’t be happening this year. I’ve lately been wondering if i should just give up on this softball dream because of the fact that i would like to be able to walk when i’m 35. However, i don’t know how much it will affect my knee. Some people say after two tears of the same knee the doctor tells them no sports. Should i stop or press my luck, help!
-Mandaa
I have a co-worker who told me that her best friend from high school had four surgeries on the same knee. Two of them were acls reconstructions. She continued to play sports and she ran some also. How she is in her early thirties and her knee hurts her. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but from my experience being able to play with my kids is more important than playing any sport.
But you also have to remember that tomorrow is a mystery and try not to dwell on the “what if’s”. Hope that helped……
can i sleep on my side? i had acl and meniscus taken out 5 days ago. i can lift my leg and bend it pretty far. you think its ok to sleep on my side?
Yes, it should be fine. You will want to put a couple pillows between your knees/legs. You can try different positioning until you find something comfortable.
Hello, I had my ACL recon on the 10th August so basically 3 weeks ago. I was devasted when I had the injury 12 months ago (12 month waiting list on NHS) when I was only 15, the worst part is I was due to be signing a pro contract for Blackburn Rovers on the tuesday and I had the injury the saturday before I was due to do so. Fair to say I was depressed during the wait for my operation because it meant no football and no contract. When the injury occured I had an MRI scan and the specialist confirmed I had torn my ACL and the lateral meniscus also, my medial ligament had come away with a piece of bone from my knee cap. The specialist didn’t seem too worried about the medial ligament so it must reattached itself? Anyway, I was just browsing different peoples ACL stories and came across this site, which I found very helpful. I hope you reply to my post and these questions I really need answering;
- Will my medial re-attach itself? ( Piece of bone is attached to the ligament)
- How long will it be before i’ll be able to walk without a limp (time frame would be useful)
-Whats the earliest I can return to sport? (Hamstring graft)
-I have enrolled at college on a plumbing course, will my knee be able to take a job which involves bending an kneeling most days?
- How long does it take for bloodflood to be established through the new graft?
- Will it hurt if the same injury occurs on the previously operated on knee?
- I can fully extend my leg since the day of the op, is this a big worry?
I’m sorry for the long post and the amount of questions but please get back to me as I cannot find the answers to this anywhere and I think this site will be my best try.
—-Many Thanks, Male 16 UK (Liverpool)—-
P.S my surgeon said there was no cartlidge damage (meniscus) when he open my knee up, so it was just a straight forward reconstruction of the completly snapped and shredded ACL.
I’m sorry to hear about your injury. The good news is that you can get back to 100%.
Long posts and questions are fine… I will help out with the questions I can answer for you.
I don’t have an answer for the medial. I have no experience with that.
You should be able to walk without a limp within a couple months. You will need to be walking slower than normal, but you shouldn’t have much of a limp.
The earliest it would be wise to return to sports would be 12 months. Some people do it sooner, but re-injury is more common for those people. Your new ACL will be back to normal at about 18 months. At 12 months, it is estimated that your ACL will be 85% healed and that should be good enough to get back to sports. Everyone recovers at a different rate though.
Your knee will eventually be back to normal. It does take time though. I don’t know an exact time frame for kneeling, but since you had the hamstring method used, you would be back to kneeling normal faster than I was. It took me a couple years before that felt normal. Yours will be faster than that.
It doesn’t take all that long for bloodflow to get to the new ACL. I don’t know for a fact, but I’m guessing weeks, not months.
If you hurt the same knee again, it probably feel the same way it did the first time you hurt it. There’s no getting around that.
I’m guessing you meant to say that you can’t fully extend your knee since the surgery. Until you get full extension back you will definitely have a limp. It’s not a huge worry at this point, but you will definitely want to work on getting the entire range of motion back in your knee. That is one of the most difficult and critical things you need to do.
Thanks for the quick reply Geff, I didnt think it would be 12 months so I am slightly more down than I already am as I was told it would be between 6-9 months depending on hamstring and quad muscle strength. Thanks for your answers they have put some of the things in my mind to rest, I cannot wait to get back to football (soccer) as soon as I can. I have so many questions to ask but I dont want to waste your time and taking over the page with huge paragraphs, anyway, thanks for the help and advice given its much appreciated.
You’re welcome.
It’s possible to be back faster than 12 months, there is just a slightly higher risk.
You can ask as many questions as you want… that is why this website is here. You can write as little or as much as you would like.
If you have these questions, someone else out there has those questions too… they just aren’t asking.
How many times in a week will I lift weights and strengthen my knee??And how long will your operated leg be stronger and bigger than my healthy leg??thanx..
It depends on what stage of recovery you are at.
Weight lifting doesn’t really come into play until after a few months. At that point you will be lifting weights and strengthening both your legs… they should end up being equal in strength.
My son (19) just tore his ACL for the second time in less than a year in his right knee. The first surgery was in Oct, 2010 and he was given the all clear in April, 2011. He played the entire spring HS baseball season at about 75%. During summer ball, while running to first base and tried to “juke” the first baseman, stepped awkwardly and heard a tearing sound (unlike the pop he heard the first time). The diagnosis was a partial tear, but after 6 weeks of rehab, just stepped awkwardly and knee ballooned again.
First surgery was a hamstring graft…. he has a baseball scholarship, so a bit more than your casual athlete. What do you recommend for the second time around as far as graft? Also, would you have a different surgeon perform the operation.
I know I am not Geff, but I have researched this a lot. The autograft patellar tendon graft is used the most and is the “Gold standard” of graft choices. It has a much less tendency to stretch than the hamstring graft because the bone plugs from the patellar tendon are secured into the tunnel that is made for the new graft and they heal much like a bone fracture. The hamstring graft has no bone plugs at the ends of it so it takes longer for the graft to grow or incorporate into the bone tunnels, so it can stretch out more easily when it is trying to heal. The hamstring has become more popular in the last few years because of the “morbidity” or pain from the incision from the patellar graft.
If a pro athlete has to have a acl reconstruction, you would think they would go with the “Gold standard”
The choice of surgeon, I would call around to see who does the most acl surgeries at the hospital you plan to go to for the surgery, there might be a couple of choices. You don’t necessarily want a “Hand” surgeon working on your son’s knee. It typically doesn’t happen that way, but it could. Or if you are happy with the surgeon you already have then stick with him or her.
Hope that help you….
I went with the Allograft… both my surgeon who is excellent..board certified and specializes in knees and sports injury, told me, if he had to have this done… he would absolutly go with the allograft. My PT who fitted me for my brace said the same thing, and my reg pt agreed and he had the same thing done 2 years earlier and had the exact same surgery as me. Good luck!
Don D. gave you some great answers.
6 months is a little too early to come back from ACL surgery though. Those who come back that soon have a higher chance of tearing it again. I’m not sure why he would be cleared so soon. NFL players take almost a full 12 months to come back… and they get paid to do nothing but rehab every day.
If it were me, I may want to try a different doctor… I don’t know all the details though to make a decision like that. I’d want to know why he released your son so early for sports. I’d also want to know why he went with hamstring method. Not that there is anything wrong with that… it works. I’d just be curious to know.
What I did was find the best knee doctor I could find. I ended up going to the doctor that does the surgeries for most of the pro sports teams around here. This isn’t a big area and we only have minor league sports, so it may have been easier for me to do that in this area.
Once I found him, I asked his opinion and he flat out told me he does hundreds of these surgeries every year. Out of all those ACL reconstructions, he does patellar tendon in over 90% of them. That was enough to tell me to go with that method. He is good at what he does and he does tons of patellar method surgeries.
In your son’s case, they will probably give you a choice of patellar tendon or autograft. Both should work. Patellar tendon does tend to have slightly lower rates of re-injury, but more times than not, the re-injury happens with autograft because the knee feels so good it’s hard not to jump right into more vigorous activity. With the patellar tendon method, that won’t happen so fast because there is more pain involved from the harvest site.
If I had to make my choice again, I would not hesitate to use the patellar method again. Of course I’m biased because that is what I’ve already lived through and that is what i’m used to. The next doctor may vary well recommend autograft since he has already had one ACL surgery.
Is it more likely the leg which has had the op will have more chance of the same re-occuring?
Will me knee ever feel the same as it did before injury?
Is the new ACL graft stronger than the original?
Does it feel different than the other knee when performing twisting motions with the foot planted?
What is kicking a football(soccer) ball like with your reconstructed leg?
How long did it take you to get over or at least forget the mental scars?
At which point in your rehab did you start to do the exercise classes(PT)?
What was the pain like after the operation for you? I didnt feel a thing and stopped taking painkillers two days after the op, is that normal?
Once again sorry for the questions, it would be much appreciated if anyone can answer them. Thanks
My doctor told me that after 18 months, the new ACL would not have any higher of a chance of tearing than my normal knee.
Your knee will feel just as good as your normal knee after a couple years. You will be able to do everything well before then… but at that point, the fears go away and you start to forget you knee was even injured.
The new graft will be just about the same strength as your old ACL.
My knee does indeed feel different than my good knee when it comes to twisting motions. Not much different, but a little. That has more to do with the number of times I hurt my knee rather than from the surgery though. In your case, it may feel just as good as the “good” knee.
Kicking any kind of ball feels the same as the normal knee.
For me to get over everything mentally, it took 2 years. It won’t take you that long though. I re-injured my knee several times before I had the surgery. That was not a good idea, but it’s one I made and had to live with.
I started PT right away. Didn’t do any kind of jogging or anything for a couple months though.
The pain after surgery wasn’t that bad. I had a bad reaction to the pain meds and stopped taking them two days after surgery. I had much more pain a few days later from the bruising than I ever did from the surgery. Do keep taking the ibuprofen though… that helps with swelling. You can’t let the swelling get out of hand since it can cause more problems.
Don’t be sorry for asking question… I don’t mind at all. I can guarantee that many other people had those same questions, but were afraid to ask.
Dad here again, they let you return to sport if you pass the tests after 6 months… if you’re surgical leg tests over 85% of good leg. I do admit, he would not have been able to play basketball or football, but baseball is quite a bit less demanding or so we thought.
Surgeon does hundreds of these a year… we live pretty close to a well known clinic. He said 10 years ago, it was 90% petella, but now it is 90% hamstring. Now that hamstring appears to have failed, we will probably go patella. My concern is the trauma this knee has had over the last 12 months and taking the patella will increase that. I see Robbie Hummel (Purdue) took his opposite patella the first time, but that is what failed for him so I guess there are no guarantees.
Thanks for the replies… interesting reading.
I thought about taking the opposite patella also but I didn’t. My Doctor said it’s better to have only one vulnerable knee than two. I used my own patellar tendon and I am about four months out, the pain isn’t that bad at all. I can kneel on it already. It only hurts a little, but again I am only four months post-op. I am sure that will get better. I don’t have any concerns about the strength of the remainder of the patellar tendon. That to will scare in and mature into a new tendon. Your body has an amazing ability to heal.
Geff, I hope I’m not stepping on you toes by answering some of these questions, or annoying anybody else. It’s a coping mechanism for me.I hope you don’t mind. I find your site to be very helpful and I am very grateful that you have created it.
I
I don’t mind you answering stuff. We all have our opinions and I know you are living through it as well as having researched a lot of this stuff. Your point of view should carry some weight.
I do understand the testing and having 85% be a go… however, that just means the muscles are 85% as strong as the good leg. There is nothing that can speed up the process of the graft becoming the new ACL. That just takes time. At 6 months, there is just no way the new ACL is 85% healed. From what I understood from my doctor, that doesn’t happen for around 12 months. And by 18 months the new ACL is pretty much as healed as it is going to ever get.
You absolutely can use the tendon from the other knee… they just tend to not go that route because of pain issues and they are already cutting one knee open, so they use that.
90% seems high for the amount of hamstring operations, but if that is what the doctor likes and what he is best at… then that was your best bet at the time.
Taking a small portion of the patellar tendon doesn’t seem to cause much of an issue strength wise for the graft site. The new ACL would still be the weakest link… assuming the patellar tendon wasn’t injured in any way previously.
I would really expect they would seriously consider using allograft. I’m not saying that is the way to go… I’m just saying I wouldn’t be surprised at all if the doctor thought that may be the way to go.
Hi. I got ACL reconstrution surgery and they fixed my MCL too.. just a couple hours ago. September 2nd, 2011.
I used the Patella method to fix it or whatever.
Is there like any way to get my knee to heal a bit faster?? I know its hard and stuff but I want to go to school as soon as possible. This is my Senior year in High School and I don’t want to miss much of class. And The Homecoming Dance is September 17th, and I told my Girlfriend I would go with her but I honestly doubt my knee will be good enough by then.. So yeah, I was just wondering if I can speed the process up just a little so I will be able to stand and stuff so I don’t totally ditch my Girlfriend. :b haha. Should I ice it more?? Should I try to work it out a lot longer every day?? What do you think I should try to do??
There is no real way to get things to heal any faster. You can speed up certain things like range of motion and muscle strength. Those are two things you should definitely work on the most.
You will need to do the exercises that your doctor has told you to do. Each doctor has their own protocol they like to use.
At the very least you will want to take 7 to 10 days before returning to school. That would still be really early, but I’ve seen people do it. You would need to be able to prop your leg up while you are in class though. No getting around that. If you don’t, it’s going to swell up like a balloon.
Use ice as much as you want. It helps with pain and swelling.
It’s possible you could go to the dance, but of course you won’t be dancing.
You could stand up for a short time, but again you would want to spend more time with your leg propped up to stop the swelling.
You will also possible still be in the immobilizer at that point.
So, you will want to work the most on bending and straightening our leg out. The quicker you get the full range of motion back, the easier things will be. Use ice whenever you feel like it. It is a great pain reliever and reduces swelling.
I have discussed the allograft (cadaver) option. From what the doc tells me they don’t like to do that in young athletes. He is 19. Thoughts???
I agree with your Doctor. My Doctor wanted to use a allograft on me because I am 39. He said if I was 20 he wouldn’t even give me an option and he would just go with the autograft. I told him to treat me like a 20 year old.
Hey is it possible to re-tear your acl graft after 4 weeks post surgery?
Hi i am 4 months post surgery and i still feel a buckle every time i walk. I also am unable to jog. Is this a problem? And after 4 months post surgery should your knee feel the same as the other one just walking around the house?
Great website!
I am 36 and 12 weeks post op from repair with a hamstring graft. Also had meniscus repair.
I can cylcle indoors and out no problem and had just started treadmill running 2 weeks ago. All seemed to be going well however finding knee is now aching a lot more throughout the day than it was previously. At times getting frustrated with it. It is common for the knee to ache like this after 12 weeks? I religously do my exercices and won’t stop as very determined to return to soccer. Getting told I am obsessed with exercise!!
I am 4 months post-op and my knee started to ache more too. I bike to work and I am on my feet all day standing, bending, lifting, walking. Then I bike home, ten miles one way. Then I would do some more exercises, it was getting to be to much. I was getting frustrated too. I feel like I am going backwards with the whole healing thing. So this week I took it easy and just walked and stretched, my knee feels better today. I had this same question buzzing around in my head too. Thanks for asking.
Thanks Don. Have taken it easier this week and going to do so for a little longer too. Like you have said just doing some of the exercises and stretching at home and some light gym cardio and weights. For almost all of us who have to work I find it’s one of the hardest bit as I want to exercise throughout the day to loosen the knee up as much as possible.
Some times at work I will do stuff. I will take a rolling stool and roll forward, pulling myself down the hall about 20 times. Great hamstring workout! Or I use foot stool and do some step downs. Anything is better than nothing. It is hard to do both work and exercises, I feel there is a fine line between to much and not enough. At the end of the day it’s like my knee cap is floating around in a bag of water, because my knee is swollen again. I wonder if this is ever going to go away. It doesn’t hurt though, so thats good.
Hi I’m already 5 months post and I want to know what exercises or strength training exercises that can make the hamstrings and quads stronger…So far I already did some familiar exercises like leg curls, lunges, squats, goodmornings and etc….I’m only worried about my operated leg because it’s still smaller than my healthy leg..Is it also ok to use the leg extensions???because some said it can strain or stress the acl graft??thanx
The repaired leg will take a while to get back to the same size as the good leg… there is just no way around that.
Also, you are in the recovery period where a lot of re-injuries happen. Somewhere between 4 – 6 months or so everything starts feeling a lot better and more normal. So people start doing more strenuous things (Strenuous to the ACL).
In reality, the muscles are getting stronger, but the ACL is actually at it’s weakest point somewhere between 3 – 6 months. The new ACL in most people is probably weakest right around 3 to 4 months, but everyone differs a little bit.
Now to answer your question about leg extensions…
I realize “everyone” says they are “bad”, but here is the reality…
My doctor told me to do them (I don’t remember the exact point of recovery when I started them.) I didn’t question it. I did them.
I’m not telling you to do them, or that they are ok to do. Legally speaking, this isn’t advice and I’m not telling anyone to go out and do that exercise. I don’t want anyone to come back to this website when they re-injure their ACL and sue me. I’m just giving you the experience that I went through.
You should ask your doctor and do what he says… each doctor has their own protocol for the patient to follow.
I have a question is it normal to hear a pop sound when it happend because this happened to me yesterday was playin soccer and fell and heard a pop on my knee does that mean i tore a ligitament will i need surgery? Im only 13 and my soccer career might be over so someone please respond to me and if u have any helpful tips to cure this faster please tell me thank you
It could mean you tore your ACL, but just because you heard a pop doesn’t mean it is for sure torn. You will need to have a doctor check it out.
Even if it is torn, surgery will fix it and you would be able to play soccer again.
There is no way to make it heal faster. I’m also not sure how soon they would do surgery if that’s what you were going to do. Since you are 13, you still have some growing to do… they will take that into account and recommend when to do the surgery if you need it.
Oh ok thnx but i have been reading on several websites that when u tore your ligtament that your knee feels all loose and that u feel like it can pop out at anytime and is that statement true. and i dont feel that i just cant bend my leg.
It CAN feel lose and like it will give out, but it is not always that way. Right now, your knee is probably swollen up, so it’s not going to feel loose at all.
Oh ok right now im headed to the doctors thabk you for answering my questions also do u need to have surgery if i tore my ligament
Yes, probably will at some point.
Oh ok right now it still is swollen and my knee cap is off to the side a little bit off
You are like a gift from God sent to help us thank you may God bless you
Thank you for the kind comments.
I am just a normal person trying to help out other people in some way. I’m glad the website can help so many.
Okay, i know this is a absolutely terrible hour for me to be up because i have school. but i just wanted to say thank you this was actually the most good first person information ive found all week. im 14 and a freshman at my highschool and i was going to start both ways for football this sucks really badly, mainly becasue i tore my mcl, something else (not a major one) and fractured my femur. so the doctor is waiting (4 weeks) im 2 weeks in and i have my follow up appointment the 16th and i kind of hope he says the method you say and i don’t know how people can be awake during surgery. i mean sure you wont feel it but i would be tripping out severely haha. you KNOW its happening but you dont feel it i mean hell rite now while im in bed i can almost feel everything were talking about its pretty weird. but yea my only real questions are is what kind of stuff do they have you do for PT at the beginning? and compared to when you tore it does it hurt as much or is it bearable because i tore myn during our 3rd football practice (with hitting) and my knee bent like this > and everyone was like “DUDE you swore like 20 times going down!” and it was a like 11 on a scale of 1-10. (probably becasue ive never hurt myself that badly) and idk if you have any idea but if you do how much fo you think this will affect my game as a linemen. do you think ill back to 100% next season? lastly man your awesome for making this
Thats how mine bent did u tear ur ligamrnt
Tore my acl. mcl. something else. and fractured my femur lol yea i fucked it up
Oh but the differnce is that i got hit by a guy with shoulder pads right in my knee and when i hit the ground my the inside part of my knee hit first and i heard it pop really loud as i got hit then as i was helped of the field and sat down it poped. i could barley friggen breath becasue of the pain. and funny thing was is i wasnt crying but people say i was becasue ya know when u gut hurt really bad that water just GETS in your eyes like u got something stuck like a eyelash it was pretty dumb.
Sorry I couldn’t get to this post earlier. I’ve been way too busy today…
I felt the same way about being awake during surgery. I wanted no part of that even though they assured me that the drugs would make me not care. I’d rather just go to sleep and wake up with it done.
The pain of PT is nowhere near as bad as the injury. I know that is not the case for everyone, but your injury sounds like mine… It hurt so bad it was hard to breathe.
I’m sorry to hear about your injury. That really sucks to have football taken away from you like that. The good news is you can certainly be back next year. You might not be at fully 100% next season, but you should be close enough to wear the knee brace and play hard. You should do fine. By the time your junior year rolls around, it will be a distant memory.
In the beginning, PT is all about getting range of motion back. The goal will be to straighten it out fully and bend it fully. Sounds easy, but it takes some work. You will start doing more and more strengthening exercises as time passes.
Since you are a football player, working out and doing hard work is normal for you. You will do just fine with PT.
Doctors are so good at ACL surgery now that a couple years down the road, you will be completely back to normal without any problems.
Thats completely fine that you were busy man we all are. hey at least i get to use the elevator at school for a bit
. but yea i dont think PT will be that bad. mainly becasue i can bend my knee a little bit right now and yea hard work holy shit yes. we had a ton of conditioning our couch even said. “you guys arnt the fastest, not the biggest, not the most skilled, but you will be the toughest BAMF out on that field.” so far thats true our guys that have bin playing don’t tire out and go both ways so its good to know i had couches who at least showed us hard work. THE DAY before it happened. we ran like i think 3000 yards (like almost 2 miles) and had to do tons of down ups and sit ups and the works in between. sucked pretty hard.
i have proximal acl rupture and bucket of meniscus broken. i had surgery and doctor had remove my broken meniscus insted of repair and had repair my acl. my problem is after 3 month i could not bend my leg more than 90 degree. and i still have some pain where my meniscus had broken.
You will really need to work on bending and the complete range of motion for your knee. That is important. There may be scar tissue in there now that is making it more difficult. You should have the doctor examine it. Sometimes, they will go in and remove some scar tissue if it is causing a lot of trouble.
hi again…i’m 5 months post op and is it ok to work out or weight lifting to my operated leg everyday??what is the good schedule for me to use weights??/thanks
That would be something you need to ask your doctor or PT person. You would be better off by only doing the strength work on your legs every other day… So there would be one day of rest between leg workouts.
I can’t really give you many specifics with weight because everyone is different. That should be recommended by someone who has seen you progress so far.
It would be normal at this point to do work with weights, yes. Again though, you should follow your doctor’s protocol while working with physical therapist.
I had ACL surgery on my right knee about two weeks ago. Unfortunately I don’t have anyone who can chaffuer me around so I’m having to do more driving than I would like. Today when I was parking my car at work I went to hit the brakes and accidently gave the gas a really good push. I wound up hopping over the little speed bump at the end of the parking space. The car moved maybe 6 or 7 feet before I was able to stop the car. But I REALLY pressed hard on the brakes when I stopped the car. Now I’m concerned that I may have damaged the graft. I have PT later today, I’ll see what they think.
All day I’ve been reading how people tear their ACLs from pressing the brakes really hard. So Needless to say I am very nervous.
You are probably fine. It is pretty difficult to tear your ACL again by that kind of motion. Most times it will take a twist/pivot motion, uneven ground, or a quick change in direction while running.
Hey Geff whay would happen or is it bad to have liquid in your knee
All the liquid and swelling is normal how your body responds to injuries. That is why it is important to keep your leg propped up when you can and use ice to keep the swelling down.
Hey all! I play college soccer and I am 20 years old and now on my third knee surgery in 8 months ! I fractured bones and tore my acl and meniscus in both knees. After my first surgery everything was perfect, I was realized to play and five min into the game I tore my other knee which continued to have problems causing two surgeries. I was not depressed after the first two, but I had a really hard time this year due to the fact that I can’t travel and do not feel apart of the team. My acl surgery in my left knee was may 27 and since then I have had meniscus work but nothing serious. I have been rehabbing well and will be realized soon. I am very nervous about playing again and I do not know how to calm my nerves as I didn’t think about it last time and it happened anyways. This time I’ve worked harder and am stronger, but does anyone have an advice ?
Just dont try to put that much pressurenon youseles just think that u never had the surgery i just had my knee sprained when i was playing soccer i heard a pop and couldnt feel my knee until i poped it back to place
That may be the toughest thing about knee injuries… It is very hard to forget about it and not be nervous about it.
For me, it just took time. Nothing can replace that. It took time for me to get the nervous thoughts out of my head. I had to actually start playing sports (not 100% all out) taking it slow and realizing that everything was going to be ok. Slowly I started to play harder and harder. Eventually, I realized I was playing hard and not thinking about it anymore.
Honestly, that took me a couple years though. Everyone will take a different amount of time.
Hey Geff what happenes if there is liquid in your knee
It can cause other problems… which is why they always want you to minimize the swelling with ice and elevation.
Swelling is normal, but it may start causing problems if it gets out of hand.
Hey, i’m 15 and tore my ACL/miniscus paying soccer in may, i had surgery in June. and i still haven’t completly gotten back my range of motion! what should i do? At school it is difficult to go down the stairs…i go SO slow! I feel depressed abou it, because i dont know if im ever gonna fully recover, and i LOVE soccer, and miss my team! My knee still hurts…and gets stiff a lot..
You should ask your doctor if u can do some excersise to make your knee better dont worry i sprained my knee or something and miss soccer too
Are you going to physical therapy? You have to do a lot of bending and straightening exercises to get the range of motion back.
It’s definitely normal to feel depressed about it.
yes, i am doing physical therapy 3 times a week. its honestly pretty difficult. its really frustarating not being to participate in simple things like going down a flight of stairs. sometimes i reach 0 degrees but only after stretching alot, before i srtetch it is at 5degrees from 0.
oh and do you suggest using a brace?
My doctor did not recommend a brace, but I do know some doctors will ask you to do that. Both ways work. It would be more important to do what your particular doctor wants you to do.
Yes, it can be very frustrating just doing simple things like stairs.
Did they do the hamstring method or did they use patellar tendon for you new acl?
They did the hamstring method. my hamstrings burn constantly now…its really very annoying! THANKYOU SO MUCH though! your website REALLY helps!
Hey Geff is it baf to have liqyid in your knee
hi i’m from the philippines. I had an ACL reconstruction surgery last March 2006. I re-injure myself last Sept. 2 while playing basketball. MRI of my knee revealed disrupture of the graft and i tore again may lateral meniscus…
what options do i have now??? i’m afraid since I read a lot that ACL revisions are riskier and does not guarantee 100%. My goals now are reduced to having to walk and run as a normal person could. I am not planning to go back to playing sports.
Geff is it bad to have fluid in your knee
It depends on what liquid it is. for me it was blood. and that was becasue i tore all that stuff in my knee. normally its supposed to be clear. your probobly fine if they say you only sprained it
Thanks Christian for the info was very helpful
It’s not necessarily bad… as Christian said, you are probably fine.
Make sure you elevate it a lot and use ice to keep the swelling down. You don’t want it to get out of hand.
hey geff. is it okay if i update you from time to time about my knee and junk like that on here? i may have a few new questions here and there
Absolutely!
You can post on here whenever you want. I will help answer whatever I can.
How has everything been going?
uh, okay. i got a wheelchair for school though so thats nice (my classes are ALL OVER the school.) i have my next appointment this friday so woo. also i have homecoming September 24th. i asked my best friend, who i always kinda wanted to be more with to the dance. she said yes so that’s at least one good thing that has come out of all this. one question. is it normal to have sleeping problems during this? for me i always keep thinking about thing and asking myself questions like “when am i going to walk again?” “what would our team be like if i could play” “whats it going to be like during football when im back to some sort of normality?” idk is that normal or am i just blabbering to myself to much?
Glad to hear you are getting along ok and going to homecoming. That is excellent.
It is very normal to have problems sleeping. Your mind is racing with all those thoughts. You will have to see if there is something you can do an hour or two before you go to bed that will allow you mind to stop racing so much. For me, it usually helped to read or watch a movie… something that didn’t require any deep thought. Probably doesn’t work for everyone though.
Ya the mind raceing things whats getting me. but hey its whatever at least its good i get to think some of junk out. ill probably update you more Friday becasue that’s when i have my next appointment with the doc. football game tomorrow so woot woot.
i just got word i have an acute acl tear. doc says i need to get it fixed by surgery. I am sooo nervous of the pain and recovery. I did have a csection with my son, do you think it would hurt more than that? i know you have not had a csection as you are male
but i felt like my insides were going to fall out. i’m so scared. how long after surgery did the pain start to subside?
That is a tough question. Everyone is different and reacts different.
I did have Kidney stones a few years ago and that was the worst pain I’ve ever felt. Worse than tearing my acl or any part of surgery/recovery. Other than that, I don’t have anything to compare it to.
It’s not easy or anything and of course there is pain involved… but it’s not the worst pain ever. If you take the meds and use lots of ice, the pain shouldn’t get out of hand for you.
I actually stopped taking everything but ibuprofen on the 2nd day after surgery and I was fine. I only took that because the doctors made me take it for the swelling. Ice was my best friend. lol.
Once you can get going on physical therapy, it gets better. I mean, PT hurts sometimes too, but it is a good feeling like you are making progress.
If I had to go through ACL surgery again, I would do it and not think twice about it.
Hello. I’m hoping someone can help me here! I’m 21 years old.. When I was in the 9th grade I hurt my knee at a basketball camp. Ended up having meniscus surgery as soon as I returned home. They also tightened my ACL. No problems with recovery. One year ago I was at the gym.. Had intense Pain one day and decided to go get it checked out. Ended up having the other meniscus operated on and some things burned off and again, the ACl was stretched but he said it should be fine. So.. About 6 months ago I was back at the gym and doing the same things and this time it popped. I went to the ER. Got in with my DR te next day.. Had an MRI and sure enough I tore cartilage,
My right meniscus again and this time my ACl was completely detatched. I had surgery 3 months ago to fix all. Cut out my ACL completely and used my patella tendon as a new ACL. Here I am 3 months out and I’m in worse pain then before the surgery. I’ve been out of work and the gym this entire time. Been going to PT and a walk around my development every morning. I go to the DR every 3 weeks so he can monitor swelling and progress and what not. I call them a lot complaining about pain and not being able to bend it fully, kneel, run, go up stairs right foot first. He says there is nothing wrong with my knee i just have to give it time. But he won’t do another MRi. They told me there’s patients who are usually running 3 months out of surgery and I’m not the typical ACL patient so I tried running about a week ago.. Got about 3 steps and I felt a pop and fell and since then it’s been very swollen .. Extreme pain and feels like water is in there. I go back to him tomorrow but I’m afraid he’s going to tell menthe same thing.. “it just takes time” but I know my body and I knew when there was something wrong before and the pain i have every day is NOT normal. I’m hoping someone can help me!
You are not the typical ACL patient, that much is true. But knowing that doesn’t help you in your situation, does it?!?
If you felt/heard a pop, it certainly could be a torn ACL again or meniscus… but you can’t know that without tests. It could also just be scar tissue breaking up which would be a normal thing.
Honestly though, if deep down you feel like something is wrong and the doctor won’t do anything for you or listen… go get a second opinion from a different doctor. There is nothing wrong with that.
You are not progressing like someone normally would after ACL surgery and rehab for whatever reason.
Make sure you keep it elevated when you are at home and use ice. Try to get the swelling down.
If it were me and I really thought something was wrong… I would go get a second opinion.
I’ve also aquired, just in the past week, a burning tingly numbing like sensation in my quad on my surgery knee. Very hard to sleep
Jessica: I had a c-section, and the acl was a breeze, in comparison. For one thing, you dont have to get up at all hours! It will be hard for a few days, but then you’ll start wanting to move around.
Don D ( and others): i think we are close to the same point (28 weeks). YES, there were many days I felt I was falling bqckwards. Then suddenly, I wasnt thinking about my knee 24/7. For me, that was about 22 weeks, but eveeyone is different. No matter how hard you work, your body will only be ready at its own pace…but rest assured, it WILL recover!
Jessica, I was nervous about the pain also. I know everyone is different with healing, but the pain wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be. The hard part for me is the psychological, emotional, and time it takes to recover.
Corryn, Hi. I feel your frustrations, when I was around the three month mark is when my knee started to become more sore too. My Doc. also told me that “Time is your friend”, and that there is a lot of healing that is taking place. It just takes time for that to happen. Good luck with your appointment!
I am 45 years old and am 5 days postop. I tore my right knee ACL and Meniscus Late July. I had an allograft Achilles tendon because per i my surgeon it is bigger and stronger. Has anyone used this type of graft?
One of my friends who tore his ACL around the same time I did… He had the same allograft you did. Everything worked out great for him.
Thank you Geff, that is good to hear.
Today I had to adjust my attitude. Having to wear my brace and keeping my leg straight is giving me muscle spasms in my quads and calf. The burning sensation is not fun either. I am only on Ibuprofen during the day since I am working from home. I take my Percocet at night.
Being so uncomfortable makes me grouchy. The cat won’t even come near me
Hey Geff when did you start weight lifting?? Because my doc and my PT cleared me to weight lifting at the end of the 2nd month..But I already using body weight at the end of 1st month and started using 12 lbs doing lunges and squats at 2nd month..
I think it took a little longer than that for me. My first PT person took things too slow. I changed PT places after 7 weeks and once I went to a the place, things got on track. I think I was doing more weight work at around 3 months. But my 2nd month was kind of wasted by going so slow.
It sounds like you are doing great.
Geff imma about to go to the doctor to see the final results of my knee because i had to get a mri scan and ima update what they say and you can tell me if its bad so thank you very much
Let me know what you find out.
Geff is it quite common for the knee to ache quite a lot during the day?
I am around 14 weeks post op now and do a lot of bike work in the gym and started treadmill running around 3 weeks ago. Have been told can start light jogging outside but don’t feel yet like the knee is up for it.
I work during the day and find as I am up and down sitting and standing a lot by the end of work I am aching. The exercises I do at home I find crucial to loosen the knee and get back feeling more normal!
but again after a training session the following day it could be back aching again. I think it may be I am training too hard in the gym and should be taking it a bit lighter.
It’s not unusual to have it ache quite a bit for a while. Some things may trigger it more than others… you will have to try and keep track of what things make it worse. It will eventually go away.
I do notice once in a while, when the weather changes, it aches sometimes, but it’s nothing that happens every day.
You can try a short, light jog and see if it makes things any worse. You can keep the first few jogs pretty short to test it out. I think my first jog may have been somewhere between 200 and 400 meters. Not much.
Well i have to have surgery the reason i can bend it or extend it that much is because i tore some cartilage behind my knee cap
That would make sense. Any idea when you will be having surgery?
Thanks Geff
Okay theres some good news, and some bad news. Im going to start with the good news. the doctor said he wants me walking without my knee brace in 2 weeks. now the bad news is that i have to decide on my surgery. i either have to wait another year and have the petella graf or i get the hamstring graph done and be able to play next year. I would really like some advice on what you think i should do.
oh yea and the reason i have to wait is for what you said in the hamstring FAQ ” Can be used in younger patients who have open growth plates.” and thats why i would have to wait to do the patella one because my growth plates are still open
little more detail i thought i should add. i think im going to go with the hamstring one. just because i want to be able to get back to football (as soon as possible but im not going to go to fast and hurt myself agian) something that i guess i shud throw in is that im 6’1 because u said somethign about how tall u are and the hamstrings
It would be fine to go with the hamstring method and try to get back to football next year instead of waiting. I don’t think I would want to wait either.
yea i really dont want to wait. so i think ill go with the hamestring one. i mean id rather go with the other one but my team does need me for next year. you said your friend had the hamstring method done also? did he do sports also? what differnce will there be betwean the way im going to be doing it now? i saw that you cant walk for something like 4 weeks because your hamstring has to heal, the hamsting they take doesnt grow back right or does it? (i know this wasnt what you did but hopefully you know or someone will come along and see this)
He did have the hamstring method done and he has always been into sports. He didn’t have any trouble getting back into sports after the surgery and rehab. I’m sure he was able to walk fairly soon after surgery… but I don’t have any experience with that method, so I can’t say for sure. I’m guessing he did a lot of stretching. He never really mentioned any problems from the recovery, so I’m thinking thinking the hamstring heals just fine.
Okay thanks for the info, i know its not what you personally did but you have a better idea then anyone i know without being able to talk to the doctor
Hi guys! I’m writing to say there is life after acl surgery! I am 28 weeks post-op, and I just finished my first triathlon in 3 years! Not only did I feel good with my finish, I even survived a fall during the run! I tripped on a root and went down…you guessed it, on my bad knee! I never would have thought I could do this 6 weeks ago, but one day, I woke up and realized I was ready. The knee is still not “normal,” but I don’t notice it as much anymore.
WOW… How great is that!?! I’m glad to hear about your successful triathalon.
Great Job! Thank you for posting and letting others know that they can return to sports after ACL surgery and succeed.
Barb, That’s is awesome! Good for you. I too have a success story.I am 4 1/2 months post-op. Yesterday I did a 40 mile mountain bike race, and my knee feels great. My tush on the other hand….. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it or not. I just took it one peddle at a time. Before I knew it I was half way through the race. I’m not trying to sound like I am bragging or anything, but like Barb said there is life after acl surgery. I feel my knee is really coming around now.
I am VERY proud of you Don. I know you’ve struggled with some stuff, but this is fantastic news!!
Just keep moving forward.
hi geff i have just had my second acl done 1st time i had the hamstring graft and it went well but i missed alot of my rehab due to working away.I re-ruptured the same knee and have now had a patella graft im 11 days post op now and im wearing a brace which the doc said i need to use it for 6 weeks and its only set @90 degrees so thats the most i can bend it i have ditched the crutches and walking on it now so hope all goes well this time around and i will be doing every bit of physio this time.so everyone out there make sure you do your physio or you could end up needing another op good luck everyone
Thanks for stopping by and making a post… I really appreciate it!
I’m sorry to hear about you having to have a second surgery. I’m sure everything will go well for you this time around.
Keep up the good work.
Hey Geff they said i need therapy
well yea dude. you need physical therapy for stuff like this. its nothing bad just make sure to do it and work hard at it. after being of my leg so long its almost like learning to walk again, and the muscles have obviously weakened after not doing anything for a month. (for me)
Oh ok thanks but exactly what kind of excercises
That would be for your doctor to decide. They will usually tell you what they want you to do.
Barb, I was wondering how your knee is doing today after your triathlon?
Is it possible to share e-mail addresses, privately, not with the whole group?
It’s not at this point. I wanted to avoid putting email addresses out there. Too many scammers skimming pages on the internet for email addresses.
If two people do request each other’s email address I can forward it along… but only if both parties agree to it.
A better idea may be a message board, but I haven’t had time to set one of those up. At this point it is just my website with posts and comments. It is easier to manage and doesn’t take up a ton of my time.
Ok thanks Geff
Well geff this is some good news. i was able to get 90 degress on bending my knee. still havnt gone to my first pt though because my insurance is being stupid lol
That is good news.
And no offense to anyone if you work in the insurance industry, but insurance companies suck… I mean, why I should have to pay over $1000/mo. for high deductible insurance (with HSA) to cover myself, my wife and my son is beyond me. And that $1000/mo. gives me the privilege of having a $5000 yearly deductible before they pay a penny… not to mention the deductible resets every January 1st. Honestly… how can normal american families afford prices like that?
Hey Geff is it okay to use the leg curl machine??
It was on my list of exercises from my doctor, so I would say it probably is. I did do them. It was my understanding that the hamstring curls do not put the same amount of shear force on the ACL that the extension machine does. Again though, I’m not a doctor and this was only my personal experience.
Don, my knee is sore, especially going up and down stairs. How about you? I’m guessing you have some soreness, too? Time to get back to basics: more therapy, less running, etc. BTW, I am about three months ahead of you, post-op, so you are doing great! 40 miles? That’s awesome!
Hi Barb, Yes my knee is a little more sore than normal, not bad though. Biking isn’t as hard as running. I have been sidelined all summer from mountain biking, too risky, but I couldn’t help myself. I just had to do it.
Things are getting better, the aches and pains aren’t as bad and they are migrating to different parts of my knee. I just take it as the “healing Gods” are hard at work.
The other day at work my co-workers were making fun and imitating me. So I had them all doing wall sits and other exercises. After that they were rubbing their knees too….
Have a great day Don
Haha I like it! Wall sits are great, aren’t they? Ever try them FACING the wall? Tough! Like you, I have some new pains on the inside of my knee. But I got back to my exercises today, and it seems better. At least it is not stiff and sore anymore. As they say: Define Your Life, Ride a Bike. Ciao!
well i guess hi geff this is fairly important so i hope you see this right away. i had my first thing of pt today. we didn’t do much but a evaluation. the lady showed me how to just use one crutch and said to start doing that at home. the thing right now that is really bothering me is that im REALLY depressed. i mean im happy that ive bin able to bend my knee and stuff but i really just have no drive at all to go to school, not because its hard or anything but becasue i just feel so excluded from doing everything how i normally would, my homecoming went alright i did slow dance and stuff but as i said earlier i felt so excluded bad every-time id have to sit down becasue my leg was troubling me so much from standing for so long. she said it was fine and that she understood but i still felt like an ass. and then at the end of the night i got rejected on kissing my date (who also happened to be my best-friend.) i haven’t bin able to get ANY sleep (as you may be able to tell from when im posting this and ive bin lieing to my mom about doing some of my math work. idk what to do really i mean i could tell my mom all this but shed probably just think im lieing to have an excuse for not doing my work. but ive really felt like crap i probably shouldn’t of even posted all this random non sense but i just dunno what to do right now. in all honesty your older and probably have the best advice on what to do.
hey geff. sorry for like sharing all that with you randomly. diddnt really know where to go. sorry. i think im okay for now.
It’s ok, Christian. I don’t mind at all.
I wish I could just tell you exactly what to do and have you feel better. Most time it isn’t quite that simple though.
The good news is that you realize you are feeling depressed. Things get much worse when a person is depressed but not aware that it is depression. It can spiral downward very fast.
It sounds like you have several things getting to you all at once. The best way I’ve ever found to deal with things is to talk to someone about it. If there is someone around you that you really trust, you should see if you can get some time to talk to them. It doesn’t even have to be a marathon talk or anything. Just a short time where you can talk about things and have someone listen to you and understand what you are going through… That would really help a lot.
You could always write things down and that does help some people, but I’ve always found it much better if I actually talk to someone face to face. Again though, it would have to be someone you trust. At this point in my life, I talk to my wife about everything. I’m lucky to have someone like her. She doesn’t judge me or think badly of me… she is always there and would do anything to help me. If you are close to your Mom at all, I would think she would like to listen and help you out. I know my Mom would do that for me anytime I needed her too.
There is no shame in admitting that you are feeling depressed. Everyone goes through that many times throughout their life.
Would your Mom be a person who would help you out?
i told my mom, all she did was yell at me about it… im doing a little better today. i talked to the girl, everythings alright now. but yea. the pt lady said to start walking with one crutch. i can do it pretty well hurts a liitle bit but thats just because all the muscle in my left leg is like gone XD
I know that this is not a new post, but for anyone reading, don’t be afraid to tell your mom anything. My son shared with me over a year ago (he was 16 then) that he thought he was depressed. I took him in for testing, and he was put on medication and is still on it over a year later. Parents understand more than you think. And if you think your mom won’t listen to you, then share with a friend and ask that friend to share with your mom.
True… And very well said!
Yes…agreed 100%
Hey Geff,
I have read all of these posts and they have really helped me get a feel for what I am about to embark.
Three days ago I tore my ACL, messed up my MCL, and broke my fibula. I was freaked out and I did not understand what was going on.
I went to the Orthopedic doctor yesterday, he was very confident in his ability to help me. I think I am going to use the Hamstring graft but like you said I should speak with my doctor about it as I get closer to surgery.
I have a couple questions:
Do you know anything about pre-hab? I am scheduled to do pre-hab 3 days a week, where I work on gaining my full range of motion in my leg before the surgery.
Is there going to be an issue with my bone fracture and my surgery? My doctor said that it should heal before surgery.
I am very nervous about this whole situation. I have been very healthy and never had to go to surgery for anything serious. Did you have these fears?
I know that I should wait till the doctor says surgery should happen soon but how long do you think I should wait? Till I am sure I have full movement of my leg? Right now is too soon but I am just wondering.
After surgery do you know how long it will be till I can dance with my girlfriend? I have a dance in Feb. and one in May. I am planning on having the surgery mid NOV. or early DEC.
Thank you,
Aaron
Sorry for babbling a little.
pre-hab would be a good thing for you. It certainly can’t hurt any.
Your bone fracture should be healed before you have ACL surgery, so it should not be any kind of problem for you.
I did have fears of the surgery and recovery, but I was more focused on doing what I needed to do instead of what I was afraid of. The doctor will be able to tell you more about when the surgery should happen than I would. I would assume that he would ok it anytime after you fracture has healed enough.
You should be able to slow dance with your girlfriend within a couple months. I wouldn’t do any fast dancing though.
Yea man pre hab is normal i have it right now too. i tore my acl and mcl. and fractured my femur its not fun ill tell you that much :[ how old are you btw? if you still have open growth plates and you do play sports your probolby gunna want to go with the hamstring way becasue if they do the patella graft youd stop growing.
Oh and one more thing
how high should i elevate my leg?
I read above my heart. But no one has told me what a recommended height is.
They do recommend elevating it above your heart, but that is impossible to do unless you are laying down in a bed or in a reclining chair. And no one is going to do that all the time.
Any kind of elevation is better than none at all. You will be able to test it a little bit and see what is comfortable for you and what keeps the swelling in check.
Whenever I would sit at home in a reclining chair, I was able to put the foot rest up and put a pillow under my knee. That worked for me.
Hi Geff. Great site! I’m 15 days post-op (ACL reconstruction and two torn meniscus) and feeling pretty good, almost good enough to walk without these ridiculous crutches and brace. I started driving a week after surgery (never had to take any prescription pain meds, btw – awesome surgeon, I guess).
The only annoying thing so far is this knee brace. I’m able to unlock it when I sit, which was a godsend, and I started sleeping without it three days ago – woo hoo!. But walking around with the brace on is cumbersome. It literally keeps sliding down. I don’t want to tighten it too much because I don’t want to cut off my circulation, but jesus, I want to rip the damn thing off after it starts sliding down after walking a half a block. Any advice there?
Regarding the pillow under the knee, I was told to never put anything under my knee when elevating it. Never, ever, ever. Is that my crazy physical therapist or is that the same for others?
Thanks so much for the great site. What a fantastic and supportive community you’ve created here! Best. /Greg
Sounds like you are doing great!! Keep it up.
The brace sliding down would be very annoying. I didn’t really have that trouble since the only brace I wore was the immobilizer… and I didn’t wear that very long.
Not really sure why you were told never to put anything under your knee when elevating it. Never heard that one before. I had this huge pillow that I could put length-wise under my leg that ran from mid-thigh, all the way past the end of my foot. It was actually really comfortable. Still though, I was never told to not put anything under my knee… wonder what the reasoning is. Could you ask your PT about that? I’m curious.
You are very welcome for the site. It was a place for me to write stuff down and hopefully give other some idea of what things are like. I never expected it to still be here almost 13 years later. I used to get a lot of email from people asking stuff and making comments… A few months ago I decided to change the website and open it up to comments. I figured everyone would get more use out of it that way.
Hi Jeff. The “never anything under the knee” comment from my PT is to ensure full extension right out of the gate. I’ve also seen it documented in several other places online. Check out this Google Knol blog on ACL injury rehab: http://knol.google.com/k/acl-injury-rehabilitation# as they make a big deal out of it at the beginning of the Postoperative period section (scroll down a little).
So I’m 16 days post surgery now and feel like I can walk around without the brace or crutches, keeping my quad flexed. Inside my house I actually do this and it’s been fine. I’ve been going to PT 2x per week and doing eight exercises at home every night. Everything I read says people progress at their own pace, so I’m trying to be cognizant of not getting too far ahead of myself, but at the same time it just feels natural at this point without all the hardware (and it’s not because the brace keeps slipping down!).
I really don’t feel as if I’m pushing it at all, but want to know if you’ve run into others who have begun moving around like this just inside week 3. As mentioned I had an ACL reconstruction and two torn (but mostly repaired) meniscus using an autograft (patellar tendon).
Thanks, again!! /Greg
I makes some sense… I guess. Honestly though, I put a pillow under my knee all the time and extension was by far the easiest thing for me to get back.
Here is the main reason I would disagree strongly with the “never put anything under your knee” comment…
It is possible that the protocol is changing slightly as they learn more things about ACL surgery, however, I was required to wear the immobilizer during sleep for the first couple weeks. That locks your leg in a slightly bent position. Doesn’t matter if I put a pillow under my knee or not, my knee would stay in the position of the immobilizer. Before the immobilizer was off, I had full extension back in my knee. So it would seem that having your knee in a slightly bent position does not at all effect the outcome if you are doing all the exercises they want you to do.
After the immobilizer was off, I did sleep with a pillow under my knee and had no issues with it whatsoever.
I don’t think you are going too fast… It’s not uncommon to be able to move around and do so many things that soon after surgery. My only question would be about the meniscus. If they truly did repair it and not trim it, they would want you to keep weight off of it for a while… but they would specifically tell you that.
See that confused me… I was told to keep the leg up because of swelling… keep the brace on at night to keep it straight, and never put anything under it by the PT… so how was i suppose to prop it up for help with the swelling but not use anything to prop it up… I was like, well what do you want me to do?? Basically, i used the pillow, because without it I couldn’t sleep and I had to at least get some… now that the cramping has been mild, I don’t prop it, so I just did what I had to do for me.
I honestly don’t know what the deal is with the “no pillow under the knee” thing that is all the rage. I definitely used a pillow during sleep and never had an issue. PT never said not to use one. Maybe the times have changed and they believe it hinders in some way. I never saw any issues from it though.
Hi Geff me again…I’m just about to the five month mark. Last night I was throwing the football and running around with my son. It hurt a bit around the knee cap area. Does that ever go away, or is this something I have to live with forever? Do you think it’s too so to do things like that? I find it impossible to say “no” to my seven year old son. I wasn’t doing anything too crazy, but he is faster that I thought. So of course I had to run a little faster too. It hurt when I would slow down from running. How soon after your surgery did you start playing again?
Thanks, Don
What you are feeling is completely normal and it was the same for me.
Eventually, all the soreness and slight pain do go away… it just takes time. A year from now you won’t even have a passing thought about it. I probably started doing stuff on my knee a little too soon, but I made sure to not go 100% with anything and be careful, so it worked out for me.
I’m sure you will be fine and you don’t have to say “no” to your son. Just be aware and careful about things. The soreness WILL go away and things will get back to normal.
Hi, I tore my ACL at gymnastics practice on august 23. I had my surgery on September 20, so about 10 days ago. I used an allograft. I’m a level 9 gymnast and varsity cheerleader for my school, Im a junior in high school. I’m devastated about this because I can’t do gymnastics for 6-9 months. Ive been to physical therapy 3 times since surgery and my knee has improved a lot since the first time, but I still can’t completely straighten it and this worries me. I can get it to 8 degrees from 0, but it hurts really bad. I try to elevate it from my heel, but after a while I have to let it bend a little. Because I can’t straighten it all the way, I can’t lift it and I can’t get out of my immobilizer until I can lift it with 5 pounds on my ankle. I can bend it a little past 90, I’m still on crutches but I can walk without them for shorter distances. I ice it using a cryo-cuff a lot, I also use regular ice too. I’m awake right now at 4 am because it was hurting really bad and I couldn’t sleep. How long will it be until I can sleep comfortably without pain?? And how long until it will straighten??
I hear you on the sleeping thing. I’m at 16 days post-op and I still wake up 1-2x/night, getting a few hours at a time. Last night I had two four-hour stretches, which was a personal best so far!
I’m sure your PT folks will work on the full extension. Mine torture me endlessly and seem to get some sick pleasure out of it.
Before my surgery I was at +20-degrees two weeks before my surgery and by two days before my surgery the PT folks had me at -1. I’m currently at zero post-surgery, but the extension exercises I do every day are still somewhat painful, but not nearly as painful as they were before surgery or even two days ago.
Hang in there!!
Same here on the sleeping… I think that doesn’t help me with depression. I sleep on and off all night long… I was having terrible muscle cramps and had to keep gettng up and putting pressure on my leg to get them out.. Pt does seem to get pleasure out of my pain though …lol I am at 0 as well… I am doing ave of 97 degree flex.. I am 2 1/2 weeks post op. the extention with the heal prop are horrible… I hate it, but they put the stim on it and it helps “drown” out the pain… half way through i have them turn it up higher … That may help you out on that exercise, it sure does me.
It takes everyone different amounts of time. When you are at home, you can work on that all the time by placing your heel on a rolled up bath towel a letting your knee straighten out. That was by far the most effective method I used to get full extension back.
Pain is also different for everyone. Within the next week or two, you will probably feel a big difference in the amount of pain.
Hi Geff: you’re totally right about different protocols for different people. Didn’t mean to be so general with that pillow under the knee comment. They were so adamant about it in their mantra to me that I was shocked (jealous) that others could use a pillow under the knee. The towel under the ankle is always the most painful part of my treatment.
My TROM brace was set at 0 after surgery, so it was very straight after surgery and during the first two weeks of sleeping. A few days ago I was given the green light to release it when I sit and take it off when I sleep. Whew.
Meniscus: they slightly trimmed one and repaired another. So I’ve been on partial weight bearing since the surgery 17 days ago, but it feels good. I don’t want to damage anything, so I’ll be more careful and use the crutches as much as I can until they greenlight me for no crutches.
Thanks again for the great advice! /Greg
You’re welcome.
Keep up the great work! I would have gone nuts if they locked my leg at 0 degrees.
Hey geff. when i walk there is pain in my left foot (the leg) liek right in the middle of it where the arch is.
It is probably unrelated to your knee injury.
It’s not unusual to get cramps and aches/pain of some sort in that spot. See if it goes away in a couple days or if it gets worse.
its not as bad now. the next day it hurt a ton but i was like screw it and walked on it anyway today it was relatively okay. gunna go to school tomorrow with no crutch’s for the first time since like last year
Hey, im jordan and i tore my acl a while back and had surgery about a month ago, i have been doing my therapy but not alot, someone told me the scar tissue will not go away and can mess up your knee really bad, and also if i dont do therapy every day will i never be able to bend my knee properly again, how long will it take not doing therapy til it will not be able to ever be normal.
you should do your pt no matter what anyone says, it keeps your knee active and makes it feel better (in my opinion)
It can be normal again. The longer it takes, the more work it is though. It is possible for the doctor to go in and remove some scar tissue if it is a really big issue. Otherwise, keep doing your exercises… a lot.
I had my left knee ACL reconstruction done on Sept 01 2011 and used my hamstring tendon as i had growth platelet inflammation below my left knee. The doctor advised to use the Hamstring tendon as it would be easier in the future to kneel. After almost one month and three days, I am able to bend 115 degrees but the surgeon was not happy with the muscle tone i had in the quads and wanted me to wear the brace for a few more weeks. How long does it take to develop good muscle tone.
Another observation i have is that since i was diagnosed with a torn ACL in July of 2011, I have consciously tried not to exert too much pressure on the left leg and now my right leg is hurting and the pain is on the side of the right knee and the quad muscles. I asked the surgeon and he told me it might be because of the right leg overcompensating for the left but I am a little anxious and scared. Did anybody else have the same experience after the ACL surgery
It takes quite a while for the muscle to come back… no doubt about that. It will take months.
It is completely normal for your “good” leg to start hurting from all the extra work it has to do. This is very common in anyone who plays sports and has torn an acl.
yep… acl tear/surgery on left knee, but some days my right knee hurts worse than the left. Was just told it was from over compensating on that leg. I guess you really won’t know if you have done damage to it until they do an mri or x ray on it…good luck
Hello everyone.
I had acl surgery in March 2011. Its now October and cant get my knee fully extended. Im not going to lie but i didnt follow through w the PT extension exercise. My leg feels 80% strong. I can run a mile w no problems. Its just my knee cant get to 0 degrees. Am i doomed?!
Any help is MUCH allreciated.
You aren’t doomed. It will be much more difficult now though… and possible hurt a little more, but it can be done. Make sure you are doing the extension exercises A LOT!! You really can’t do them too much at this point. Your main goal should be to get your full extension back.
Hey geff. i have some good news, i went back to the knee surgeon, he said we could go ahead with surgery in about a month or so. we scheduled it for November 8th. so yea woopie.
im actually kinda really nervous. just becasue like idk how it will go and stuff.
It’s normal to be nervous. We all tend to be more nervous of the unknown.
You will do fine. You know what hard work is and you aren’t afraid of it. That will get you through a lot of stuff.
That is good news. You can get moving on with your life.
yea, pt actually is not that bad. i mean the things that suck the most are the balance exercises and the leg raises. but there nothing compared to running stadiums.
I had my reconstruction (hamstring graft) on the 8th June 2011 and everything went fine and to plan and have religously done my exercises. Not long ago I was getting really fustrated as I had started treadmill running and for days after it my knee was aching and I felt progress was going backwards!! then three weeks ago the aches and pains stopped!! now it feels normal and I don’t think about it!! I can run quite a bit and for first time yesterday managed 50 minutes on the treadmill, was not slow and could have gone on an on!!! When running of course still doesn’t feel 100% but it is fine and now know and am confident I will return to full fitness. All of a sudden I have gone from being quite down from it all to feeling great!! Basically everyone be patient, do your exercises and hopefully things will be good again. I am 36, and still looking to carry on playing football!! but not for another year!!
how did you get hurt? im jw because i got hurt playing football and am going to have the hamstring graft
I am a very dedicated soccer player who just tore my acl. I tore it 2 weeks ago and my surgery is in 2 weeks. im 16 and i think this is too far away because i want to play as quick as possible. I want them to bump up my surgery day but it might be too soon. I should have full range of motion in a week, i just need to work on 3 degrees of straightening. Also, im not sure on what type of graft to use for surgery. patellaer tendon and hamstring are both my options. With patellar it might be painful for me to kneel in the future. for hamstring, im not sure if this means it will leave my hamdting weaker beacuse thaey take such a big part. It is my junior year of high scool and i want to be commited to a d1 college. i should be back by april, but i dont want to be stuck in seior year figuring out what to do because everyone i know is already commited to top colleges and universities.
Bumping up the surgery by a week isn’t going to make much of a difference when it takes 9-12 months to be back.
If your growth plates are still open, the doctor won’t want to do the patellar method. If he already gave you that as an option, then he must feel the growth plates aren’t open.
Patellar and Hamstring both work just fine. It does take longer to be comfortable kneeling on hard surfaces with the Patellar method, but after some time, that doesn’t hurt anymore either. It goes back to normal.
If I had to choose, I would probably pick patellar, but that is just my opinion and what I am comfortable with. They both work just fine.
Thank you. I believe the bone patellar tendon bone would be better for me. He did offer this method for me. I have asked everyone and they have all had this method. And what are the consequences for the hamstring graft? Would it leave my hamstring muscle weaker?
Yes, the hamstring can be left weaker, but it’s not a lot different than leaving the patellar tendon weaker.
They are both methods that work, so it’s not a huge issue. I would go with whatever method the doctor uses the most. He will be the best at that.
I have decided to go with the hamstring graft. My surgery is on thursday and im soo nervous!!! I just want to know what i should have for after surgery and for before. I heard a cyrocuff and a machine to increase your range of motion.
not too sure…
Sorry I didn’t notice this post earlier…
How did things go?
Sorry I forgot to respond. All went well. I had my surgery November third and I am now on the road to recovery. I had my surgery about a month ago and everythin feels fine. I am walking now (and I have been by the end of the second week), I am going to physical therapy and I am doing all of my exercises, I am on the bike now and my range of motion is about 108 degrees. I occasionally get some pain here and there mostly around the area of my hamstring because that is where they took the graft from. I also get some pain in the back of my knee, but it is not constant it comes and goes. It might be a muscle or tendon, Idk whats back there lol! After the surgery I was in a lot of pain after the anesthesia wore of. I just felt a constant aching pain and it felt like I was about to die for about three to four days. I also lost alot of muscle in my leg, quad and calf muscle. At first when I started to walk my knee felt very heavy because I had no strength in either of these muscles, it felt as if it had no support. It has gotten alot better and week by week, and day by day, I was making tons of progress. I made sure to ice like every second I had because it reduced the pain and it helped the swelling. When I first went back to the doctor, my knee was very swollen and they had to drain it and so they took two syringes and filled up two tubes of blood, and immediately I felt my knee had less pain because that took down most of the swelling. Also my friend had surgery on the same day I did. We both play competitve high level soccer, and it turns out she also tore both menisci. When I was three weeks in, I saw her and she was not walking yet as I had been for a little over a week. She was still on crutches and barely applying pressure. Also, she had a week by week program to specifically follow as to where she should be. I, on the other hand, was able to tweak what my doctor said here and there and he just went along with it. Every week I went back and saw him and after one week i was on crutches-thats when I got the drain, next follow up I was to use a cane-I also got my stiches out, and the next follow up I was supposed to be walking and using the bike at physical therapy. I started my physical therapy about four days after my surgery, I also received a gameready ice machine, and I did not receive a cpm machine because my doctor said I did not need it. However although my surgery was successful, it did require an extra screw and it took 4 hours for me to be done. Mostly because I am a small person and my doctor wanted it to be safe and secure. He wanted to be sure it was strong and would never be damaged again. However, I still have some swelling in my knee, I have a numb feeling in my leg where the brace was (I think its due to the femoral nerve block), and I get an occasional pain here and there. Thank you for your interest!
I got my injury in a football match. Was marking someone and just changed direction with them when it went. The pitch was not the best and the grass quite thick and long. Was wearing blades and I think it contributed to the injury.
Love your site! Thanks for posting all this helpful information in one spot. I am 7 days post op ACL donor surgery. I used a polar ice unit constantly for first three days and stopped taking pain medication regularly after day 2. The ice really helped me stay off the medication. I do take up to 800 mg of Ibuprofen per day throughout the day, depending upon level of pain or aches to help me sleep. I’m using a CPM machine to help me with the mobility of my knee. The doctor wants me to get to 90 degrees but even today I am only at level 40. I did get up to 70 the other day but the whole next day I was in more pain than any other day. I guess I’m just confused why I have to sleep and walk with my leg brace locked at zero degrees, but I am supposed to be bending my knee on this machine at least 6 hours per day. Any thoughts? (BTW, I partially tore my ACL and medial meniscus in 2009 but didn’t get surgery until Oct ’11 after I completely tore my ACL and didn’t have any knee stability.) Thanks!
All doctors have different protocols. Not sure why, but they each do what they feel is best. Sounds like you are doing fine so far. And I loved having the polar ice thing… helped a lot.
I posted earlier a few months ago. Briefly, my son a college scholarship athlete tore his ACL in his first football game as a senior in HS. He had surgery (hamstring graft) on Oct 14, 2010. He returned to baseball in April ’11 and played without problem until July 14, 2011 when running to first base tore the graft. Initialy diagnose as a partial, rehab was not giving stability needed and now will get a second surgery, this time a patella graft from the same knee. The surgeon discussed doing another hamstring graft from the opposite leg, but said with the tunnel width he thinks a patella graft would be a better choice. Evidently they can make the bone graft the same width as the tunnel and get a better fit.
The doc will not consider cadaver because of his age 19 and his desire to continue in athletics.
Thoughts here, anyone had a second surgery on the same knee? Does this conversation I had with the doctor sound correct. Any help/reference would be helpful.
What the doctor said sounds plausible.
When they do the patellar method, they cut the tedon lengthwise and leave it attached to the bone on both ends. They then cut out the bone that is still attached to that tendon so it all stays as one piece of bone-tendon-bone.
Those bones act as anchors at each end of the tunnel. It works very well.
hi. i had a complete tear of my acl about a month ago. i also strained my lcl and medial meniscus. my doc did not offer me surgery cos my growth plates has not fully developed yet. im 15. so im doing physio now. which is mostly gym work,weights. i play netball and im trying to make it back for season in about 3 months. do you think i can make it? anyone has any views? pls reply. it would really help me alot. thank you:)
Hard to say. It’s possible, but any time a full acl tear is involved, the odds are very high that normal sports activities can’t be resumed until it is fixed with ACL surgery.
That is something you would need to discuss with the doctor. He/She may say it is ok to go ahead and resume sporting activity if you wear a knee brace.
hi diddley i have had it done twice now the first time was a hammy graft this time it was the patella graft and i feel much better the second time.My knee feels much stronger than last time and the physio is much easier(thats only my opinion other people may have a different opinion) im now coming up to 7 weeks post op and feeling great.I have spent alot of the 1st 6 weeks in a brace that was restricted to 90 degrees(i think the brace was put on due to being the 2nd time.I hope this helps you a little.
Hi Geff,
I’m almost to the six month mark. I was wondering if your knee would still swell up a little at the end of the work day, at that time. Mine still does. Do you think that could be why my knee will feel a little loose, from the swelling? My knee feels loose if I like step back and to the side, it make a weird “clunk”. I don’t know if I am making any sense or not. I still do exercises even if it is just going for a walk, biking, or leg exercises with ankle weights, I just try to do something every day. Do you think I should do more? Any words of wisdom?…..
I think you are doing great. Keep doing what you have been doing.
Yes, I still had swelling at the end of the day and after exercising at 6 months. I probably still had those things at 12 months… they just didn’t bother me.
My repaired knee does still feel a little more “loose” than the other one, but it’s never given me any more problems. The “clunk” could possibly be scar tissue, it wouldn’t be abnormal.
Seriously though, I think you are doing awesome! Just keep on going.
Thanks for the reply, I’m sure my knee will always feel “looser” than the other one, but I hope it will get a little bit tighter than it is right now.
Is your repaired knee much looser than the non-repaired one or is it just a little bit? Or do you only notice it when you do certain things?
Thanks
I don’t notice it much… mostly when playing basketball or things that have quick cuts.
Hi, had acl revision surgery on rt knee oct 21st. Had first recon 23 years ago. this one seems a little more painful because they had to remove the old screws and drill new hole in tibia for the hamstring, they used the patella last time. After the first one i never gained complete extension, i was short about 10 degrees, due to me not doing what i was supposed to, now i am on a mission to get the extension at 100%, for everyone that has had their first acl recon, please make sure you work hard at the extension, it will be painful but it will be worth it, i am at about 90 degrees flexion and really close to full extension…my doc told me to not put anything under the knee when doing extension stretches, put two pillows under your heel so you can get the extension, remember it is uncomfortable, but will be well worth it…..if anyone has questions on acl revision surgery let me know….Shawn
Thanks for the post and the offer to help people. Awesome!
10 days till surgery
, D:
good luck christian….hope all goes well for you
Good Luck, Christian… Let us know how it went when you feel well enough to be on your computer.
Has anyone tried jumping rope for a exercise? I have been researching it and some people say it is a high impact and some say it is a low impact exercise. I have started and it doesn’t hurt my knee at all. My kids were doing it one day so I thought I would give it a try. I never realized what a good cardio workout it is. Not to mention a calf workout. It also helps with balance and agility. My only concern is that I lost a lot of my meniscus and I don’t want to damage my knee long term. I am always looking for some new or different exercises to keep it interesting. I hate that every time I research something there is always two sides to the question. Like how to rehab a knee after acl surgery, there is no standard set of rules. Everyone is different. Any thoughts anyone?
Hey Don….sounds like you found the perfect workout for yourself, as long as it does not bother your knee, and you feel no pain, why not keep jumping rope…i will try when i can, I am only 8 day out of surgery…cant wait to get off the crutches…the exercise i was doing last time i had acl surgery was the back and forth slide, 4 x 8 sheet of smooth linoleum with wooden stops on either end and you slide yourself back and forth off the wooden stops like you are ice skating..it is a good workout for the thighs and knees….23 years ago that was the main exercise for acl reconstruction..
Hey there, Don. Does this sound like an ACL tear? While dancing around (playing with the kids), legs got tired. Right leg buckled, heard a loud pop, and I fell down with pain all around the knee area. Thought kneecap slid out of place (but went back in place on its own.). Can walk OK, but I have pain behind the knee – not on the front or sides. After kneeling or sitting with knees bent, I notice the pain behind the knee even more as I stand up to walk. Walking is not difficult or painful after a few minutes, but it stays sore behind the knee and I have had that instable feeling (almost like knee was going to pop out on a couple of other occasions within the last week that this happened. Did not see much swelling, if any, and no bruising. Can straighten leg 80% or so. Thx!
I guess if it were me, I would go and get it checked out. The Doc can usually tell by doing a few different tests on it. If it happens to be your acl every time your knee gives out, you risk doing more damage to your meniscus and cartilage. Oh and by the way happy Halloween. Now that the kids are in bed, it’s time to tap into their candy bags…..
It could be a torn ACL. Most of the time, for most people, it hurts when they tear their ACL. The actual ACL doesn’t feel pain though, so that actually comes from the surrounding tissues and joint.
I do know people that tore their ACL without feeling any pain at all, so it does happen.
Instability is the #1 symptom of a torn ACL.
When I tore my acl, I heard a loud pop and fell instantly. A moment of pain and then nothing. I was able to get right up and walk. I told my husband that I might have dislocated my knee or something but that it was ok. Later it just felt like a pulled muscle, except I couldn’t fully straighten or fully bend my knee. I had discomfort but no real pain. It happened again a couple of days later, and that’s when the instability started. I found out at the doctor a week later that it was probably a torn acl, later confirmed by a MRI.
That does happen sometimes… You can tear your ACL and not feel much pain. The ACL doesn’t feel pain, so that would come from surrounding tissues, ligaments and bone. If you don’t damage anything surrounding the ACL, it really doesn’t hurt. Seems weird, doesn’t it?
trust me u will know when you tear your acl i just got my acl and lateral miniscuss surgery about a month ago even tho right now physical theropy and just walking in school hurts i feel my knee is getting stronger ive expirenced this burning on my left side of my right knee its probally the most annoying thing in the world but i can only bend my knee to 110 degrees and it still hurts to get it tht far. my best advice is ice ice ice it really does help and listen to you pt doctor they know what they are telling you and trust me once you start to move it goes by quick
Hi, thanks for making this website! I tore my ACL 2 months ago and had the surgery about 3 weeks ago. When I tore it, the ACL bunched up inside my knee and jammed it; so I couldn’t straighten it, bend it very far, or walk on it for almost 6 weeks. My PT said that my range of motion would come back a little slower than most, but I would still make a full recovery. But what I was wondering is if you know of anyone who’s had that problem. Was the physical therapy harder for them? I play softball, and I’m hoping to be ready by the time the season starts in the spring!
i dont really know ne one who has tht problem but i can tell you i just got my range of motion back it takes awhile to fully be able to bend and straighten your knee mines about 2 degrees from being straight and its already been a month after surgery just keep doing your exersises and dont push your self over the limit of your knee has trust me it will come back in time
I play softball as well, and post op the doctor told me sports are going to take a back seat. Probably because of my meniscus damage and the arthritis that’s in my knee.
I wouldn’t rush just to get back to softball. Take your time. if you miss a season, or half a season, it’s not the end of the world. If you tear it again, that would suck. I couldn’t imagine going through this again.
I don’t know anyone who had that happen.
Even if it hadn’t happened like that, you probably wouldn’t be back playing in the spring. You really want to give it 12 months if you can. Some come back at 9 months, but there is still some risk at that point.
Hey, I’m Adam. I had ACL hamstring reconstruction 10 days ago. Both medial and lateral meniscus were removed as they were shredded beyond repair.
I should also say that I tore my ACL 2 and a half years ago, and decided to try an live with it. Big mistake. If I had gotten it fixed right away, I probably could’ve saved my meniscus. I should also note that I’m 32 years old. I finally decided to have surgery because I have a young daughter, and I want to be able to chase her around without fear of my knee going out.
The first few days of post op recovery were tough, but I’m doing fairly well now. I still have it in an immobilizer per doctors orders. I can’t wait to get this thing off.
Im just wondering how long does the surgery take and how long were you in the hopital (my surgerys tuesday)
My surgery was at 9:00 AM and I was done and on my way home before 12:00 Noon.
I think the surgery lasted a little over an hour.
Yes, probably would have been better if you had the surgery sooner, but you are where you are and late is definitely better than never.
Hope you get that immobilizer off soon… It gets better after that.
Hi Geff, I am six months post-op. I am always checking my acl graft by doing the anterior drawer test on myself, to see if my knee is getting tighter. Is it bad to do that? Do you think I am stretching out my graft by doing that?
Today I feel great. I can walk without crutches without much pain. Swelling is still moderate, but my therapist told me it will probably swell for a long time and not to worry about it.
The only crappy thing is that I still can’t sleep. Almost 2 weeks without a good night’s sleep. Any advice/tricks any of you have? I’ve tried sleeping with pillows between my legs, on my back, side, etc.
You will probably start to sleep better in the next few days. It just takes time.
I’m curious as to what everyone’s experiences with the immoblizer are. Mine won’t stay tight, and is an overall pain in the ass. The doctor told me two weeks, but I couldn’t take it anymore today. I took it off and my knee feels awesome. Is the sole purpose for the brace to keep you from losing extension? 2 weeks is a week too long, IMO.
I hated mine too. It would always slide down. At night if I had to go to the bathroom or something I would go without it. I told my doctor this, he said he was ok with that. Just be careful and move slow.
I think it does help with full extension. I would sleep with a pillow under my heal as long as I could stand it and then I would just sleep with with my leg elevated without my knee bent.
Good luck Don…
My doctor only made me wear it while sleeping and leaving the house for the first 2 weeks. If I was just sitting around the house, I had it off. Well… I actually rested my leg on it, but I opened it up. Not sure what your brace is like or if you would be able to do that with yours.
I just had my ACL and meniscus surgery 3 days ago. It sucked missing my whole senior year of football, but I’m over that now. Anyways, I’m wondering about taking off the brace and re-bandaging the wound. When should I? I’m somewhat afraid to take off the brace and bandage for fear of bending my knee while in process of re-bandaging. Also when the pain meds are starting to wear off it seems like I can feel my cut, almost sliding around, how long does it take the cut to ‘scab over’ so to speak?
My stab wounds were practically healed when the nurse came and changed the dressing after 48 hours. My incision finally completely scabbed over yesterday (11 days after).
Did they repair your meniscus, or did it have to be removed. If it was repaired, I`m not sure what the bending allowances are. Mine were removed and i went to physio 2 days after my surgery and started bending and stretching exercises that day.
If they didn’t repair any meniscus, it won’t hurt anything to bend you knee… and that would actually be a good idea. You would also be able to change your bandage.
Everyone describes the pain a little different and yours sounds normal. I didn’t seem to have many issues with it after the first week.
My meniscus was repaired. From what I have heard that calls for longer recovery, and more restrictions on movement. I went ahead and re-bandaged the wound yesterday, and it did fine. The brace allows for a minimal amount of bending of my knee, I shouldn’t be worried about that should I? there is no pain or anything like that associated with the minor bending while brace is on.
I don’t think there is anything to be worried about. I think walking/weight bearing is more of an issue with meniscus repair.
I have a silly question. Does the tensor bandage actually do any good after the first week or so? I haven’t had it on at all today, and no longer wear it to bed. I find it more restrictive and uncomfortable than it is good. The swelling is no worse today without it, and i actually did a fair bit of walking.
They like you to use that bandage mostly to keep swelling down. It does do a good job of that.
You may want to alternate days and see if you notice any difference with it on or off. Should be ok to do that.
2 days till surgery
Good luck man, the worst part for me was waking up after surgery I felt really sick and tired
Let me know how it goes.
Hi, I had acl reconstruction surgery and a small bit of my meniscus removed 4 weeks ago and im still on crutches, ive tried walking without them, but my knee sort of gives way and cramps, how do i stop this? im doing my exercises as perscribed and icing 4 times a day, im very frustrated on the crutches. please help.
Hi Chris, I am 16 day post op..i have my first pt appointment tomorrow but i started walking without crutches yesterday, just around the house and a little at a time…once i got over the initial feeling that i thought my knee would give out i took small steps and finally bigger steps and got my confidence up to keep going….now today i am a little sore and am using crutches this morning, but will try without them later….i have also been doing my exercises every day and icing also….i am with you, cant take these crutches any more