Helen's ACL surgery

I had an ACL reconstruction and cartilage repair in feb 07 when I was 15 yrs old, during a netball league. (Girls seem to get violent in non-contact sports!) I was originally expecting to feel a bit battered after surgery but able to walk easily on crutches in no time and back to school. However it was a little different.

I spent 4 days in the hospital as I couldn't go home sooner because I wasn't able to come off the morphine or walk. It wasn't horrible because I had my own room (even though it was NHS). Surprising! For the 1st day after surgery I was on oxygen with a morphine drip (with a button i could press every few minutes) and a drain coming out from my knee but protected by bandages.

Physio starts straight away, and i mean straight away! Shortly after I woke up from the anesthetic my therapist came in to see what I was capable of doing, which wasn't a lot. The most comfortable position is to have your knee slightly bent but you're not supposed to. The most helpful thing is to keep it as straight as possible and even put a pillow under your foot so you have your knee at full extension. You will be given exercises which I was a little lazy about doing, especially considering that most of them hurt, but looking back on it now I wish I had been much stricter with myself and even have done more exercise than I was told to do.

One thing to be a little weary of when is a nurse removes the drain. I assumed the tube only went in a little way but it was slightly longer. Best thing is to have someone there as it's a wierd sensation and quite unpleasant. As i was unprepared I think it made it much worse. It doesn't have to be painful if you know what's coming! It feels a bit like someone is pulling a worm out your leg that goes all the way up to your knee cap. If I had to do it again, I think it would be a lot better than last time.

After I was finally discharged I stayed at home for about a month. Of course this depends on how much they have to fix in surgery, and I had been told by multiple medical people that for what mine was, it couldn't really get any worse!!!
I felt very weak and found it incredibly hard to any form of exercise. One of the worst was when I would stand up and try to get my heal to touch the floor. Of course the surgeon hasn't only given you a new ACL but also removed some of your hamstring which is quite sore.

I was able to go back to school after a month, on crutches, and regularly attending knee rehab at the hospital. I was completely off the crutches 7 weeks after the surgery and walking normally. 10 months later I was back doing high impact sports (obviously very unfit though!) However, a friend also snapped her ACL and was back doing sport much much sooner. It depends how bad and maybe even age affects it!

My advice is:

- get a knee brace before surgery so you can gently exercise without risk of it popping and swelling.
- try and keep as fit as possible
- build up muscle strength in both legs before the surgery. (I wish I had)
- do all physio exercises at your absolute best after surgery, even if it really hurts, it's well worth it.
- know exactly what to expect from the surgery! you may feel strong a month afterwards but then your fake ACL will disintegrate with a new much weaker one formed around it. (this is because they make an ACL with some of your hamstring but it has no blood flow. new tissue forms around it becoming a brand new ACL)
- dont do any sport unless its okayed by a doctor
- keep possitive. i know it sounds lame but I lost it and gave up, you end up worse off.


Now I'm back at square one after a skiing accident. But I'm going to follow my own advice, do it all different and bounce back.

Hope I haven't freaked anyone out! Treat it as an endurance sport and work your ass off!