7 Months Post ACL Surgery

Training Injuries
1

Tore my left ACL in a basketball match on 31st March 09 when I was knocked by someone’s knee from the side.
Injured it again badly 6 weeks later when I was shooting some baskets alone from rapid deceleration.

I had my ACL surgery in 11/12/2009

It was the double bundle reconstruction using the hamstring tendon.

Started stronglifts 5x5 5 weeks post surgery. Managed to get my squats up from nothing to 185lbs squats in about 5 months.

According to my doctor, he said that mine’s doing really good, 0 pivot.

Anyways there are stuff that are bothering me.

-I do not have full range of movement of hamstring
-I can’t fully contract hamstring, it just feels really weird. (2 months post surgery I did romanian deadlifts and I heared a tear on my hamstring, then I stopped working on my hamstring because I was pretty scared. Not sure if thats the caused)
-Lack of hamstring strength.
-I remember doing leg extension about 1.5 months post surgery (I didnt know I wasnt suppose to) and im not sure if its stretched, felt something like that so I stopped doing that exercise.

I did a 6km run today, more walk than jogging really because theres alot of stress on my lower back when I run.
Anyways after the run I felt the front my knee hurts when I stand the straighten fully. Around the patellar tendon area, not sure if its the patellar tendon itself.

And also when I fully straighten my knee, I feel as though the bones from the upper knee touching the bones from lower knee. It hurts when I use force to fully straighten it.

I’m not sure if all these are common.

I played a little basketball last week, just some normal shooting and passing, didnt really dare to drive in, too much rotation on the knee.
I realized I’m not ready at all for basketball.
When should I be good to go?

I also should mention that im 18 this year and I didn’t go for much PT.
I had PT the first 2 days post surgery. After that I only went once a week later and once more like 4 months later.
Mainly because they didnt really do much for me.

There certainly is a size difference around my legs. Injured knee’s quads measures about 43cm, the other around 51cm.

2

First mistake was cutting your PT short. If you felt they “didn’t really do much” for you, you should’ve expressed that to them or found a better provider.

What grafts did they use in the double bundle? I have heard of double bundles being hamstring/patellar combos, or even hamstring/cadaver combos. If you did have a hamstring graft taken for the double bundle and you were doing RDLs with significant weight only 2 months post-op, there is mistake number two.

How much ROM work did you focus on during your recovery from surgery? The anterior knee pain from the running is probably a patellar tendon inflammation, but again that is a complete guess. How much running did you do leading up to the 6K run/jog/walk? How much progressing did you do during your recovery before starting to play basketball and performing other activities?

From the small information you gave, it sounds like you didn’t take the proper steps through your rehab and now are suffering some of the consequences.

3

[quote]LevelHeaded wrote:
First mistake was cutting your PT short. If you felt they “didn’t really do much” for you, you should’ve expressed that to them or found a better provider.

What grafts did they use in the double bundle? I have heard of double bundles being hamstring/patellar combos, or even hamstring/cadaver combos. If you did have a hamstring graft taken for the double bundle and you were doing RDLs with significant weight only 2 months post-op, there is mistake number two.

How much ROM work did you focus on during your recovery from surgery? The anterior knee pain from the running is probably a patellar tendon inflammation, but again that is a complete guess. How much running did you do leading up to the 6K run/jog/walk? How much progressing did you do during your recovery before starting to play basketball and performing other activities?

From the small information you gave, it sounds like you didn’t take the proper steps through your rehab and now are suffering some of the consequences.[/quote]

Thank you for taking the time to reply.
Hamstring graphs. I focused in ROM all the way right after surgery the next day.
I started walking 10 days post surgery without crutches.
I started running around april, may which is about 4,5 months post surgery. I started with light jog and slowly increased to HIIT around may and june.
I don’t really play basketball, I just do free shooting at the court.

What are the necessary steps that I should take now?

4

When is the last time you saw your doctor? You should be seeing him on a regular basis (monthly at least for the first six months or so) so that he can assess the state of your knee and the strength of your surrounding muscles. You may want to schedule an appointment ASAP and tell him everything you just listed on this board. My guess is that he will prescribe you some professional help from a physical therapist.

ACL reconstruction is a very serious procedure and most athletes, even elite athletes who have access to cutting edge recovery and training methods, are not 100% until 1-2 years post-surgery. For the first several months, you are supposed to have strict observation from a licensed physical therapist. Recovery isn’t just about rebuilding strength. It’s about range of motion, flexibility, and reducing swelling/scar tissue among a host of other issues.

Having been through one of these and preparing to go through another in August, my advice is to see your doctor ASAP. You’re not going to find any better advice on this board than that.