Daniel's ACL surgery

by candy kahany
(brooklyn, new york)

My son Daniel , 14 years old, had his ACL surgery on April 3, 2009 with a patella grafting. The day and a half post surgery was okay, but he was taking percocet every 4 hours. Second day he was straight leg raising and squeezing the thighs and doing ankle pumps. By night time on the second day, he was in excruciating pain. He said he felt like the stitches were ripping. He is now sleeping. Hopefully day 3 will be a little better. Any advice. Help. He has been on the ice machine with foo elevated.

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Daniel's ACL surgery

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Apr 08, 2009
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up and down
by: Bart - SII

I know how hard it is when your little guy is in pain and you feel helpless, not being able to make it go away. That is how I feel with my patients a lot of the time. The first 3-4 days are always the worse. And the knee is going to be very sensitive to activity. So, he will be more sore after his exercises, or if he is up on the crutches a lot. It will swell up, and be painful. The first 2 weeks after surgery, the body is going through the inflammatory process, so fluid levels fluctuate and the knee is very irritable. Keep up with the exercises, but don't let him overdo it. Doing more will not speed up his recovery.

You have been through a lot the last few weeks with all of the worries of his surgery, finding the right doctor, etc, etc. You are rounding the corner towards the home stretch. Keep him on the therapy and he is going to do well. With a mother who cares for him as much as you do, he can't go wrong!

Best,

Bart

Apr 08, 2009
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My 17 yr old
by: Connie

My 17 yr old daughter had her ACL reconstruction on February 19.2009. She couldn't take any pain meds bacause they made her vomit so she used her chiro cuff (ice machine) non stop for the first week and that took away the pain. So ice, ice and more ice.

Apr 08, 2009
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Daniel's ACL surgery
by: candy

Today is his 5th day post-op. He will start therapy tomorrow. He is having a lot of difficulty doing straight leg raises. He cannot seem to get it off the bed no matter how hard he tries. He is 14 years old and said it the pain is very bad when he tries. Anyone have any feedback to this problem. Please help quick. thank you.

Apr 11, 2009
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...
by: Barbara

Hey I just turn 17 and I had my operation November 24, 2008. I had a hard time putting my leg straight. Anyways what I recommend is for your son to put A LOT OF ICE! and slowly start moving it side ways and up and down whenever he has has the chance

Apr 14, 2009
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....
by: Nicole

I had alot of problems when it came to doing leg raises the first week after surgery. When I went to get my stitches out they just said I had to get me knee drained. It didn't hurt bad at all and after they did it I could raise my leg. Apparently my leg was so swollen that it blocked my quad from working. So maybe talk to your doctor and see if your son needs his knee to be drained. Any were his stitches bothering him due to the braces or the wrap around it?

Apr 14, 2009
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Daniel's ACL surgery
by: Candy

Daniel is 12 days post-op and today he had his 3rd physical therapy session. 1st he gets the TENS unit and ice. He is doing 3 set of 10 straight leg raises, side leg raises, back leg raises and leg raises with one foot over the other, wall slides with his good foot supporting the injured leg, presses the back of the knee down, holding for a count of 3 30 times, and the therapist works with his knee to mobilize it and stretches it. He exercises 3x a day. The pain is just about gone and hopefully will not return. He is 14 years old and, therefore, is dying to hang out with his friends. I am very hesitant about this as they are wild at this age and I am afraid they will fall on him or do something to break his operation. Any advice on when it will be safe to hang out. I will ask the doctor this question on his next visit. Thank you and good luck to all.

Apr 30, 2009
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continued swelling
by: candy kahany

My son Daniel (just turned 15 4/18) had ACL reconstruction with patella grafting on 4/3/09. He is in therapy and doing well. He is doing all the leg raisng exercises, wall slides and sliding feet on wall, used the exercise bike for the 1st time today and after about 5 minutes, went all the way around. I'm am concerned because he still has swelling. He is in no pain other than when he is doing certain exercises. Please let me know how long the swelling can last. We can see the knee bone once again, but there is still some swelling. Please advise. Thank you.

Apr 30, 2009
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swelling
by: Bart - SII

It is very normal after an ACLR to have continued swelling for 4-6 weeks after the surgery. Everyone reacts differently as far as how much and how persistant the swelling is. It is also normal to have fluctuations in the swelling depending on exercises. It should continue to go down, but likely will still have some over the next few weeks.

If you have significant concerns, be sure to talk to Daniel's doctor.

Bart

May 04, 2009
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daniel's acl surgery
by: candy kahany

Daniel is 1 month post-op. He is 15 years old and has been doing rehab with a lot of pushing from me. He is getting depressed because he is very bored. He's been playing a lot of x=box live with his friends on-line. But since he is only 15, his friends are running all around and he is very frustrated. Does anyone have any ideas how he can cope with this boredom. thank you.

May 06, 2009
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My 17 yr old
by: Anonymous

My daughter also had ACL surgery on February 19, 2009. She is a gymnast and was used to practing 4 hours everyday, so to stay home was very difficult to her as well. I also got worried because she seemed very depressed, but have no fear it will be fine as soon as he gets out more. I know for her she was on crutches for 6 weeks after and was not allowed any weight bearing at all due to the fact that she also had a bone graft of her femur done. At 6 weeks post op the doctor finally took her off the crutches and told her she could start training uneven bars again, with no landings of course. So at 6 weeks and 1 day post op she returned to training everyday. Her depression dissappeared on the first day back at practice. So be patient he is almost there and everything will be fine.

May 06, 2009
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daniel's acl surgery - swelling
by: Anonymous

Thank you everyone for all your comments, I really appreciate it. My son is 1 month and 5 days post-op and last night his knee swelled and was hot to the touch and he complained of pain, so I gave him some tylenol and today he knee is still a swollen and hot to the touch. I put in a call to his doctor and am waiting to hear back from him. Has anyone ever experienced this? Please write back asap. Thank you.

Jun 08, 2009
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Pain and swelling
by: CR

I had ACL surgery utilizing the patellar tendon graft on Monday June 1st, 2009. I had a post-op visit on Wednesday where my doctor acknowledged some excessive swelling. He mentioned that I had difficulty clotting during surgery and some excess blood was present during the procedure. They drained my knee of approximately 160cc of blood and the pain relief was immediately noticeable. Things continued to improve through the week and on Saturday I dumped the crutches and was moving about freely. Apparently too freely, about mid-afternoon I noticed some increases in pressure and pain in the leg so I returned to ice, elevation, crutches immediately. It helped, but the swelling was fairly significant. I remained on the couch through the night and the swelling slightly subsided in the morning, but when I lowered the leg to move around the pain was excruciating. Sharp, throbbing pain in rhythm with the beat of my heart steadily increasing in intensity to the point where it was unbearable and I lay back down. The strange part is it is not on my knee, but rather down the front of my tibia or shin and along the rear inside portion of my ankle. The pain medication mutes the pain and allows me to move at this point, but I have to schedule movement the past two days i.e. take medication and wait 45 minutes and then move from the supine position. Things are improving again , but I have severely limited all movement. The skin is shiny, painful, red, and sensitive to the touch now. I have an appointment with the Dr. tomorrow morning. I will update on how it goes.

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Jun 08, 2009
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Submitted by: CR

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I had ACL surgery utilizing the patellar tendon graft on Monday June 1st, 2009. I had a post-op visit on Wednesday where my doctor acknowledged some excessive swelling. He mentioned that I had difficulty clotting during surgery and some excess blood was present during the procedure. They drained my knee of approximately 160cc of blood and the pain relief was immediately noticeable. Things continued to improve through the week and on Saturday I dumped the crutches and was moving about freely. Apparently too freely, about mid-afternoon I noticed some increases in pressure and pain in the leg so I returned to ice, elevation, crutches immediately. It helped, but the swelling was fairly significant. I remained on the couch through the night and the swelling slightly subsided in the morning, but when I lowered the leg to move around the pain was excruciating. Sharp, throbbing pain in rhythm with the beat of my heart steadily increasing in intensity to the point where it was unbearable and I lay back down. The strange part is it is not on my knee, but rather down the front of my tibia or shin and along the rear inside portion of my ankle. The pain medication mutes the pain and allows me to move at this point, but I have to schedule movement the past two days i.e. take medication and wait 45 minutes and then move from the supine position. Things are improving again , but I have severely limited all movement. The skin is shiny, painful, red, and sensitive to the touch now. I have an appointment with the Dr. tomorrow morning. I will update on how it goes.

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Jun 14, 2009
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acl reconstruction/ repair meniscus
by: sean

I am just curious on how my knee is doing compared to others. I am 11 days post op, and can get my straight leg extension to 0 degrees, but can only bend my knee to 90 degrees. I have been off of my crutches for 2 days now, and today i am starting to walk a little bit without my brace. I feel like my knee cap is holding me up. I have a hard time getting it to move. I am still having a little bit of swelling, and is warm to the touch, but nothing to serious.