ACL Post-Op Post #1: Week 3
OK so here's what's happened:
On April 18th, 2019 this year, I tore my right ACL playing soccer.
On June 28th this year, I had it repaired surgically via a hamstring autograph. I had it done at UCSF under the care of Dr. Ma--they did an amazing job! I hate nothing more than pain and needles and did I mention pain, but they kept me comfortable and well taken care of.
But now that that's over with, I've been faced with the 6-9 month recovery that follows. This is definitely the most intensive surgery I've had so far in my life, and I think it's going to be quite a process getting back to pre-ACL tear. But, if there's anything positive coming out of this, it's that I'm finding the surgery and recovery process pretty interesting, so I'd thought I'd start writing about it and tracking my recovery.
Basically, the first week post-surgery was spent primarily on my couch, week 2 was more mobile, but still spent a lot of time laying on the couch, and only has sitting up been more comfortable in week 3 (this week). I started walking again without crutches halfway through week 2, so this week, my physical therapy started getting more serious. My quad muscle in my right leg has atrophied noticeably since the surgery from lack of use, so there's a lot of work to do. Here's what I look like now:
You can pretty clearly see that my right leg doesn't exactly cover up my left...because all the muscle is gone!!
It's even weirder to see the difference in the build of my leg when sitting: the right leg is definitely smaller and overall just sags and is mushy, while my left leg maintains its shape:
PHYSICAL THERAPY
So, because of this muscle atrophy, I'm doing physical therapy, also at UCSF, which is, again, conveniently 5 minutes away from my apartment. And since I maxed out my insurance, all of them are covered. (Which is nice, since I'm going two times a week now....but I have to pay $7 for parking. Every. Single. Time. Jeez. But I guess better than a $30 copay.)
CUPPING
Ok, so I've heard a lot about cupping but I've never actually done it because I don't find choosing to give weird bruises to myself appealing?! (Some people enjoy this?!?!) Anyways, we tried this on appointment #1.
My PT attached two cups to the outer side of my knee to help reduce some of the stickyness that apparently builds up in the tissue as it heals/stays in the same place. And I was NOT enjoying it. It's so uncomfortable!! He ended up having to lower it down to the lowest pressure...
But I will say that it works. I think we were able to get an extra 10 degrees of bending after the cupping. Also by appointment #2 later that week, my PT resorted to what I can only describe as a really painful deep tissue massage on the same edge of knee thanks to my (over)reaction to the cupping....
BLOOD FLOW RESTRICTION (BFR)
This one I found pretty interesting. This pump is attached to your thigh and tightens to certain pressures to restrict blood flow to your leg and basically induce "high altitude training" as my PT put it. Since I don't have full range of motion yet and can't really handle additional weight, this is the best way to start challenging my (non-existent) muscles. And it really does! Wow.
You're supposed to do one set of 30, then 3 sets of 15 leg lifts with this on. At my first appointment I got through to the first set of 30 and the first set of 15, but by the time I tried the second set of 15, my leg felt like straight up lead.
But at least this wasn't as uncomfortable as the cupping...
By appt #2, four days after appt #1, I got through the second set of 15 before I fatigued. So slow slow progress, but at least I can finally feel some degree of progress!
Some interesting reading I found regarding ACL surgery/recovery...
I've been spending a good amount of my time reading up about this process and found some interesting resources through my excessive Googling:
Basically, the first week post-surgery was spent primarily on my couch, week 2 was more mobile, but still spent a lot of time laying on the couch, and only has sitting up been more comfortable in week 3 (this week). I started walking again without crutches halfway through week 2, so this week, my physical therapy started getting more serious. My quad muscle in my right leg has atrophied noticeably since the surgery from lack of use, so there's a lot of work to do. Here's what I look like now:
It's even weirder to see the difference in the build of my leg when sitting: the right leg is definitely smaller and overall just sags and is mushy, while my left leg maintains its shape:
It's pretty surprising how much the muscle atrophied in just a week and half of not being used.
PHYSICAL THERAPY
So, because of this muscle atrophy, I'm doing physical therapy, also at UCSF, which is, again, conveniently 5 minutes away from my apartment. And since I maxed out my insurance, all of them are covered. (Which is nice, since I'm going two times a week now....but I have to pay $7 for parking. Every. Single. Time. Jeez. But I guess better than a $30 copay.)
CUPPING
Ok, so I've heard a lot about cupping but I've never actually done it because I don't find choosing to give weird bruises to myself appealing?! (Some people enjoy this?!?!) Anyways, we tried this on appointment #1.
My PT attached two cups to the outer side of my knee to help reduce some of the stickyness that apparently builds up in the tissue as it heals/stays in the same place. And I was NOT enjoying it. It's so uncomfortable!! He ended up having to lower it down to the lowest pressure...
But I will say that it works. I think we were able to get an extra 10 degrees of bending after the cupping. Also by appointment #2 later that week, my PT resorted to what I can only describe as a really painful deep tissue massage on the same edge of knee thanks to my (over)reaction to the cupping....
BLOOD FLOW RESTRICTION (BFR)
This one I found pretty interesting. This pump is attached to your thigh and tightens to certain pressures to restrict blood flow to your leg and basically induce "high altitude training" as my PT put it. Since I don't have full range of motion yet and can't really handle additional weight, this is the best way to start challenging my (non-existent) muscles. And it really does! Wow.
You're supposed to do one set of 30, then 3 sets of 15 leg lifts with this on. At my first appointment I got through to the first set of 30 and the first set of 15, but by the time I tried the second set of 15, my leg felt like straight up lead.
But at least this wasn't as uncomfortable as the cupping...
By appt #2, four days after appt #1, I got through the second set of 15 before I fatigued. So slow slow progress, but at least I can finally feel some degree of progress!
Some interesting reading I found regarding ACL surgery/recovery...
I've been spending a good amount of my time reading up about this process and found some interesting resources through my excessive Googling:
- This one about a study done on BFR and effectiveness
- This video series that Zac Efron did about his recovery where I initially discovered BFR and thought "No, I probably won't do whatever this is" and what I referred to when my PT asked if I knew what BFR was. My PT looked at me weird.
Thanks for reading! See you next post.
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