Week 7 & 8 - ACL Surgery Recovery

Recovering from ACL surgery seems to be different for everyone judging by my observations and by my own experience since I've had both knees fixed. On my first week of physiotheropy i was able to ride the excerise bike with no problems. Recently, i was observing another patient at the physio clinic who also had her ACL repaired over 8 weeks ago and she was still having difficulty peddling. She had to raise her hip off the seat every time her repaired leg was at the top of the peddling cycle. One thing to keep in mind when you're reading my blog that if you're about to go through with the ACL surgery, your progression may be a bit longer than what i'm experiencing and reporting.

Now, since my last post i've had a routine follow up appointment with my surgeron. It was July 8th and lasted about 5 minutes. It wasnt really informative as he just moved my leg around to make sure my knee joint was tight and he seemed pleased with my progress. I've got another follow up in October where i'll get x-rays to make sure everything has healed nicely. I mentioned some minor discomfort in my patella but he didn't seem too concerned at this point since it was only around the 7 week point.

In Physio at week 7, in addition to the routines i've described in my previous posts, i started doing some forwards running in the Swimex pool which was more challenging than the backwards running I've been doing. Outside of the pool, I've added some zig-zag walking patterns with the exercise bands rapped around my ankles doing about 40-50 steps forwards and backwards and then side to side. Also, I've added some hip raises where i lye flat on the floor with my knees bent and holding a ball in between my knees. you slowly raise your hips above the ground so that your body is in a straight diaginal from your knees to your head while at the same time, squeezing your knees together. All these exercises are great for strengthening your hip muscles. The stronger your hip muscles are, the more weight they can handle and the less pressure on your knees.

That was it for week 7. This past week which would technically be week 8, i spent with my wife in Punta Cana - Dominican Republic so i don't have much to report. I took my exercise band with me, used the gym at the resort and did a lot of swimming to keep my knee going. I've been told that i'll be starting Plyometrics soon at physio so i'll report on that at the end of the week.

Sorry, no pictures this week. Thanks for reading my ACL surgery recovery blog.

Week 6 - ACL Surgery Recovery

Its been 6 weeks since my ACL reconstruction surgery. The scar is healing nicely and the scar tissue seems to have gone down quite a bit due to the hardcore massaging i had to do. With regards to pain, i mostly get it in the back of the knee which I'm told is normal. Right now, my physio schedule basically starts with 1/2 an hour on the exercise bike, then 1/2 an hour of strength training then 1/2 an hour of various balance exercises then 1/2 an hour in the Swimex pool.

In addition to the pool exercises outlined in week 5 bloog ( http://aclsurgeryrecovery.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html ), this week in the Swimex, I was allowed to added some basic kicking against the current.So basically, with the pool jets set at a reasonably strong current shooting against you, you would use a floating board if you're not a strong swimmer, to support your upper body, you would kick to try and keep yourself from being pushed back. At this point, you're not allowed to do any kind of whip kicks or side kicks, just basic kicking. I really like the Swimex but the next day, my knee is very sore, again, mostly in the back.

The other new exercise i did this week was out of the pool involved the use of a resistance band wrapped around my ankles and then stepping though a side to side pattern on the floor. I've actually created a diagram you will see below. You must step in and out of each box one leg at a time. I've numbered each spot in the order you're suppose to step. The exercise band really helps strenghten the outer part of your legs muscles. I've added it to my recommended products on the left hand side as i feel they are very useful and relatively cheap.

Well, thats it for this week. I see my surgeon for a follow up appointment on tuesday July 8th and then I'm off for vacation to the Dominican on July 11th. Hopefully i'll get a chance to do a week 7 update before i leave. Thanks for reading my blog on ACL surgery and recovery. If you have any questions, add it to the comment section and i'll reply.