ACL Rehab Journey – Post Surgery Rehab

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 part I will gloss over some details – the specific rehab exercises, the day to day changes I made to continue working and eventually returning to normal.

If this is something that interests people, I am happy to provide more specific info on my physio rehab elsewhere.


From week 1, as mentioned in the previous blog post, I focused on activating my quads and keeping them strong (it became a full time job!).

My knee was able to fully straighten right after surgery, and it was important that I kept it that way.


Over the first two weeks, I worked on my glute bridges, calf raises, knee bending/straightening, walking technique, and balance practice. Anyone who goes through an ACL reconstruction, will likely go through these exercises in the early rehab phase.

I prioritised rest and pain management over all of these, making sure that I was letting my body recover.


I will emphasise again (in case she reads this), just how helpful it was to have my partner at home, taking care of me after the surgery. If you can, find a friend, partner, or family member to assist during this time. Don’t try and do it all alone.


Two weeks post operation, and I was off my crutches and back to work.

The first week back was challenging. I managed to ice my knee for a couple of minutes in between patients, and took any spare time I could find, to elevate it and lie on the floor.


Having Pilates reformers at work was a big advantage at this stage, as it was a comfortable, safe way for me to move and strengthen my legs.


The most important gym machine, however, was the stationary bike. Slowly building up daily minutes on the bike helped clear swelling, maintain cardiovascular fitness, and improve leg strength.


Slowly work started getting easier, and the fatigue levels minimised. It probably took a month of work before I felt like I was keeping up mentally and physically.


Roughly eight weeks after the surgery, I was back on the athletics track, practicing my running again.


It felt a lot harder after the surgery, than it was after the injury when I first returned to running. So much of injury rehab is psychological, which meant that getting those first runs finished was a massive mental boost.


After this, I was able to take my runs onto running trails, allowing me to enjoy the scenery during my exercise.

Since the surgery, as the months flew by, I returned to running longer distances (5-10km) and I am continuing to build on this still.


The surgery rehab is a long process, and this is only the beginning! Throughout the rehab, you will go through different levels of motivation, and you may miss out on exercise and strengthening for extended periods. This is okay!


In the next section, I will cover the long term rehab outlook, and my plans for the future. I will also cover other rehab options, include non-operative management.

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!

ACL Rehab Journey – So you’ve torn your ACL… What next?

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.

The upcoming section will cover the period directly after my ACL rupture, and the rehab following it.


For the first two weeks post injury, I had firmly believed I could manage this injury conservatively and get back into my normal lifestyle. After seeing my scan results, and speaking to my boss at work, my next step was to book in with a trusted sports doctor, for further opinion and consultation.

Following the consultation, we reached the conclusion that surgery would be the best option.

I was surprised at how easily I had made the decision, after consulting with other physios at work, and with the sports doctor. Looking back, I feel that I was mostly in denial about the injury for the first two weeks, which quickly changed after considering the situation in its entirety.


I went to the surgeon and was placed on a waitlist for an ACL reconstruction and meniscal management (this basically means that they decide during the surgery, if they need to fix the meniscus or not), using a graft from my hamstrings.

At this point I was still uninterested in immediate surgery and was more focused on continuing with work. I was still working at a football club and had taken a short break from running out after injured players, being limited to working from the bench.


I was happy to wait for the ACL reconstruction. I felt that a longer wait would only give me more time to strengthen up and prepare my knee. With so much research showing the benefits of a good rehab period before surgery, I wanted to give myself the best option.

Consider also that we were enjoying a short burst of ‘Covid AND lockdown-free life’ in Victoria at this time (March 2021), so the last thing I wanted to do was go in for surgery!


At four weeks post injury, I started practicing hopping, skipping, and jumping. I was at the gym most days, working on any leg exercises I could safely do.

Leg exercises involved squats, split squats, lunges, Romanian deadlifts (double and single leg), calf raises, step ups and step downs! I progressed my strengthening carefully and gradually, ensuring I used a wide range of exercises, to improve any deficiencies I could find.


By six weeks post injury, I went out onto the track and tried my first run. I recorded a video of myself attempting my first ACL free running effort (it was not pretty). I watched back the footage, rested, repeated, and continued to practice my straight line running occasionally over the following 6 weeks.


At 12 weeks post injury, I was back running 3-4km along beach trails, and in August (5 months post injury) I completed a 10km run along the beach, without an ACL.

There was lots of hard work and training involved with reaching this level post injury. I was running 3-5 times a week and going to the gym 3-4 times weekly, continuing my strengthening rehab.

From day 1 post ACL injury I was doing exercises, and this helped maintain strength and function. I strongly believe that being able to continue working immediately after my injury, was also very helpful in speeding up my recovery.


Finally, I was at a level with my rehab where I had returned to pre-injury levels in almost everything. I was running, working, exercising regularly, and even going for the odd nature hike.

I wouldn’t have felt comfortable going on a very challenging hike or climb, and didn’t feel like I was ready to play any physically challenging sports. For most people, this would be a comfortable level of function, without any need for surgery.

At the start of spring in 2021, I felt adequately prepared for the ACL reconstruction, and I was hopeful that the surgery date would come soon.

ACL Rehab Journey – Intro

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.

This is intended to help those in similar situations, and to provide a different perspective on ACL recovery, compared to those seen more commonly in professional sports.


Over one year ago, early February 2021, I travelled to Tasmania to complete a multi-day hike.

I was carrying a 3-month-old meniscus (knee cartilage) injury sustained playing futsal, which had fully recovered. I was back playing futsal already (albeit with a well strapped knee) and had full confidence in my ability to climb steep slopes and run across uneven trails.

My original meniscus injury happened towards the end of a futsal match in December 2020. I was sliding in to reach for a loose ball, and during my slide, my right knee gave way.

I went down, hobbled off, and iced my knee. Despite significant swelling, the knee felt stable and pain free. I was able to continue working the following day, with a slight limp (my patients had a great time watching me climb the stairs for exercise classes).

Before returning to futsal, I was back running, was able to skip and hop on one leg and change direction, without any pain. I made sure that everything was stable and ready to go.

Once I returned, initially I felt that I was pulling out of larger leaps and lunges, although I was gradually getting more confidence in my knee. My leg hairs were disappearing as I strapped my knee twice a week.


During one match in March, I felt that my knee was a little less stable than usual. I came off to the bench to test out my knee, after feeling that it wasn’t right. After trying some drills on the bench, I decided that the knee was going to be ready to play, and I went back on the field. This is the moment before I tore my ACL.

The injury itself was quick and innocuous. I was jumping in the air during a defensive action, about to change direction off my right leg. This is when my knee suddenly ‘gave way’ and popped.

Most ACL injuries in sports occur exactly like this. I walked off the pitch. Afterwards, sitting on the bench I could feel my quads and hamstrings twitching and spasming when I tried to straighten my leg. I drove home, applied frozen peas, and got ready for bed.


Over the following two weeks, I continued to work, giving my patients déjà vu as they watched me struggle up and down the stairs again.

I went out and spent time with friends, playing down the seriousness of my injury. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my plans to go wakeboarding that weekend (it was a tough call to make).

After ignoring my injury and hoping it would go away, I eventually decided to pay more attention to it. As I had feared, after a proper assessment of my knee, it was clear that I had ruptured my ACL, among other injured structures.

Here are the gritty MRI details:

  • Ruptured ACL.
  • Subcortical impaction fracture of the posterolateral corner of the tibial plateau.
  • Grade 1 LCL tear.
  • Interstitial tear of proximal popliteus tendon.
  • Complex tear of the body and posterior horn of the medial meniscus.
  • Moderate subcortical contusion of medial tibial plateau.
  • Small grade 2 partial tear of deep proximal MCL fibres.
  • Mild lateral patellar subluxation.
  • Hoffa’s fat pad contusion.

I can imagine how a non-medical or lay person reading this about their own knee, not understanding any of these words, may feel that their knee is stuffed. I knew what most of these words meant, and I was therefore able to understand more clearly that my knee was stuffed.