Well, here I am at 6 months and life is slowly returning to normal. After my last Dr. appointment, I learned I could add some additional exercises to my workouts including lunges and squats. I also learned I can go to 90 degrees flexion when doing these exercises.
Physical Therapy: I still go to PT twice a week. Mostly I still go to touch base with my physical therapist and to get ideas for different exercises. But I think I know enough now to do my own workouts at the gym. Plus I prefer to go to the gym on my own because I can get a better workout. Here are the exercises I do now:
Cardio:
Elliptical Trainer
Stationary bike
Swimming
Treadmill backwards walking at a high incline
Strength Training:
Squats (only body weight)
Lunges (only body weight)
Calf raises
Leg Press
Hip weight machine
Hamstring curl weight machine
I feel comfortable doing pretty much any weight machines except leg extensions. I've read that this exercise causes sheering forces on the knee and I feel pain in my knee cap when I try to do this. So I think it might be a little soon for this.
I also started going to yoga class again. This has been challenging. Any balancing poses on my left side are difficult and I'm highly unstable due to weakness around my knee. But It feels really good to start doing this again and I think this will help a lot with building up my strength.
I don't have any pain in the area of the graft when I do any of these exercises. The only issue I noticed was during lunges. When I lunged forward on my non-operated leg I felt a twinge in my operated leg near the graft site. So I only do forward lunges with my operated leg for now.
Pain/Swelling/Stiffness/Weakness: Now that I've added some new exercises and started to work my leg a little harder I noticed some pain around my kneecap near the incision. The area around my incision is still a little tender and I'm getting used to some of these new exercises. I don't have much swelling or stiffness anymore so I feel back to normal when I'm sitting on the couch or laying in bed. My knee makes a lot of cracking and popping sounds when I do my exercises. It doesn't hurt but I'm surprised how much cracking there is. According to my surgeon, it's normal so I'm not bothered by it. My biggest issue is weakness right now. Going up and down stairs is still very difficult. I can go up and down alternating legs now but I hold onto the handrail pretty tight.
Overall: I'm still about 3 months out from beginning a running progression program according to my rehab protocol. I'm not sure I will ever get to the point where I can run. I still have some pain in my femoral condyle where I had the graft when I walk or go up stairs but it's minor. I can't imagine trying to run right now. Hopefully over the next 3 months I will continue to get stronger and the graft will continue to harder and fix my injury.
I'm glad to hear you are progressing nicely! I'm having my ACI surgery in two weeks. It has been looming over my head for so long, I just want to get it over with and start the recovery! Keep the posts coming, they have been a huge help in planning for the coming weeks. One detail that I'm really surprised about with my surgery is that it will be outpatient. I haven't been able to find one person who has had outpatient ACI surgery. I guess insurance companies these days want you out of the hospital ASAP. My surgeon has done a ton of these surgeries so I trust him. I'm just not looking forward to when my nerve block wears off!
ReplyDeleteGood luck Andy! My surgery was going to be outpatient too but I asked to stay overnight in the hospital because I wasn't sure what to expect. My surgery was late in the day and I was out of the hospital the next day so I was there less than 24 hrs. It was a bit of a blur since I was on drugs the whole time but I was VERY ready to go home the next day. The hospital isn't much fun. I didn't have a nerve block and was able to keep my pain under control the first two days with Percocet. I did need to take 2 every 4 hrs like clockwork for pain though. I think you'll be fine as an outpatient.
DeleteMine was outpatient, andy!
DeleteAndy, my name is Brandon and I am scheduled for this same surgery in a few weeks, I was wanting to hear how your procedure went compared to Megans, how are the both of you doing.
DeleteIt's very nice that you are feeling normal now for the most part. My knee is still swelling above my.kneecap after physical therapy and walking for any longer amount of time, but it goes down overnight. I hope you can get back to running, as I want to, too. I tripped on a rug the other day and landed on my bad leg. My quad tendon hurt so bad from that, I coudnt imagine running (lol). I notice my incision hurting on some exercises, too.
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ReplyDeleteHi Megan, my name is Dominique Harris from England and I had my ACI stage two knee operation two days ago! . I am 18 years old and I play Football/Soccer which is how I got injured in the first place.
Today I took off my bandages that's was covering my whole knee and refitted the brace. It feels really weird and I keep getting scared that my knee will move or maybe the brace isn't tight enough.
Your blog is very helpful and I'm starting it from the beginning and seeing the similarities already.
I would love to be in contact with you as I start my journey to recovery. My Facebook is:
Dominique Harris
Or my email is:
dominique-harris@hotmail.co.uk
Thank you so much!
I'm 16 months post ACI surgery. I was done as an outpatient as well. It's been great reading about another persons experiences! I stopped full time pt 4 months after surgery and thought I could do it all at the gym. By 10 months post op I saw my surgeon and he referred me to a different therapist who I see once a week. I finally have run a mile but I can't single leg squat or hop just on my surgical leg. It's been a long road and I never thought I'd run again! It's possible!
ReplyDeleteAngela
Angela, thank you for your comment. I think it's great you ran a mile. It gives me hope! I've been wondering about single leg squats and hopping on 1 leg. I can't imagine doing that right now or if I'll ever be able to do that. The longer I go through this recovery, it becomes apparent to me that physical therapy is really necessary for at least a year. Or you at least need to check in with a therapist every couple of weeks to get ideas of new things to try and focus on. It is such an individual recovery and a generic protocol for ACI really doesn't help with fine tuning exercises that work specifically for you. For instance, my protocol says I could do step downs starting at 3 months but there was not way in hell I could do those without sharp pain until 7 months. I talked with my surgeon at 6 months and told him I was having sharp pain with this and he said not to do them until I only had slight pain. I'm just now starting to do these in parallel bars with very little body weight at 7 1/2 months.
DeleteNice
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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