14 weeks post op!

14 down, 12 more to go!

This week started off with some hardcore jumping and agility drills with no pain or swelling. However 2 days later I was barely able to walk normally due to the pain on the outside of my knee. From what I can guess, I overworked some muscle I haven't used in 10 months. I don't feel pain when: sitting, going up/down stairs, jumping, hopping, running, or doing lunges. It's specifically when I have full weight on my leg in full extension and then I bend slightly and quickly. It's been slowly getting better, but not 100% yet.

Last night I ran outside for the first time since the injury. It felt great, felt normal, and no pain. I'm inching closer to a full out sprint (2 more weeks to go for that!)

Last Physio?

So today was my first physio in about 2.5 weeks. More exercises were added:

• Jumping up on-top of objects and jumping down (3-4 feet high). I also carry weight while doing it.
• Ladder shuffles? This basically entails a ladder on the ground and I run through it as quickly as I can. I can tell my left leg is slower than my right.
• Jumping onto bosu with one leg and than jumping off with that leg.

He also mentioned at this point I don't need to come back. Everything looks good and if I keep up with my exercises and keep pushing myself I should be fine. I have to add exercises I feel would simulate the sports I play.

He also said that I don't really have any restrictions at this point and mentioned that most acl tears are twisting ones, so I have to think about that while doing anything. I still have 3 months left till sports so I'll probably hold off on full blown sprints for another month. But one thing I can definitely do is jump for frisbees!

3 months in review! (13 weeks post op)

3 down, 3 to go!

The last month has had some setbacks and gains. Overall I can't tell that much difference between now and the last month. I think my knee looks about the same.

The good:

• Jogging again: after 2 weeks I'm almost feeling normal again.
• Skipping rope: I no longer double jump.
• Doing one legged squats without bosu has helped the fat pad catching problem
• Extension matches the other leg, while flexion is almost there
• Running up stairs.
  

The bad:

• kneecap fat pad is catching when I hyper-extend and then bend quickly.
• tingling in my middle toe.
• still have knee soreness / tiny bit of pain + inflammation.
  

The awesome:

• Only 3 more months to go!

I'd say my motivation dropped this month due to the small problems that have arisen. I guess I assumed everything would constantly get better but that doesn't seem to be the case. ACL rehab has it's ups and downs. Right now, I feel like I'm heading back into the "ups".

I can't wait for this next month to be over as then I'll be able to do the hardcore physio stuff: plyometrics, sprinting, and jumping.

Goals:

• Become very very comfortable doing one legged squats without the bosu (for some reason being on the bosu is easier for me) Hopefully this will get rid of the fatpad catching problem
  
• Become more comfortable with jogging. Right now I still have to think a lot while running.
  
• Get ready for the high-level physio coming in the next month.

12th week post op! tick tick tick

Finally broke the 100 day mark until sports! wheeee! It's hard to believe I only have 99 days left! In one week I'll be half done!

Over the past week I've started to jog, run up stairs, and skip rope. Other than that, not much new. I get the odd crack, snap, needle pain in and around my knee every now and then, but it's not too bad.

12 down, 14 more to go!

Jogging 101

On Saturday I attemped jogging for the first time since the injury (9? 10? months ago). It also coincides with the first time I have ever used a treadmill. Due to this last fact I had trouble *walking* on the treadmill at first. I'm more used to my body moving when I take a step forward, not some pad underneath me.

Anyway... after 10 minutes of walking and speed walking and building up confidence to run, eventually, with 2 hands on the bar in front of me, I started to jog. I put a lot of weight on the bar just to feel safe but I knew I had to eventually remove myself from the "training wheels" and go it at it freestyle. At first I was using my right leg a lot more than my left but eventually (through lots of self confidence building) I managed to equal them out and jog normally!! No pain or swelling afterwards so I can continue to jog indefnitely! Well, maybe not indefinitely. Right now jogging for me consists of 1 minute of jogging and 1 minute of speed walking, 10 minutes total.

I've also been running up stairs which feels great! Although my physio didn't say it was ok, I'll just assume it is!

11th Week Post Op

- "Can I jog yet? "

- "Yes."

Ahhhh, those are some sweet words. Although there is no treadmill at my physios', I will try jogging tomorrow at the gym. I'm restricted to soft surfaces for now and if it swells up afterwards I'll have to wait another week before trying again.

I've got some more intense hopping routines and the superman exercise: stand on one leg, and make body + other leg parallel to the ground. Superman is intense.

One thing that has cropped up in the past few weeks is the fat pad under my knee cap, also known as the infrapatellar fat pad. When I hyper extend and let my leg sit there for a bit, and then bend my knee quickly, I can feel that fat pad in the way, almost as if it is blocking my knee from bending. It is not painful at all. If I do it slowly it feels normal. Both the physio and chiro didn't have any good solutions but don't think it's too much of a concern. Building up leg muscles will hopefully solve the problem and I'll also be icing it in case it's inflammation.

10th Week Post Op!

I'm finally in the magical weeks (10-12) where the graft is stuck to the bone and won't come out and that means 2 weeks away till I start running again.

- Skipping rope has improved, but I need to take 2 hops before the rope goes all the way around. My knee starts to shake quite violently when it gets tired, so I can't do it for long.
- I'm up to 40 pounds on hamstring curls 3 sets of 10. I rarely feel that strain when I do them and if I do, it's minor.
- I've still got some inflammation of the bursa sacks (or whatever blob like pad is under the knee cap) which leads me to...
- I've decided I need more break days to let my leg rest and heal. Sometimes a week of daily exercises goes by and I wake up one morning with a sore leg / knee.

The next 2 weeks will be fairly boring. I'm counting down the days till I can run!

And on a side note, not relating to my leg, I've finally started to get the handle on throwing a long flick! woohoo!

9th Week Post Op

Another one bites the dust!

I have 3 more weeks until I can start running so I won't be seeing my physio until then. I finally overcame my mental barrier stopping me from the one legged hop! Physically, it was very easy, so my physio gave me a new exercise: Skipping Rope. Having never used this strange contraption, I was a little bit stumped on getting it all the way around. But after many trial and error episodes, I managed to skip rope! Every now and then the rope hits my head, but as my physio says "you'll improve your leg and improve on skipping rope!"

I also mentioned that the doc said my leg needs more hyper extension, but my physio thinks it looks fine and it's probably tight hamstrings. So my focus will also be on my flexibility over the next few weeks.

My leg has been aching more in the morning when I wake up, but I assume this is due to the more strenuous exercises I put it through. I've also had dreams about running, so maybe I'm sleep running!

17 More weeks to go!

2 Months in Review

Today I met with the surgeeeeoo.... doctor to go over my knee. Everytime I visit the fracture clinic I see a different doctor. My surgeon didn't show up as it was a pretty basic examination. This doctor tested the acl and checked out the knee. Diagnosis: grrreeeaaat! I do, however, need to work on hyperextension to match my other leg. He mentioned that I can expect to return to competitive sports at the 6 month post op mark which lifted my spirits up!

Accomplishments since the last month:

• Almost full flexion, minus a couple of degrees
• Walking is normal
• small hops on the one leg
• bumped up the weights on hamstring curls to 30 lbs for 3 sets of 10
• the inner quad is working properly and is looking better every day.

Goals for the next month:

• match my good leg for extension and flexion.
• start light jogging
• hop on the one leg with more confidence
• build up more quad / hamstring / core strength
• protect the graft

2 months down, 4 more to go! woohoo!

8 Weeks Post Op!

It's hard to believe it's been almost 2 months since surgery. Time is definitely flying now! I've been hitting the gym 6-7 times a week and sometimes twice a day, mainly for the bike, but also for:

Hammies!

I think my hamstring muscles are playing games with me. I originally thought doing 3 sets of 10 with 10 lbs weights on the hamstring curl machine was tough. But I decided to move up anyway and bumped it up to 15 lbs. 15 lbs felt the exact same as 10 lbs. So I bumped it up to 20 lbs and felt the exact same toughness as it did with 10/15 lbs. I could still do 3 sets of 10. My hamstrings didn't feel sore the next day either. So it appears my hammies are pretending to be weak when in reality they aren't. It still feels like I'm straining them a bit, but apparently that's ok!

Since it's the 8 week mark, according to my acl rehab protocol, I should be trying to light jog. But the first step in jogging is hopping on the one foot. I'm still slightly timid on doing this as I'm terrified of ripping/stretching/crunching/snapping/breaking my new acl. But after some slow warmups (on the trampoline and glider) I finally managed to hop from one position to another!

18 more weeks to go!