Comments on: How to heal from ACL knee surgery

By: Carol

Carol — Sat, 31 Aug 2019 21:08:44 +0000

Oh Brittany…I needed that confirmation. I commented to you before I read about your accident. You have been on my heart and will stay there!! I need to read your updates…I hope you are healing at record pace!

By: Brittany Walker Konsella

Brittany Walker Konsella — Wed, 28 Aug 2019 16:52:58 +0000

In reply to Carol. So glad you have found the information useful Carol! Recovery is a part time job, at a minimum. So, invest the time you need to your recovery, especially getting that knee to go straight, and it will all pay off in the end. Patience is key, though certainly frustrating! Good luck!

By: Carol

Carol — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 00:13:30 +0000

So…I lived with a ruptured ACL and torn meniscus for 8 years…until one day…one more injury and it locked up. I had to wait 4 weeks for surgery…no pre-hab :/. I am 59…a farmer…very active…can’t sit still…but getting frustrated that I am not moving fast enough. I did get on a bike this week…but I am not able to straighten the leg like I think it should be straightened. Your blog has encouraged me…I will continue on and start talking to my knee :). I knew this would be a long haul…but your words will help me along the way. Thank you.

By: Brittany Walker Konsella

Brittany Walker Konsella — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 03:11:42 +0000

In reply to Holly. So glad you find these posts helpful! Feel free to contact me if you have questions!

By: Holly

Holly — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 23:25:38 +0000

Thank you so much for this Brittany! I’m a week out of my knee surgery (ACL reconstruction with quad graft, small lateral meniscus tear, and an MCL sprain). I, like you, injured it while skiing. Been an athlete since I was 8, so this has been a massive eye opener for me to have injured it recreationally after decades of competitive sports. Been spending a lot of time looking for a first hand account of a quad graft reconstruction, how to take each week, and what to look forward to. This is so incredibly helpful (especially since you had the same graft as me). My ROM is going to take a bit longer to progress because of the MCL sprain – but I dedicated myself to PT this past week and was able to complete the week with 40 SLRs and walking with minor reliance on the crutches. 🙂 I’ll keep coming back to your article for inspiration over the coming months. Thank you again!!!

By: Brittany Walker Konsella

Brittany Walker Konsella — Tue, 25 Apr 2017 13:07:50 +0000

In reply to harrymunroHarry.

Hi Harry. Thankso for your comment. I did take Naprosyn but not any of the narcotic pain meds. My ROM has has always come back pretty fast. I believe I was at 100% in 3 weeks. I could fire my quad always, but pain on my graft site prevented me from doing straight leg raises for the first week. I have never heard of pain meds bring used to suppress muscle movement. I have actually heard the opposite – they recommend them so that you can do your physical therapy. I have also always been told to start working ROM even on the first day after surgery in all three knee surgeries I had. In fact, for my first one, they kept me in the hospital overnight and put my leg in a machine which kept the knee moving forward 12 hours straight, right out of knee surgery….. it was painful so they put me on morphine but that made me dizzy and I puked within minutes of every dose.

By: harrymunroHarry

harrymunroHarry — Mon, 24 Apr 2017 11:03:37 +0000

Thanks for the article, really enjoyed reading it. I am going through ACL-R rehab at the moment – one month out from surgery with about 100 deg knee flexion and currently re-learning how to walk properly!

On the pain medication issue, from what I have read and been told the main benefit of the meds is in mitigating the neuromuscular inhibition that comes after the surgery. The argument goes that the inability to contract the muscles properly after the surgery is partially due to the pain which the body is experiencing as part of its need to protect the knee from any movement. So taking painkillers is meant to speed up the rate at which you regain the ability to contract your muscles. When I woke up from surgery still with the local anaesthetic in the knee I was able to contract the quad 100% without any problems!

I’d be interested to hear how you found progress regaining range of motion and muscle activation without the painkillers? Personally I took paracetamol and ibuprofen for about a week and then stopped.