Questions that we’re asked and the answers . I thought you might find these useful.
Im having surgery on my ACL in april…?
i was wondering what i could do after my surgery (except rehab) that could possibly give me a work out, make me sweat, you know?
i tore it in football. and i meant other than rehab, whats a good upperbody exercise that will make me sweat? to kinda stay in shape/ burn calories.
Answer: After the surgery you can do any type of exercise provide you are flat on your back. My first thought would be bench press, bi-cep curls, and many more.
Around week 1 or 2, you should be able to straighten out your leg and do sit-ups.
Once you’re able to bend your knees to 90 degrees, you will be able to do the exercise that require sitting.
The forum at http://www.bodybuilding.com/ is good for getting tips on the excercises.
Here’s another
ACL reconstruction surgery?
I had an injury in my right knee in 2002 causing a ACL tear. I consulted a couple of drs and some suggested reconstruction but some said its not worth it and i shd just reduce my activities. I have had only about 2-3 instances of straining my knee after that when i had to rest it for a couple of days to restore normalcy.I am now planning to get a ACL reconstruction done. can anyone recommend
1. Should i go in for surgery
2. What are the Pros and Cons of the surgery- doing it and not doing it
3. A good doctor in Mumbai to do it
4. Time taken to recover after the surgery (if done)
I am 28 Yrs, Male
Answer by
Deborah L
I sympathize and empathize with your situation. I have torn my ACL twice.
You really should have it repaired surgically if you are continuing with physical activity such as sports (especially contact sports!), running, etc. The danger is that when you strain your knee with a torn ACL–you increase your chances of tearing your meniscus (a ring of cartilage separating your fibula/tibia from your femur). The meniscus is like a rope. If you tear your meniscus–it will begin to fray–thread by thread–over the years. This will cause traction issues with your extension and flexion of your knee. Basically–it is a domino effect. Tearing your ACL can lead to much more complicated problems that will be more trouble than they are worth. You will save yourself a lot of pain later on by remedying your situation NOW!
Pros: Not worrying about your knee giving out, preventing further damage, being able to return to normal activities.
Cons: Patience as you recover and PAIN–make sure you use your pain medication at least an hour before physical therapy!
Depending on swelling and muscle gain–it usually takes 4-6 months to recover from an ACL surgery. Basically, you have to get back your flexion (range of motion) and your muscle tone in the quadriceps and hamstring. As soon as you do this–you are good to go–but that usually requires physical therapy 3 times a week and 4-6 months.
You are young now–so please take advantage of your youth and ability to heal quickly–and don’t wait until you have done more damage to your knees! You risk having more cartilage taken out than you should–which will require knee replacement surgery if too much damage results.
Good luck & best wishes.
Someone asked
ACL RECOVERY? what helps!!!?
Is how good you recover from a acl reconstruction based more around the skill of the surgeon or more around the amount of work you put in when you are doin your physio???
i have a tear in my acl and am having phsyio for 2 month,then gotta see my surgeon again,too see if its got any better to decide on weather too have reconstructive surgery or not???
as my surgeon doesnt think phsyio will make it any more stable!!!
any answers from physio`s and surgeons and people who have been throught it would be good!!!
many thanks!!!
Answer:
Jeff, for you it is a win win situation. You win if the therapy helps and no surgery is necessary and you will win if you do have the procedure. The therapy will strengthen the leg before the procedure and that will make the rehab and recovery that much easier. The therapist is going to have to work on certain specific things such as strengthening the hamstrings and calf muscles. The stronger that they are the better the recovery. If you do have the surgery my own preference is to use a cadaver for most surgeons harvest tendon from the hamstrings. That group is the muscular stop for the knee before the ACL has to stop the movement. So to me anything that potentially makes that group weaker is a potential problem down the road. I would also work on strengthening the opposite leg for multiple reasons. The first is going to be more difficult to understand in that the more work you do on it the more the affected leg will actually get stronger. The other is that the uninjured leg is going to have to take a lot of stress until you are able to walk normally so the stronger it is the better to withstand the stress. As for the ligament if the tear is at 40% or greater I would definitely go with the procedure as many things could happen to the knee that would not impact on it well. Still the two months prior therapy will only help not hurt.
Source(s):
physical therapist
Question
Will my acl operation hurt?
I am having an operation in April to fix my ACL. I want to no how badly it will hurt after. It would help knowing information from peoples experiences in the past.
Answer: For about a week after the operation, but the pain killers will help. It probably hurt more when I torn it, so if you were able to bare that. Then this should be no problem.
Question
ACL tear question.?
I tore my acl partially about 2 weeks ago. The doctor says because I’m still young it will heal itself, and he says 6 weeks off of it. This crushes me, and I just wondered if anyones been in a siuation like this before and can tell me if theres hope that I can be back on the team within 3 weeks?
Additional Details
I am having some times when it feels great, and others when I have super sharp pains. I’m only 14 and so my dad (former surgeon) and my doctor both say no surgery, so thats out of my head. But like I said, some days it feels very good like I can run on it and some days terrible. I’m so tired of crutching around. =[
11 months ago
Also, can someone tell me what kind of excercises are good so that I won’t re-injure my leg, but I can still keep my fitness up?
Answer
The MCL heals itself better than other any ligament in the knee so disregard that comment. In regards to the ACL, I had a grade 3 which is a complete rupture ands although you only had a grade 2 (partial), the likeliness of it completely tearing is tenfold. Depending on what your level of athletics is depends on whether or not you need surgery. I wrestled an entire eseason on a torn ACL and the disability showed everday as it would buckle or give out resulting in me tearing more ligaments. I had the recon and as much as it sucks it is worth it if you ever wanna be able to sports with your kid or play a pick up game of b-ball with your friends (Both are things i wanna be able to eventually and will be able to do). Your doc might have said otherwise but the top surgeon in the country for orthopedics says this:
“The ACL has little, if any, ability to heal itself, and if it’s torn it now leaves you with a functional disability. You can’t run, jump or cut.” - Colosimo (Surgeon that did carson plamers knee)
I’d bite the bullet and take the 9 months of rigorous rehab. It sucks (i’m going trhough it right now) but i’d rather take 9 months of being functionally disabled than have to deal with it the rest of my life. A prime example of someone with a torn acl who didnt have it replaced was gerald ford (they didnt have the surgery then) and he’d randomnly fall at his age bc the hamstring was not strong enough to hold it in place. Get the surgery, in the LONG RUN it is worth it when your running around with your kid, your dog or your friends. Trust me.