Tag: ACLpostop

Posted on in ACL recovery

My ACL Injury: 9 Weeks Post Op DONE!

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

Posted on in ACL recovery

My ACL Injury: 2 Weeks Post Op DONE!

Hello Renrenspeakers! I hope all is well! I am back here again, one week later! One thing I have appreciated about my recovery is being able to get back into blogging consistently. I am kinda on a roll, am I right?

It has already been 2 weeks (to be technical, it has been 16 days) since I have had my ACL surgery. I still cannot believe sometimes that I am on the other side of this FINALLY. To be quite honest, recovery has been better than I anticipated. I am very thankful for some return physically, as each day my leg gets stronger and stronger. I am still on crutches, but I have met some milestones already that I would like to share!

Since surgery, being able to lift my leg up has been the hardest thing ever. I have been squeezing that quad again and again and AGAIN and no matter how much I tried… nothing. It felt like a dead leg. My mind to body connection felt severed, and it became very frustrating to have to lift my leg up with maximal effort such as with a gait belt or my stretch band. I definitely had some cries and moments of defeat feeling like I am trying to activate muscles that are just not activating enough.

Then…. suddenly, as I was going through my daily HEP and attempting straight leg raises on Day 12, (mind you, I could only do them with much active assistance at this time) my quad decided to play a trick on me and help me unassisted lift my leg up from the bed. I probably only raised my leg up about 2 inches, BUT my leg had not done any of that since the surgery (besides Day 0 with the nerve block lol). I had to film it and do it again because I could NOT believe what I just saw.

On Day 13, I cried literal tears of joy because my quad was officially awake!!! This was confirmed in PT, as my quad cooperated and did not become shy (I told my quad to not act up in front of my PT, and she listened lol). I was able to complete 1 set of 10 straight leg raises without any assistance, and my leg was actually coming up pretty high off the bed too! It was legit a night and day phenomenon in which my quad finally remembered that it was part of my body and decided to start functioning again. In PT, my leg was UP! I told my PT that this is a new development and I still cannot believe that this was happening because truthfully, I was beginning to really hate the straight leg raise since it magnified how weak my quad was. Whoever knew that being able to lift a leg up would be something so monumental!

On Day 14, I feel like I just began to see even more activation of my quad, enough so that I actually began to take some steps without my crutches, whohoo! I could only mobilize very short distances — crutches still very much required, I might add — but it no longer felt like my whole leg was about to buckle with every step. I am pretty adamant about getting off crutches completely when the time is right, as I would like to normalize my gait rather than just follow an arbitrary timeline. However, to feel more confidence in my knee and to trust that it would not just buckle under my weight was very reassuring. I also had my 2 week post op appointment on Tuesday, and the doc said everything is looking great in terms of swelling and healing. I was able to get my bandaids off completely and see what my scars actually look like. I was even able to see some pictures of the surgery itself and my previous completely obliterated ACL transformed into a newly intact ACL provided by a part of my quad tendon. It was a pretty cool sight to see.

It is now Day 16, and though I am definitely trying to keep myself entertained at home, it is nice to reflect back on some of my very early post op videos and pictures and already see how much progress I have made thus far. The largest lesson I have learned this week is that ACL recovery is by no means a sprint. It is a marathon. I really REALLY have to be patient and just learn how to retrust my knee. For example, my patience regarding initial activation of my quad finally paid off, as I was literally crying the previous day about how annoyed I was that I could not lift up my leg. Sometimes less is better especially if my knee is aggravated. The more reps I do won’t necessarily make a difference if this is not what my knee needs at the moment. ACL recovery is also not linear. After my appointment, I had to do some quick errands, and I noticed that my knee was more achy than it typically had been. In that instance, I tried to initially push through my discomfort, but then realized that it was not doing me any good, let alone my knee. Thus, I forced myself to take a nap and elevate the rest of the evening. When I woke up, it felt much more manageable again. Hence, I gotta listen to that knee because it is telling me something at all times!

I’ve heard from my PT, medical team, and other ACLers that my knee will scream at me if I overdo it sometimes, and it is very true. Finding newfound mobility, especially as a person who loves being a busy bee, I’ve been tempted to test my limits. Recovery has a way of reminding me that the mind and body are not always on the same page — and that sometimes the body wins. That’s okay. I look forward to seeing what week 3 of ACL recovery will look like, what milestones I will achieve, and what challenges I will have to overcome.

Peace and love,

Irene