I should probably give an update on my knee injury. All the poor people who land here on this blog, looking for information about acl injuries have been left, till now, to wonder how it all turned out for me. I know when I was first injured, I spent hours and hours trying to get all of the information that I could about my injury(what else are you going to do, right?). So, here goes!
My injury was a torn acl, mcl and lcl. It happened on January 27, 2011. The mcl and lcl WILL HEAL on their own. SO, there were crutches first for a few weeks, and then a full leg brace, all the while going to physical therapy 2-3 times a week for about 3 months. I will not lie, this.was.hard. The progress is measured in tiny, tiny increments. I was incredibly scared of falling. When your leg has completely given way underneath you, that is a terrifying thing to overcome, and that took awhile. In physical therapy you are doing ridiculously simple exercises while you are healing and stretching.......healing and stretching. And it hurts.
After 3 months I was released from physical therapy. My extension was back completely(even my hyper-extension was back a bit) and my flexion was ALMOST like my other leg. I could walk normally, go up and down steps, etc, etc. Of course I still had no acl. I am 42 and while I am very active, the activities that I love don't require a lot of cutting and pivoting, and the knee felt stable so I wasn't sure that I really needed the acl surgery. I decided to give it all I had and see how the knee held up.
By the summer (4-5 months post injury) I went for a 2 mile run. And every.single.step. hurt that knee. That was my last run. I lunged with weights, squatted, did step-ups on a 24"box, etc etc all summer long. I would ice my knee afterward. Leg extensions hurt, and I couldn't run or jump without pain. But I still wasn't experiencing any instability, which I thought was odd. I was pretty bummed about it, but at least I KNEW I didn't want to live like THAT the rest of my life. And while all the weight training didn't HELP my knee, (although I don't know if it actually HURT it either) it DID build the muscles back in my leg. And THAT proved to be a great move on my part.
SO. I scheduled my surgery for the end of October, 2011. 9 months after the initial injury. At that time, the mcl and lcl felt great again, and the only nagging pains I had were in the middle of my knee, when I would work it out. I still didn't have totally complete flexion in that leg.
I had the hamstring graft. (where they take a bit of your hamstring and make a new acl out of it and put it into your knee. weird, right? ).
Turns out my old acl had scarred over onto itself and that was why it felt stable......and also why I was still feeling pain.
The surgery was a breeze. You go to sleep, you wake up, your leg is all majorly bandages and padded up. I followed protocol to the letter by using a cryo-cuff for the first several weeks. I left it on all the time, I took the pain meds for maybe a week and then only at night for the next week. I was able to put weight on my leg the day I came home. Was off of the crutches completely by day 3 and Physical therapy was going on 2 times a week.
I cannot express how much easier it was to go through the surgery and recover than it was to go through the initial injury and recovery. The pain was absolutely MINIMAL by comparison.
My progress was much faster than the other patients in PT and Physio attributed it to the fact that I waited to have the surgery and built my leg up. Also, the mental part cannot be underestimated. I had completely gotten over the fear of walking on my leg, whereas the patients who had surgery immediately following their injury where getting a double-whammy and they were still terrified to walk, let alone push their recovery.
At this point, I am about 9 weeks out from my surgery, and I feel great. My flexion further that pre-surgery and will definitely be back to 100%. The extension has been at 100% since about week 2. I am doing weight work again. No pain. I should be able to start jogging again this week. Still have to be careful because the acl gets weaker before it gets stronger and mine is just turning the corner. But it FEELS great.
There is really no pain, only what I would characterize as stiffness. It comes and goes, but it seems like the weather affects it more than anything at this point!
My main concentration is weight work to build all the leg muscles back again. And a lot of stability type exercises to keep myself from using other muscles to compensate. There is every reason to believe that I will be back to 100% by the spring. And I couldn't be happier about the results so far.
So, thats my acl story. If you are reading this because you have this injury, you have my complete sympathy. And welcome to the ever growing club! I hope that my story can help you with your own decisions. Feel free to ask questions if you have any. I can only tell you from my own experience, but I would be happy to.
If you are faced with this surgery, follow the protocol. Find a GOOD Physical Therapist. I asked for the one in our area who works with all the college athletes. This has made a big difference in my recovery as well. And then just do the exercises and follow directions! It is true that it is a long haul. But it isn't that bad, and in the end you should be pretty much as good as new! I have every intention of hiking in the alps this fall!
Cheers!
Melissa
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