4 Months Post Op

It seems after I hit 3 months post op, progress has slowed down and there are only incremental changes from month to month.  So there are small improvments but things just seem to move very slowly.

Physical Therapy:  I am restricted to the same exercises I listed in the last post until month 6 when I can add a few things.  Here's some examples of what I'm able to do in the gym now:

35 minutes on the stationary bike on level 8
10 minutes on the elliptical
1 leg hamstring curls and leg press (I use the lightest weight on the machine when working my bad leg)
4x way SLRs w/5 lb ankle weight
Swimming-I only feel comfortable doing free style stroke since there's minimal bending of my leg.  I use my good leg to push off the wall.  On a good note, I'm up to abut 20 laps and feel no discomfort in my knee
Treadmill walking-10 minutes at 2.5

Pain/Stiffness/Swelling:  I have no pain doing the above workouts.  When I walk I still have a twinge in the graft area that I feel intermittently.  The stiffness is still there especially when I wake up in the morning.  But this has improved a lot over the last 2 weeks.  I think in another month the stiffness will be gone.  There's no position I can't do with my knee now.  I can kneel on it and bend pretty much anyway I want now.  It still feels a little less flexible than my good knee but I'm very happy with the result so far.  I still have some swelling above the knee.

Stairs:  Stairs are still my nemesis.  Going down is much easier than going up.  When I go up I still use one leg at a time.  I think this is mostly due to weakness and I'm only allowed to do small step ups in physical therapy.  I feel normal stairs are too big and might be too much for the graft at this point.  According to my PT protocol I can do larger step ups at month 6 so i'll be more comfortable going up steps at that point.  When going down stairs I can do them continuously alternating legs but I hold on to the handrail for dear life.  With the weakness in my leg, I just feel very unstable.

Other Thoughts:  Overall I'm happy with the progress so far.  I feel good enough to go to Las Vegas on a New Years trip with friends...although there will be no dancing yet.  And I'll still be wearing flats with my New Year's dress.  Anyone who's been to Vegas knows how big the hotels are and there can be a lot of walking.  I'm okay with getting around and walking through the hotels but for any significant walking down the strip, we'll probably take a cab.

3 1/2 Months Post Op

Range of Motion:  I have reached full range of motion!  My knee is not quite as flexible as my good knee but I consider it to be full range.  I feel a pretty good stretch when I sit on my heels but I'm able to do this without much pain.  So I do this for at least 10 minutes a day to continue to work out the stiffness.  Here's a video showing my range of motion:

Physical Therapy:  According to my PT protocol I can do many different types of exercises now.  These include:

Swimming
Elliptical Trainor
Stationary Bike
Hamstring curl weight machine
Standing SLRs with a theraband
Forwards and backwards walking on a treadmill
Wall squats and leg press (no flexion past 45 degrees)
Small step forward, lateral, and retro step downs (no flexion past 45 degrees)

I am now going to physical therapy twice a week where I specifically work on exercises to strengthen my bad leg.  I also work out at the gym 4 to 5 times a week where I do upper body, core and cardio exercises.

Though I can do a wide variety of exercises now, I still must avoid exercises that cause excessive shearing or overloading of the graft.  Shearing motions are caused by squats, lunges, and leg extension type exercises with large degrees of flexion (that is why I'm currently limited to 45 degrees).  Running or jumping exercises cause overloading of the graft.

This isn't my knee but this is basically what
the ultra sound machine looks like.

Scar Tissue:  My physical therapist suggested trying ultra sound to help break up the scar tissue.  So I've been doing 10 minutes of ultra sound twice a week at physical therapy.  Some studies show ultra sound can help break up scar tissue and speed healing.  I've had 3 sessions of this and I feel some improvement.  However, I don't know if it's because of the ultra sound or just the natural healing process, but I'll take it!

There's still some swelling present.  My knee cap
is not quite as defined as the other one.

Pain and Swelling:  I have very little pain now.  I still feel the familiar twinge in my femoral condyle where I had the graft but I think it's continuing to get better.  I still have a puffy area of swelling above my knee.

Other Thoughts:  I felt good enough to attempt a shopping trip at the mall.  After a couple laps around the mall and multiple stores my knee began to tell me that was enough (my wallet appreciates it).  My leg started to get tired and felt weak.  And my knee started to ache and swell a little more than normal.  Altogether, I was pretty happy with the trip and the amount of walking I was able to do.  The next day I didn't feel any worse.