What I mean by this is that I was struggling with bending it back past 139 degrees; it felt like there was something blocking it from moving any further. I trust my knee, but I don't trust my quad (right side) and that made me feel uneasy. So I ramped up the spinning (5 days a week for 30-40 mins) and took on extra quad strengthening exercises, but it still didn't feel right. Then I developed bursitis, which made me realise that something wasn't right.
So I turned to the ever faithful Paolo, God of all physios to help me ASAP. Thankfully he took my in within a weeks notice and confirmed that yes, I do have bursitis and that is due to poor quad strength...bingo! And yes I am not moving further with flexing because I need to strengthen my hamstrings more as they are too tight.
Good news: he said that I am that 1% of ACL reconstruction population who do excellently post-op and will have no problems whatsoever post 100% healed. What I have been doing so far has taken a lot of self-will, stubbornness, determination, frustration, and perseverance and to not give it up. Because I am showing far more progress than a lot of his patients who at 2 months post op are still on crutches, have numbness in their leg (?) and are in a lot of pain.
So I asked him: what can I do to ramp things up? Because I feel strong physically, but I need more of a mental push to believe again that my leg is not going to collapse on me. I've worked so hard to make it strong, and this was evident by both the surgeon and Paolo pulling the graft (knee) to see how much laxity there was. Good news again: it's a solidly strong graft with an even stronger support. So push Sarah, push it!
One thing to add as per Paolo that should be started early on in your program, as in, 2 weeks post op: WOBBLE BOARD! I really wish that I had started this earlier on (or was told that I could) as not only does it assist in bringing back stability to the knee and mentally prepares you for a later, more tougher regime, but mostly for keeping the ankle strong. My ankle is week, I'm worried that that will fail on me rather than the knee, despite doing your heel lifts and what not. So if you read this and you're about to have surgery, get a wobble board and talk to your physio (a good proactive one) about using it post op.
Ok, so Paolo's program mixed with Sarah's workout for 2 months post op:
- gym 5-6 days a week
- indoor climbing 2-3 times a week
- pilates when you have the time: especially the core workouts. I notice a huge difference in my climbing and jogging (more relaxed and stable core) since starting pilates
- jogging on the treadmill as a start: 10mins a day on flat
- to strengthen hamstrings: single leg band, sit and stand. Single leg curls
- leg press: different degrees for feet positioning and vary weight each time you're at the gym (to confuse quads and not condition a certain strand of muscle fibre)
- knee extensions (machine)
- step backwards onto steps with right leg leading, left leg to step down...this will humble you! You may be able to run, but stepping backwards up a step is hard!
- pinch/massage vigorously that scar if you have nasty tight knots of scar tissue underneath. Why? Because where the scar is located it sits on a nerve that works on your quads. if that nerve is disrupted then so are your quads...
- calf raises
- balance board
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