Had ACLR on 4/2, one week out reflections :) Posting a win!

Hi! Posting a win. Tore left ACL/meniscus on 2/17, had surgery on 4/2. Repair ACL w patellar autograft & remove mensical tear (so I am now weight bearing). One week from surgery and physically I’m feeling great - am able to bend to 90 & activate quad.

Backstory is that 10 yrs ago I had this surgery 2x before on my other leg (right knee). patellar auto first, then allograft after the retear. All tears were due to soccer (lol <333). Those first experiences w the surgery were SO tough, mainly bc extreme pain. I had also started college 1 day after getting off crutches, so I didn’t prioritize PT back then the way I should have because my priorities were out of whack!

When I tore it this time around back in feb, I was so bummed bc of my memories of how bad it was when I was 15/17 (now I am 27). I am an active person & it puts a damper on all that for .. months, years even.

But This time around, it has gone AMAZING. Different surgeon so that could be a factor too. And I’m older now. I had SO much less pain this time, it felt totally manageable. The nerve block lasted about a day. My surgeon kept a drain in my knee the first day, then I had an appt 1 day after the operation on 4/3. They took the drain out. He had me really push through pain & start bending my knee almost to 90, and leg lifts for quad activation. I have been doing about 500 leg lifts every day since surgery, and doing ~ 4 sets of bending. My surgeon has been rly motivating and shared that all the hard work in the first 3 days after surgery will pay off loads in the long run.

One week out, physically I feel great! I’m so grateful to my surgeon & his team! I really think that makes a difference, having someone who has experience w ACL. If anyone else recently had surgery around 4/2 and wants to support each other - would love that, feel free to reach out!