Close to 4 weeks out - things almost normal

It has been a while since my last update but school has really been a pain especially with mobility issues.

But as of today I am 2 days short of 4 weeks since my surgery. One week ago I went to see my doctor for a check up and asked him a bunch of questions. Initially he stated that I should be on crutches for 6 weeks but when I asked him if I could get on a more aggressive rehab plan he said it was just a suggestion and in the end it is up to me. So 2 days ago I finally ditched the crutches. I am walking quite a bit slower than with the crutch, but it feels good to be able to use both hands in carrying things when I walk around.

What I find tough is walking down the stairs. Up is still fine, but if I walk down the stairs leading with my good leg, it becomes impossible. Too much pressure on my new ACL I guess.

I stopped going to PT twice a week because I am on a limited number of visits from my insurance. I now go in once a week and the last one was really good. It was a PT that I haven't seen before and he did a really good job in helping me get my ROM and giving me exercises. With the doctor's 6 week partial weight bearing orders off, I was finally started on the bike. It was a really good warm up to get my flexion up. Last friday I was up to 130 degrees flexion! My other leg gets around 140 so it's pretty close now. One thing I worry about is the stiffness, it takes a lot of warm up and stretching to get to 130, and I hope that it will come more easily and naturally soon.

I still get a sharp pain near my kneecap when I do quad sets (flexing my right quad and holding it). Doctor and PT simply wave it off and say I just had surgery it's normal.

Goals for this week..getting my knee to stop buckling while walking normally, work on stiffness in the knee, get the knots out of my calf, work on quad strength.

Don't have that much more expectation for my ROM because the last 10 degrees will probably come over the span of a few weeks so there's nothing much to measure there anymore.

Overall, starting to live the normal life again, hopefully I will walk unnoticably different from anyone else within the next 2 weeks.

2 weeks out!

So its officially 2 weeks out since I had my operation and unless I am moving around, I don't even notice my bad knee at this point. I can freely bend and extend it with my quad and hamstring when I sit on the bed (obviously not all the way though).

I had PT yesterday and nothing much new to report..extension and flexion are about the same as last week. I haven't been icing as much anymore so the swelling is still around. The PT did some ultra sound to relieve some swelling and massaged my IT band as well. She said that my IT band was really tight and was keeping my from flexing my quad all the way to do 0 degree locked out leg extensions. It felt a lot better after the PT session and now I can even walk up stairs and on flat ground without my crutch although I keep it around since the doctor says I should.

Feeling pretty good now even though the recovery rate has kind of plateaued.

9 days post op

Today was my third PT session and it went really well. They were surprised to see me walk in with 1 crutch.

They had me stretch my knee a little both ways and the official measurements are 1 degree extension and 110 degrees flexion. 110!!! That's a big improvement since the 95 of 3 days ago so I am really happy. I guess I am still 1 degree away from full extension but that's fine for now.

I did some single leg leg lifts, side leg lifts, and leg lifts on my stomach. Then got iced down for 10 minutes, quick PT session.

I am almost ready to go crutchless but the doctor said I should be on 2 crutches for 6 weeks and the PTs are finding it kind of weird too, it seems way too long. They can't even start me on harder weight bearing exercises because of the doctor's orders. I will call him Monday and try to get a more aggressive rehab protocol.

That's all for today.