I had my post operation appointment with the docter 10 days after the surgery. Doctor said that everything was looking good. Was fun seeing the pictures of the inside of my knee! Only a little bit of the maniscus that they had to cut out. So there will be lots left to coushin my knee for things like running.
Right after the appointment with the doc I got to have my first physio apt. The physio therapist said that the knee was looking very good after only 10 days. So I was very happy and relieved to hear that. I guess taking good care of the knee paid off. She checked the flexibility of the knee and recorded that. Then got me started on some physio therapy exercises that I am supposed to work on for the next 2 weeks or so.
I was really happy to find out that I can use a stationary bike! Though I have been told to only use it for 10 minutes a day. After I go back for my next physio therapy appointment 2 weeks after then I should be able to use the stationary bike more.
One thing that really stuck in my head that my physio therapist stressed was that it is very important that I streatch my knee a lot to make sure that I can straighten my knee fully. When they put the ACL in they apparently do it so that it is a little tight, better a little tight than far too loose I suppose! So as the new ACL heals it tends to tighten. So it is important that you have the full range of motion as it heals because if you don't the knee will get pulled out of allignment causing problems to other parts of the knee! So I streatch the my knee by elevating my heel and extending my knee for 10 minutes, 3x a day. Usually feels a lot better after streatching. I also try and streatch it as much as I can throughout the day. I was given exercises that I should be doing daily. It takes me about 40 minutes to do all the exercises. So I am being very diligent about making sure that I get those done.
I was told that I should be putting more weight on the knee when I walk. So I was shown how to walk with one crutch so that I put weight on the knee. This is done by putting the crutch on the side opposite the knee. Then when you step forward with the bad knee you can transfer some weight onto the crutch. If you wanted to avoid putting weight on the bad knee all together then you would put the crutch on the same side as the bad knee.
I was able to get ride of the crutches on day 11 since I wasn't really putting any weight on the cruch while walking. Was also able to start driving my car that is standard on day 11 as well! Was very happy to be able to drive that again!
I am still wearing the breace to protect the knee should it give out or I get knocked by someone. While I walk I focus a lot on making sure that I walk with good form. It's almost as if I'm relearning to walk! Very happy to be walking 99% normally now.
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