Well, it’s been 2 weeks since I had ACL Surgery and had my meniscus repaired. I’ve done two rehab sessions this week and have my third one later today. I’m at the point now where I can walk with my brace locked out and unable to bend, but its still pretty shaky. I have been trying to walk a little more each day but have mainly been hopping around and using crutches still. I am really trying not to over do it.
So far rehab has been the following…
First, they put two electric stims on my quad at the top and bottom, and “heat it up”. For 10 minutes the current alternates on and off for 10 seconds at a time. While its on, I am supposed to contract my quad. Even if I didn’t try, it would still contract, but they have me trying to contract it more.
After that, they have me doing my normal belt stretches. I try to straighten my leg as much as I can with a belt hooked on my foot near my toes. Then I do the opposite by putting the belt at my heel and seeing how much I can bend my leg. When I first went to rehab last week, I could get to around 95 degrees… I am around 110 degrees right now. We don’t think I will have much trouble getting my leg to bend, but its going to be a lot tougher getting my leg straight.
After this I do my straight legged raises. I lay on my back, get my leg as straight as I can and get my heel to lift about 12 inches off the table. When I first stared these after surgery, I was hurting. I couldn’t do any at first, but then got up to 3 to 5. Now I am doing 3 sets of 10 without any problem. I guess when they did my meniscus, part of the surgery involved going through the back of my knee so a muscle back there had to heal. Thats why it was so painful in the beginning and has become much easier. I am doing these leg raises while laying on my side now too.
Next they have me stand up facing the corner of the PT table and put a rubber around the back of my knee and secure it to the leg of the table. We get decent tension on the band and then I straighten my leg and hold for 10 seconds. I do 10 of these.
After this, I lay on my back again and Chris (my PT) “encourages” my leg to go straight by applying pressure above and below my knee. This is the most painful part but its definitely necesary. I try to not fight the pressure but it’ kind of tough. I found that locking my hands above my head and pulling them apart helps me not focus on my knee and lets me focus on their burn in my chest and shoulders. It seems to help a lot and makes it much more bearable than thinking “my knee doesn’t go that far!” the whole time.
We finish up by putting 4 electric stims and ice just above and below my knee . This goes on for I think 15 minutes and then I go home. I think we are talking about getting me some splints or something to help with getting my leg straight. It’s going to be a slow process, but as long as I keep making some progress I am happy. Once I am moving around well and walking good I will be a lot happier.