Wednesday, February 23, 2011

How to Improve Range of Motion in the First Week After ACL Surgery

A reader at www.aclsurgeryrecovery.net shared her story about struggling with ACL surgery recovery and specifically improving her range of motion. She had broken her leg in 2 places and torn her ACL and mensicus and in the first week after ACL surgery her range of motion was not as far along as she had hoped. Because of this she asked the question about tips to improve range of motion. Read about the tips I shared here

Thursday, February 17, 2011

ACL Surgery Recovery Timeline

A question people often ask is regarding the ACL surgery recovery timeline especially in the first week after surgery. For example someone that has just had surgery and is not yet able to move there leg asked me this very question and here was my answer...

The amount of work a surgeon has to do inside a knee during surgery can vary a lot. The first surgery I had took me a lot longer than the second surgery.

I know its tough when you are home and seeing other people online progress at different rates, my first week was easy and I was able to walk at day 5 but other people seemed to have an even quicker recovery.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8tdI-H992A

My advice is follow your recovery protocol as recommended keep icing and keep working on being able to move it. Over time it will come.

The other good news is that the rate of recovery at the start of the recovery does not make a huge difference on how successful the surgery is in terms of leaving you with a stable pain free knee.

physical therapy before ACL surgery

Why would someone go to physical therapy before ACL surgery? Does it even make sense? The answer to me is that yes it makes a lot of sense. Before surgery you should exercise the muscles around your knee as much as possible. The stronger your knees are before ACL surgery the better off you will be after the surgery. 

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Knee Pain First Week After ACL Surgery

The first week after ACL surgery is typically a very painful experience but it doesnt have to be. Here are the 7 ways I minimized my knee pain after ACL surgery 

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