ACL Rehab Journey – Surgery Day
I am writing about my recovery and rehab after rupturing my ACL last February.
Throughout this, I will cover the pre-injury period, the non-surgical and surgical rehab options, along with the prehab and post injury management for these.
I am a private practice physiotherapist at Be Your Best Physiotherapy in Cranbourne, and a physiotherapist for Port Melbourne Football club. I frequently see patients with sporting injuries (including ACL tears), along with treating those in the community with neck and back pain.
In the following section, I will cover the period involving the ACL reconstruction surgery. The section after this will cover the bulk of the post surgery rehab.
During late August, I received a phone call asking if I would like to have my ACL reconstruction surgery in early September.
This was perfect! Another Covid lockdown was approaching, and I was progressing well with my pre surgery rehab.
I took 2 weeks off work, my partner took two weeks off work, and we planned for the time off. Three days before the surgery, I was called and told that due to new Covid restrictions, they can’t operate.
Work was rescheduled, phone calls were made, tears were shed… Then later that afternoon I received another phone call from the hospital (this time it was good news). After lots of confusion, difficulty and changing plans, my surgery was re-booked in and confirmed!
Before my surgery, I decided to do some testing to see what my baselines were.
I completed a 10km, 5km and 2km run, recording my best times. I tested my knee strength, how far I could jump forwards, and how many times I could jump side to side on one leg, in 30 seconds.
This is probably the physio nerd in me, but I was slightly excited to set baselines and see how I could slowly progress towards them again.
Next step in the rehab process, which I was both nervous and excited for. For those awaiting reconstruction, I’ll leave you some basic tips.
- ACL surgeries are fast, and you spend most of your time in hospital sleeping.
- Due to all the pain medications, if you’re lucky, you might forget the painful part of the post operative experience entirely.
- You’ll feel nauseous the first time you sit up. Be slow. Be careful and try and ease into it. My tactic involved small bursts of sitting and then lying, until my body adjusted (bed goes up, bed goes down, bed goes up, bed goes down).
- Your physio will come and see you on the morning of your discharge from hospital. Chances are, they’ll come quite early in the day, after you’ve had a fresh serving of pain medications with your morning tea.
- Once you’ve had a walk around the hospital, tested out your new crutches, and had all of your wound dressings sorted, you’ll be ready to go!
- On your way out, you can collect your extra pain medications to help you sleep at home.
- At home, rest, ice, compress and elevate to settle that swelling down.
After consuming as much free hospital food as I could possibly fit in, I was discharged and picked up by my lovely partner. She took me home and I arrived home to a puppy excited for me to be at home for two weeks.
Over the following two weeks, I slept, ate, rested my leg on the couch with ice, gave out pats and belly rubs, read, slept, and rested some more.
Once home, I completed exercises and gradually progressed them. Ice, exercise, and rest formed a large portion of my day. I hobbled down to the beach and enjoyed the sunshine. I also tried to learn the basics of how to play guitar and brushed up on my Duolingo.
For anyone planning to go through an ACL surgery, or any major surgery – try and plan to have time off to relax, rehab, and recover. Getting adequate rest, and managing swelling and pain, are the most important parts of early ACL rehab.
To make the most of your recovery, throw in something fun that you’ve never had time to do before, like learning a new skill. Also, get into a relationship with a health professional, and have them take leave from work and care for you during your recovery!