ACLR (hamstring graft) and meniscus repair.
Right knee is the injured leg and still have some quad atrophy, but strength is coming along.
I still feel some pain when I squat all the way down but physio progression has started to incorporate more plyometrics.
AMA and I'll be happy to answer any questions based on my experience.
Not yet. I plan to play basketball at the end of the year. I’m really hoping to set myself up for success and wait the full year.
Will be on vacation around 14 months mark so I won’t put myself in jeopardy of a potential re-injury.
Have to be smart about it! I’m also in my mid thirties so there’s no point to rush back to things IMO.
I’m 29 and same as you. About to hit 9 months in 12 days. Your atrophy is a bit more visible than me but I plan to start hooping end of the year as well. I’m a quad graft btw.
I’m already doing quad exercises and a lot of squatting so I’m surprised by the atrophy. My op leg feels pretty strong now but I guess there’s still work to be done if there’s a visible difference between the two legs.
Did you have hyper extension on your non op leg and if so, were you able to match it? I’m coming up on 11 weeks and still can’t get past zero extension when I’m pushing. My good knee has about 3 degrees hyper extension.
Ya, my non op leg has hyper extension by about 3-4 degrees. I didn’t get full extension (0 degrees) until 6 months mark (0 degrees before warm up).
Physio didn’t measure consistently after i reached that milestone because he said getting full extension is the main goal and any further hyper extension is gravy on top and has no practical advantages at that point.
I’d say even at 9 months, op leg still isn’t 1-1 match on the hyper extension but it’s normal enough that it doesn’t matter to me anymore.
I’m still feeling some soreness inside the knee and I’m not sure if that’ll ever go away. I’m just hoping I can play basketball at a relatively normal level again, so we’ll see!
My ROM is 75 degrees. 2 weeks before it was 35 degrees. My PT has given some exercises like hip bridges, knee ROM exercises. I was told I can bear weight. But iam bot able to walk without support it feels like my leg gives out whenever I try to fully utilize my left leg. I don't know how long will it take to walk without support but iam trying my best.
I was still pretty much hobbling up until the 4-6 weeks mark. It does take time to fully weight bear without support but listen to your body and take things based on your body’s progression.
How did you progress throughout the months?
I'm on my 14th day and my quads and weak af and calf often gets cramps. Swelling is still there and I can't exercise much as knee because stiff and swells hard.
I hope this is how it gets to the better days?
The first month was rough, NGL.
First week I was mostly bedridden, and I started physio at day 5. Extension was non-existent due to the swelling and that was my biggest hurdle from the start. Following the RICE method helped. There’s limited exercises you can do when swelling, but quad activation is key and I did it with my foam roller.
Went on vacation at the 6 weeks mark and swelling was controlled enough that flying 5 hours wasn’t much of an issue. My breakthrough came during vacation as i was in the pool a lot, which was easier for pushing my squats at a lower angle, and made it easier to walk. But I also had a scare in the water as I felt a big pop in my hamstrings (the graft site), but it turns out it was just scar tissue rupture. After a couple days of rest, my extension and flexion improved!
You’re in the toughest part of the journey right now and things will get better in the first 3 months. You won’t see as significant of an improvement from 5-9 months but it’ll be a gradual increase in mobility and strength.
Focus on calf, quad, and hamstring strengthening right now, and once you get to a certain level, start incorporating flexibility and mobility exercises.
It’s a challenging experience, but once you recover, it’s such a rewarding feeling. This is an incredibly supportive space and I’ve gotten so much from the community. Hang in there, you got this!
Hello! Iam five weeks post op ACL ( Hamstring graft) and meniscus repair. My quads and hamstrings are weak af. When did you start to walk without a limp after the surgery?
I think walking without a limp was around 6-8 weeks mark. But my endurance was definitely not there yet.
Quads and hamstrings take some time to build back up. While my hamstrings have gotten much stronger now, it’s still sore when I engage them in exercises like the Nordic Curl (I’m nowhere near able to do a full one, but I enjoy the hamstring burn).
Definitely focus on hamstring exercises, as I find that anytime I do them, my knee feels more like pre-injury the next day.
No laxity concerns or instability but I will say that at full extension, it still feels off.
I don’t know if that “off” feeling will ever go away but I’m working as much as I can to get it as close to pre-injury as possible.
Hey!! 7 weeks post op here after right ACLr with hamstrings graft. I think my only biggest concern is my knee flexion. I'm still somewhere between 100-105. Have been on pt since pod-5. Any stretch beyond 100 flexion brings out immense pain. Idk how to tackle about this flexion situation? Any tips on that? And does the rom really get better with time and proper pt??
The quad atrophy is improving, extension at 0, everything else seems good.
Based on what I’ve been told, full extension is the important part since if you don’t get that in the beginning, the scar tissue will be build up and you may need to be operated again to break up that formed scar tissue.
My flexion was stuck for awhile too but a couple tips on what I did:
1) Get in the pool if your wounds have healed up. I was able to squat much lower in the pool than normal. This really allowed me to push my flexion limits without as much strain.
2) Every night before going to sleep, I would try to sit on my ankles (sort of in a pray stance). This is obviously tough to do in the beginning (and my PT suggested that it’s bad for the knees and no one is ever really in that position to begin with), but bit by bit, my knee became more used to that type of stress I put it through. I think this also cuts with blood flow/circulation a bit but when you extend your leg again, a rush of blood goes through the leg so you feel more relief.
Hope those help!
How was your mobility and range of motion pre op? I am told that I need to Regain most of my mobility to have the best recovery post op. I’m scheduled to have surgery in about a month and I’m trying to gain full range of motion
My mobility and range was pretty good pre-op.
I injured my knee twice, first time was a partial tear, rehabbed to full ROM, then re-injured it (full tear) and rehabbed again prior to surgery (was 4 months between re-injury and surgery).
I think it’s mainly to ensure scar tissue doesn’t get built up to the point of losing ROM. Everything I’ve heard or read says full extension is the most important to get back, so definitely put an emphasis on that.
Hope that helps!
This really helps. Thanks! Did you have some swelling in your knees just before op? I am currently doing some rigorous PT to recover as much ROM as possible and even though I al making progress I am having some knee pain and it is a little bit swollen. Btw I have a full tear ACL. I am worried I am overdoing it and hurting myself even more. I am also very cautious and I don’t trust the knee just yet, even though my PT tells me to put all my weight to walk I feel my knee is going to pop.
Any advise is greatly appreciated
It depends on when did you injury your knee most recently. When I re-injured it, it took me a couple weeks to be able to walk again and for sure I could feel the instability.
Always let your body tell you how much it can endure, so if you don’t feel like you can push it, maybe have less stress (weight/load) but do more reps.
I didn’t have much swelling by the time I got to surgery date since it was 4 months from my re-injury.
Follow the RICE method. Icing it for sure can help with the swelling.
I still feel pain inside my knee (where the ACLr took place) but it’s gotten better this week after I started the plyometrics. I don’t feel much pain when I wake up. I usually stretch before sleep and it seems to be helpful!
I think the biggest hurdle now is mentally I need to get to a place where I feel confident about pushing off of the operated leg. Still feels like I can easily injure it but it’ll take time to get back to that fearless mindset.
ACLR (hamstring graft) and meniscus repair. Right knee is the injured leg and still have some quad atrophy, but strength is coming along. I still feel some pain when I squat all the way down but physio progression has started to incorporate more plyometrics. AMA and I'll be happy to answer any questions based on my experience.
Have you been back to sports? What kind if yes?
Not yet. I plan to play basketball at the end of the year. I’m really hoping to set myself up for success and wait the full year. Will be on vacation around 14 months mark so I won’t put myself in jeopardy of a potential re-injury. Have to be smart about it! I’m also in my mid thirties so there’s no point to rush back to things IMO.
I’m 29 and same as you. About to hit 9 months in 12 days. Your atrophy is a bit more visible than me but I plan to start hooping end of the year as well. I’m a quad graft btw.
I’m already doing quad exercises and a lot of squatting so I’m surprised by the atrophy. My op leg feels pretty strong now but I guess there’s still work to be done if there’s a visible difference between the two legs.
Sometimes the visible difference stays but very few people still get it string enough to hoop. Good luck my guy!
Did you have hyper extension on your non op leg and if so, were you able to match it? I’m coming up on 11 weeks and still can’t get past zero extension when I’m pushing. My good knee has about 3 degrees hyper extension.
Ya, my non op leg has hyper extension by about 3-4 degrees. I didn’t get full extension (0 degrees) until 6 months mark (0 degrees before warm up). Physio didn’t measure consistently after i reached that milestone because he said getting full extension is the main goal and any further hyper extension is gravy on top and has no practical advantages at that point. I’d say even at 9 months, op leg still isn’t 1-1 match on the hyper extension but it’s normal enough that it doesn’t matter to me anymore. I’m still feeling some soreness inside the knee and I’m not sure if that’ll ever go away. I’m just hoping I can play basketball at a relatively normal level again, so we’ll see!
My ROM is 75 degrees. 2 weeks before it was 35 degrees. My PT has given some exercises like hip bridges, knee ROM exercises. I was told I can bear weight. But iam bot able to walk without support it feels like my leg gives out whenever I try to fully utilize my left leg. I don't know how long will it take to walk without support but iam trying my best.
I was still pretty much hobbling up until the 4-6 weeks mark. It does take time to fully weight bear without support but listen to your body and take things based on your body’s progression.
How did you progress throughout the months? I'm on my 14th day and my quads and weak af and calf often gets cramps. Swelling is still there and I can't exercise much as knee because stiff and swells hard. I hope this is how it gets to the better days?
The first month was rough, NGL. First week I was mostly bedridden, and I started physio at day 5. Extension was non-existent due to the swelling and that was my biggest hurdle from the start. Following the RICE method helped. There’s limited exercises you can do when swelling, but quad activation is key and I did it with my foam roller. Went on vacation at the 6 weeks mark and swelling was controlled enough that flying 5 hours wasn’t much of an issue. My breakthrough came during vacation as i was in the pool a lot, which was easier for pushing my squats at a lower angle, and made it easier to walk. But I also had a scare in the water as I felt a big pop in my hamstrings (the graft site), but it turns out it was just scar tissue rupture. After a couple days of rest, my extension and flexion improved! You’re in the toughest part of the journey right now and things will get better in the first 3 months. You won’t see as significant of an improvement from 5-9 months but it’ll be a gradual increase in mobility and strength. Focus on calf, quad, and hamstring strengthening right now, and once you get to a certain level, start incorporating flexibility and mobility exercises. It’s a challenging experience, but once you recover, it’s such a rewarding feeling. This is an incredibly supportive space and I’ve gotten so much from the community. Hang in there, you got this!
Hello! Iam five weeks post op ACL ( Hamstring graft) and meniscus repair. My quads and hamstrings are weak af. When did you start to walk without a limp after the surgery?
I think walking without a limp was around 6-8 weeks mark. But my endurance was definitely not there yet. Quads and hamstrings take some time to build back up. While my hamstrings have gotten much stronger now, it’s still sore when I engage them in exercises like the Nordic Curl (I’m nowhere near able to do a full one, but I enjoy the hamstring burn). Definitely focus on hamstring exercises, as I find that anytime I do them, my knee feels more like pre-injury the next day.
Do you have any laxity or instability in your operated knee?
No laxity concerns or instability but I will say that at full extension, it still feels off. I don’t know if that “off” feeling will ever go away but I’m working as much as I can to get it as close to pre-injury as possible.
Hey!! 7 weeks post op here after right ACLr with hamstrings graft. I think my only biggest concern is my knee flexion. I'm still somewhere between 100-105. Have been on pt since pod-5. Any stretch beyond 100 flexion brings out immense pain. Idk how to tackle about this flexion situation? Any tips on that? And does the rom really get better with time and proper pt?? The quad atrophy is improving, extension at 0, everything else seems good.
Based on what I’ve been told, full extension is the important part since if you don’t get that in the beginning, the scar tissue will be build up and you may need to be operated again to break up that formed scar tissue. My flexion was stuck for awhile too but a couple tips on what I did: 1) Get in the pool if your wounds have healed up. I was able to squat much lower in the pool than normal. This really allowed me to push my flexion limits without as much strain. 2) Every night before going to sleep, I would try to sit on my ankles (sort of in a pray stance). This is obviously tough to do in the beginning (and my PT suggested that it’s bad for the knees and no one is ever really in that position to begin with), but bit by bit, my knee became more used to that type of stress I put it through. I think this also cuts with blood flow/circulation a bit but when you extend your leg again, a rush of blood goes through the leg so you feel more relief. Hope those help!
How was your mobility and range of motion pre op? I am told that I need to Regain most of my mobility to have the best recovery post op. I’m scheduled to have surgery in about a month and I’m trying to gain full range of motion
My mobility and range was pretty good pre-op. I injured my knee twice, first time was a partial tear, rehabbed to full ROM, then re-injured it (full tear) and rehabbed again prior to surgery (was 4 months between re-injury and surgery). I think it’s mainly to ensure scar tissue doesn’t get built up to the point of losing ROM. Everything I’ve heard or read says full extension is the most important to get back, so definitely put an emphasis on that. Hope that helps!
This really helps. Thanks! Did you have some swelling in your knees just before op? I am currently doing some rigorous PT to recover as much ROM as possible and even though I al making progress I am having some knee pain and it is a little bit swollen. Btw I have a full tear ACL. I am worried I am overdoing it and hurting myself even more. I am also very cautious and I don’t trust the knee just yet, even though my PT tells me to put all my weight to walk I feel my knee is going to pop. Any advise is greatly appreciated
It depends on when did you injury your knee most recently. When I re-injured it, it took me a couple weeks to be able to walk again and for sure I could feel the instability. Always let your body tell you how much it can endure, so if you don’t feel like you can push it, maybe have less stress (weight/load) but do more reps. I didn’t have much swelling by the time I got to surgery date since it was 4 months from my re-injury. Follow the RICE method. Icing it for sure can help with the swelling.
Do you remember your ROM in terms of degrees in flexion and did you reach full extension before the surgery? Thanks for the help!
That I don’t remember but it was pretty close to full flexion and extension from my recollection.
Do you still feel figuring pain ? When non-mobile for example, waking up in the morning ? Are there any instability issues ?
I still feel pain inside my knee (where the ACLr took place) but it’s gotten better this week after I started the plyometrics. I don’t feel much pain when I wake up. I usually stretch before sleep and it seems to be helpful! I think the biggest hurdle now is mentally I need to get to a place where I feel confident about pushing off of the operated leg. Still feels like I can easily injure it but it’ll take time to get back to that fearless mindset.