ACL Reconstruction - 4 days out
- Thread starter hartlbb
- Start date
I couldn’t really get off the sofa for a week when I had mine. Didn’t bear weight for about a month iirc. Other folks were hopping around on theirs within a week.
What instructions did you get from the doctor.
How did you tear it?
Not a bot buddy.Bots can tear ligaments now?
Yeah, I'm not sure about this. This does not appear to have worked out well this last time for me in addition to the "no physical therapy needed" recommendation...
Why the fuck are you walking on that thing 4 days after surgery?
No, that's wrong. I've had 2 acl replacements, plus 6 other knee surgeries and that's insane. The ONLY even remotely possible scenario that a doctor should tell you to walk around on that is possibly a cadaver graft but you still had a highly invasive procedure done and should not be potentially stressing healing tissue that quickly.
Sit down. Do some movement exercises. Hobble on crutches over to a stationary bike at most and just do little half back and fork pedal strokes. And give me the name of your doctor, I wanna slap'em
No, that's wrong. I've had 2 acl replacements, plus 6 other knee surgeries and that's insane. The ONLY even remotely possible scenario that a doctor should tell you to walk around on that is possibly a cadaver graft but you still had a highly invasive procedure done and should not be potentially stressing healing tissue that quickly.
Sit down. Do some movement exercises. Hobble on crutches over to a stationary bike at most and just do little half back and fork pedal strokes. And give me the name of your doctor, I wanna slap'em
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That doesn’t sound good. I’d have them check it in a couple of weeks
There's pretty low likelihood you re-tore your new ACL. It's new but that part of it is tough. The danger is that you have so much swelling going on right now that you damaged something else (worst case scenario being meniscus cartilage or stressed another tendon). The new ACL is tough but it's also a new configuration that the rest your knee is not used to yet. A cadaver graft will be tight initially and loosen up over the next 6 months. A hamstring/achiles/any other live graft will start out loose and firm up over time. I'm assuming you got a graft of your own tissue.
Define "brace." Are you locked out or bending your knee? If the latter, you shouldn't be weight bearing yet. Not with that brace.
Good. Then there's almost no way you tore a ligament or tendon. You're likely just feeling your very tight, swollen knee trying move around with a bunch of inflamed junk in the way. Just take it easy and give it a little time and don't force anything. Your entire joint is different now so even a mm of hyperextension is going to feel really exaggerated since you've spent your whole life feeling precisely where it should and shouldn't go. You may end up with a little more hyper extension range because there's no way a surgeon can duplicate exactly what was your ACL previously.
Just take it easy and assess in a week. And don't walk on the thing very much and definitely not without your immobilizing brace.
I was able to make a full pedal stroke on a stationary bike in about 1.5wks on my first ACL jobber but you need to let your swelling go down. Putting weight on it hinders that.
If you're just worried about something you felt while in the brace, you're just feeling a swollen knee that doesn't have room to move yet and a ligament that is a different length.
Your first post sounded like you just got out of surgery and then got up to make coffee or something and just started walking around in your shorts and then bent it backwards.
Certainly not 4 days. Not on any of my multiple, multiple knee surgeries.
I don't remember exact time frames but I worked into walking slowly weight bearing WITH crutches. And was definitely on a stationary bike before full weight bearing. No resistance, just pedal strokes.
Kidwoo pretty much hit it on the head. I've had both ACL's replaced and never would think of putting weight on it especially after 4 days. I did have a "POP" after the first one which scared me, thinking I re-tore it trying to get off the pot. Called the Dr. and he reassured me everything was okay since the brace was on. Your knee is a swollen mess and can take quite a while depending on what procedure was done (patellar, hamstring or cadaver). My first one was patellar which was the most painful and recovery was much slower than my other knee when they used the hamstring. Take it easy and do your couch PT and you'll be as good as new in 9-12 months.
You do what ever is most comfortable, back is usually the best as it limits leg movement & pain.
I usually try to sleep on my back just because it's easier to keep elevated the first few nights. You're kind of past the raging throbbing just got out of surgery phase where that's more important though.
sounds about right
you still never mentioned what variety of graft you got......some are worse than others right after surgery
Like woo said, it sounds right. Swelling on mine lasted a good long time. Swelling didn't start to go down until at least 2-3 weeks. Frankly, it stayed messed up looking for a long time.
I got a quad graft, any experience with that.
Yeah I was a bit surprised by the swelling, it feels so unstable at the moment.
I've had my left ACL replaced twice; first was a hamstring graft in 2009, then a cadaver in 2013. I had more problems with the first one...seemed that the hamstring took longer to heal than the ACL.
As far as the crunch you described in your first post, you'll feel all kinds of aches, pains, and scares. The odds of re-tearing though are extremely low unless you are doing something stupid.
Good luck. Keep doing your at-home PT and stretching and don't slack on it. The stuff you do at home is more painful than anything you'll do with a therapist, especially trying to get that range of motion back (the bend exercises were slap-my-hand-on-the-floor painful). You'll get through this. I've run 16 marathons since my second surgery. ACL surgery isn't what it used to be.
Thank you for the encouraging words of wisdom! 16 marathons? That is amazing! Congrats!
No. Honestly I didn't even know that was an option. I've had a patellar (which was murder and no one does anymore), and a hamstring. I'm still dealing with the hamstring one and that was 2013.
They still use the patellar, it's the strongest of the 3. They typically go that route with younger athletes because if its strength. And yes, the recovery is fucking excruciating! Like you, never heard of using the Quad. My hamstring aches on occasion around the harvest area, other than that, I've had good luck with both.
Living in a ski town someone's always getting one. I don't know of anyone who's gotten a patellar graft in the last 8 years or so. But I'm also not in the young demographic so that might be the reason.
Worst sustained knee pain I've ever had. And it wasn't the graft, as you know.
Yes using
Yes using the quad is fairly new, I believe around 10-15 years.
have you found yourself shopping for flutes?
Don't mind him, he's a Russian troll.
Sorry to hear your having some issues with that surgery. I have no advice, have not yet had knee surgery. Now, if you had questions about spinal fusions, femur fractures, collarbone repair, or ankle fixation... well I'm your man!