Anyone ever have ACL surgery in their knee? I'm having it done tuesday, and was wondering how long it took you to recover, walk, and exercise again? I'm not happy with the fact that I may have to be on crutches for 4 weeks

 

My father went through at least 6 of these surgeries when I was a child. Originally, he had been in a car accident and required surgery on both knees. He had the surgery a few more times over the next 10 years or so because he wasn't careful. His knees still make some funky noises and he also wears a brace on his right knee every day.

You have to take it pretty easy during recovery. Do you have cable??? Enjoy reading??? Maybe you'd like to work on your tan???

This is a detailed diary of someone else who's been through this.

 

I had some patch work done about 7 years ago this month. I was walking the same day.(stiffly)
I don't like medicine. The Dr. called the day after surgery to see if all was OK. He told me to start bending the knee. I said it was stiff and hurt to move. He said take meds. Amazing how it moved after that.
I was without crutch/cane in three days. Over did it on 4th day, and had swollen foot on 5th.

I was able to fully kneel on it within 5 months. I crawl around engine rooms in boats so it was of great comfort to be able to fully work again.

Surprisingly it is still good. The main thing is to follow the Dr.'s orders. Every ACL surgery is different.

Good luck,

Mike

 

Follow doctor's orders, make your knee recovery priority one for the first four weeks and you will be back on your feet in no time. Otherwise, if you think you know better your recovery time will be extended.

They will med you up pretty good the first day and it will be pain free. The next day it will be stiff and sore as the meds ware off and the knee swells.

Long term, put some silicone on the cut to reduce the scar. You may experience some loss of feeling on the skin in spots around the knee.

Pain killers you can do your way. I don't like to be on them so I broke them in half, and took half the medication, and half the pain. If your recovery requires you to move it when stiff, then it is very important to take enough meds to get your theropy done.

I found that if the dose is 1 every 3 hours then 1/2 every 1 1/2 hours was a more even dose, and I would then back it off to 1/2 every 2 hours. Bedtime is an exception, full dose is riquired if you are going to fall asleep.

Recovery is gradual. Every month you will be doing a little bit more. For example, it will be a good 4-6 months before you take a step and don't think about your knee, and a good year before you feel you can do just about anything.

There will be a point at about 4-6 months where you can walk around just fine, but walking down steps is still dificult.

Make sure your first day or two back to work are half day, because you won't have the endurance, and it is very hard to sit in a chair with your leg extended for long periods of time.

Do you like doing puzzles?

 

I had to have my right knee replaced about two years ago. I was off work for 6 weeks and it still isn't 100% (probably never will be), but the more you work on therapy the quicker it will get back to normal. No kidding, therapy is the key! Good luck!

 

listen to greencrew.

had my acl done 4 years ago.
i had it done, felt pretty good at 1 week out, started rehab, did it really good, at 1 month out i felt so good we went to the mall and my wife let me get my $5000 surround sound set-up, then she wanted a new matress, so the next morning i get up and start taking the water bed apart (stupid me barefooted) walked in the bath room with the, some water got on the floor causing me to slip all my weight went on the left knee, muscle could not hold me, strait down on the knee knap, broke it in two and ripped the patela tendon. new surgery, 9" scare, 6 months of no weight baring crutches and a soft cast. can you belief that it was my dads birthday and we went to dinner that night ( i didnt know how bad it was) this is my claim to fame for being tough.

so all i can tell you is be cautious, when you start feeling better is the most dangerous time because your leg muscle will not be up to the task they once where, ALWAYS WHERE GOOD SHOES, from the minute you get out of bed till you go to bed at night. if you even think you should not do somthing DONT. if you take it easy and rehab hard you will recover and be doing normal activity in 2 to 3 months, feeling real good at 6 months.
the day after surgery is a little rough but every day after that is better, i hope you are taking of off work at least a week. get the name brand drugs, the generic is not as good. believe me on this.

if i had it to do over i would have started a weight training program 3 month before surgery, had the surgery and stay completely off it a week and then rehabbed it like crazy, i would (and did) find the best shoe place in town and get a knowledgable person to fit me and that is the only pair of shoes i would put on for 6 months, i would then seek out a personal trainer ( i did this about 1 year ago, 2 years 2 late) who helped people with this injury. i would keep my weight down and i have no doubt that i could be as good or better than before the injury.
i did a week of san fransico in july and a week of disney in november and i had no problems at all.

sorry so long. you will not be on crutches for 4 weeks, i would say 1 week, 2 weeks max.

good luck,

i just saw in your profile that you were born in 1980, if you take 3 month out of your life and protect the knee and rehab right, you should kick this in the butt. dont be in a hurry!

 

I went shopping at Toys R Us with my wife for a baby shower gift. I could getting along ok walking, maybe a little slow, and tired rather quickly, but there was a wheel chair at the entrance door, so my wife says get in and I'll push you.

I sounded like a good idea to me, what the heck. We weren't there for five minutes and she takes a turn, changes here mind, reverses direction and slams my foot into a display case, HARD.

I didn't yell loud, just firm. There where quite a few witnesses who just sood there grinching. She quickly asked if I was ok. I said yes, but I don't want to walk now, and you positively are not pushing me. I'll roll myself. We rolled off to another area of the stoor and started laughing over the looks on all those people's faces.

 

Thanks for the replies guys. I had the surgery this morning, and i'm feeling pretty good, but I'm sure I'll start hurting when this pain killer wears off. Anyways, I'll follow the advice and hopefully be walking again soon before I go crazy

 

Well, its been roughly 2 weeks since the surgery, and I'm doing pretty well. Hopefully this week the therapist will let me wear my ACL brace and start walking and driving again. I only took pain killers the first day, then aleeve occasionally since then. I think I'm doing pretty good, it will be nice to start running and playing sports again in a few months I have decided that for the rest of my life, I will wear a knee brace on that leg when I play sports, just for protection, so I don't have to go through this again!

 

Glad to hear your feeling good Decoy. Make sure you follow BrotherDave's advice. My brother in law had surgery and didn't follow the doctors orders and ended up in much worse shape with a much bigger surgery afterwards.

 

get a couple of opinions on the brace,

one school of thought is to protect the knee.

the other is that if you rely on the brace the muscle that need to rebuild will never get there because the brace take some of the pressure.

i think you can get back to some degree of activity in 5 to 6 months but you will not be back to full strength in 10 months to a year, check out some of the professional atheletes that go through this and a year is about the time to get back to a prfessional level.
remember they have the best physical therepy and drugs!

so take the time, weight train and stretch like a **** and dont over due it.

if you did the patela tendion graph remember you have weakened that tendon and the bone plug need time to fuse.

do you know how they repaired it.

 

I went with the platella tendon graft.