Hello Renrenspeakers,

Happy September! We are finally in the fall months, and this is when the year begins to fly by. Speaking of flying by, my ACL recovery has been flying by! Today, I am officially 9 and a half weeks post surgery, can you believe it? I cannot. I am in the stage where recovery begins to feel…. long, admittedly.

I still feel very blessed that recovery has been smooth thus far. I honestly attribute it to being pretty active prior and taking my prehabilitation (prehab) very seriously before I had my surgery. If you don’t know what prehab is, essentially it is a proactive fitness practice intended to strengthen the body and improve physical function prior to having surgery or facing a huge physical demand. If you know me, I probably talked endlessly about it before ACL surgery (LOL). However, I did it for good reasons!

Remember, I said that recovery has been pretty smooth as a collective thus far. I didn’t necessarily say every single day was fine and dandy, however. About a week ago, I had a day in particular that stood out to me in which I did not have a “good” day. I attempted walking down a huge flight of stairs multiple times in that day to challenge myself, as going down the stairs currently is still pretty uncomfortable. I believe that very action made my knee very sore/achy the next day. It was a little worrisome because I haven’t had much discomfort and achiness like that since my early days of surgery. This was a great example of why people say “Listen to your body.” Even extending my knee that day felt very uncomfortable, which has not been my experience this late into recovery. That day, though I wanted to complete my home exercises, my body said otherwise. I was forced to go back to rudimentary practices of elevating with my wedge pillow and icing aggressively. It is sometimes crazy to realize how something as simple as rest can make a big difference! This instance solidified the lesson that sometimes less is more, and more is not necessarily what is best for my knee. The next day, I felt back to my baseline — not achy and ready to do those exercises without severe discomfort.

Since graduating from my ACL brace, progress has admittedly felt a little slower compared to the initial, rapid gains early on in ACL recovery. However, when I think about my range of motion for instance, I realize that actions such as getting out of the car even at 6 weeks is not something I have to consciously sequence and motor plan for anymore. I am able to get out with complete ease and like it never was a struggle in the first place.

This week, my PT did some objective testing to assess symmetry and restoration of range of motion with my surgical leg. As an OT, I love this stuff because I live for objective, factual evidence in addition to subjective reporting to measure my improvement. First, my quad strength was assessed via the Limb Symmetry Index. Essentially, with the use of a pull-type dynamometer, I first kicked my nonsurgical leg progressively with as much force as I could before fatiguing. Then, I did the same with my surgical leg. My nonsurgical leg yielded 119 lbs of force, whereas my surgical leg generated 54 lbs of force. As you can see, that is a huge difference, lol. Basically, my surgical leg has about 45% of symmetrical strength compared to my nonsurgical leg, which is very expected given the timeline of my ACL recovery thus far. However, I have a LONG way to go. Focus at this stage of my recovery has been pretty much progressive overload of my knee to ensure that it can handle increased strength over time. Moreover, I have started more isolated single leg strengthening exercises such as single leg presses and assisted lunges. My quads are pretty shaky depending on how hard I go, but that is okay! It is expected, and I personally like the shakiness because it tells me that those muscle fibers are working their hardest to get me better!

I also have to share that my active range of motion is getting closer to being fully restored!! I am at 130 degrees of active knee flexion, which is close to my active knee flexion of 138 degrees on my nonsurgical leg. Exercises that have helped force this a bit have been wall slides and sitting on my yoga ball basically flexing as much as I can before I achieve absolute maximal discomfort. Another thought that reigns true is that consistency is truly key. It may get boring and mundane sometimes, but honestly, the actions that are repetitive and mundane do the job.

Overall, I am pretty happy about how my progress has been. Sure, do I wish I could run for the heck of it or jump right now? Heck YEAH I do! I do miss being able to do intense cardio now that it is something I am currently unable to do. However, I am also very thankful that I can walk with some speed, I can drive my car again, and I can handle some load on my knee, even if it isn’t at my prior level of function. I am looking forward to when I can resume my actual job, as it does require those functional actions such as bending and squatting daily. Finding the balance between rest and pushing myself is a constant dance — but one I am slowly starting to figure out. I am hopeful to seeing where my AROM and quad strength land at the 3 month mark. 🙂

*note — peep that this is my first picture without my brace on, yay!

Peace and love,

Irene