http://acl-recovery.com The story of one man's ACL Surgery and Recovery Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:53:52 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en As I mentioned in the last post, there is a tendency to think you can do more than you really can at this point. Hanging from the eaves of one of our out buildings is a hornet's nest. Unfortunately this is also the building that we keep our trash cans next ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/07/30/you-can-run-but-you-cant-run-fast/ Last week I had a followup appointment with the Dr. that performed the surgery and he told me that everything is looking good. He also told me that I could go ahead and stop using the crutch as soon as I felt comfortable. I used it off and on for the ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/07/30/crutch-free/ These week has added a rather unpleasant physical therapy activity. An important aspect of rehabilitation for an acl injury, is the recovery of your range of motion. On my first visit to physical therapy, I had a range of motion of 2 - 70. This means that my leg was ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/07/15/range-of-motion-woes/ This week I made some more progress at physical therapy. We started doing some new exercises: Partial Squats: Basically you stand in front of a table (or sturdy chair) with your feet shoulder-width apart, and partially bend both of your knees. Your hands support as much of your weight as needed. ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/07/08/more-physical-therapy-exercises-walking-with-one-crutch/ So as we near the three week mark, my wife reminded me of the fact that the doctor had suggested that I would probably be walking in 3 - 4 weeks. I'm definitely not walking yet. As I mentioned in the last post, my quadriceps are just now starting to ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/07/01/leaving-the-pain-pills/ Finally today at physical therapy I was able to do straight-leg raises without any assistance. (Except for the electrical stimulation machine). The therapist also had me start doing partial squats. The partial squats were pretty hard. To do them, you stand in front of the table, and place your hands ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/06/29/quadriceps-responding/ Yesterday after physical therapy, my wife took the kids to go and visit her mother and sister about an hour away. They planned to stay overnight. This was my idea, I felt like she needed to get out of the house for a change of pace. She was really worried ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/06/28/home-alonein-a-flood/ I had my stitches taken out today. The doctor said that the scar is healing up nicely and he advised that I start using Cocoa butter on it to help it heal nicer. He was a little concerned that my quadriceps hadn't progressed more. He advised me to keep my knee ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/06/25/stitches-out/ Its been nice being able to spend so much time at home. I get a surprising amount of work done and am still able to stop and read books with the kids or play with them. Having a loose schedule is a big help. A strict schedule doesn't work as ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/06/21/having-a-schedule-helps-everyone/ I'm always amazed by how good I feel after physical therapy. Even doing the exercises at home as best I can doesn't compare. My favorite part is the TENS therapy. My leg feels so good after that.My normal therapist is out of town this week and next so I am ... http://acl-recovery.com/2007/06/20/physical-therapy-is-awesome/