Hello Renrenspeakers! I hope all is well! It has been a little while since I’ve updated yall on the blog. I wanted to hold off a bit on sharing my milestones during recovery so that I had more to share with you! Time has been flying! Technically, it has been 15 weeks and 1 day since my ACL surgery, so a little over 3 and a half months now.
My first exciting piece of news is that I am back to work now on a restricted capacity! I started work last Monday, and so far, the transition has been different but overall good! My knee definitely is not the same, and I notice some minor swelling and puffiness at the end of my days due to prolonged standing and moving around my facility. But I am very blessed that my work has been accommodating in the fact that I have had short half days to ease my transitions to work, and very high level patients to work with so that I do not put myself at risk of injury.
Going back to work has been a bit nerve-racking, I will be honest. It feels good to physically be able to handle being on my feet, but psychologically, the lingering thought of what if there is risk of retear? is sometimes there. I am so used to being a busy bee, so especially at work, I have to remind myself that it is important to take seated breaks in between patients so that I can rest my knee and not overexert myself. It has also been eye-opening to be a therapist and a patient simultaneously. I relate to my patients even more in terms of having some kind of limitation. Overall, being back to work has reminded me that it is so important to listen to my patient’s strengths, challenges, limitations, and adapt my therapy sessions accordingly.
My second piece of exciting news is that I now have 73% quad symmetry on my surgical leg compared to my non-surgical leg! My PT reassessed my strength on Monday, and it has improved each time my strength has been assessed. I remember the earlier days when I barely hit 53%, so to see an improvement over time has been rewarding and makes me feel stronger and more confident. I now am able to do activities such as Bulgarian split squats, leg presses, kick backs, weighted wall sits, step ups, lunges, and deep squats. Yes, they are hard and a challenge, but each session gets more comfortable as I continue to progress with my exercises.
Lastly, I started some light plyometrics and the agility ladder! Mind you, this is very preliminary — no single leg hops or large jumps just yet. However, being able to even attempt pogo jumps continuously for a minute was very rewarding! It felt very different and slightly uncomfortable at first, which I largely attribute to the guarding of my knee. After initially trying the first time and actively trying to overcome my own psychological barrier, my confidence to attempt another trial of pogo jumps slowly increased. I am not running or anything yet, but I am hoping that with time and strength, this is possible sooner rather than later.
ACL recovery has been kicking my butt financially, as I have to rebuild my emergency fund now while playing catch up on my finances. All my financial goals for this year have been thrown out the window, lol. Though the financials of any medical injury or disability is scary and stressful, what gives me reassurance and peace is that physically my knee is transforming into a stronger, more functional knee every day that passes. Objective and subjective measures of my recovery have been a great indicator of all the work I’ve put in.
ACL recovery is quite tiring – physically, emotionally, and psychologically. I will not lie — sometimes I don’t want to exercise and go to the gym to work on strengthening. It can be exhausting thinking about my knee all of the time. I still struggle with trying to find the balance between working out my knee and resting. I do go home every day and ice, compress, and elevate religiously since my knee is typically begging for it at the end of my work day. I never want to overdue it, but sometimes it is inevitable. It has been a journey, but each day the goal is to get closer to my new normal as possible.
Peace and love,
Irene
