[Week 3] Day 15 – 21 Post ACL reconstruction surgery recovery

Day 15 ( Week 3 ACL recovery)

Pain – 1/10

Mobility – 6/10

Pretty worried because I still can’t stretch my leg fully to 0 degrees. I’ll ask my physiotherapist next week when I see her.

(**update – it’s actually normal and I just got to keep up with the exercises. As the swelling goes down, my range will also naturally increase back to normal. So it is key during this period to keep the exercises up)

Day 16 ( Week 3)

Pain – 0.5/10

Mobility – 6.2/10

Day 18 (Week 3)

Pain – 0.5/10

Mobility – 6.5/10

Just thought I’ll update with a picture of my quads. This picture is taken during my leg squads. As you can see from the pic, the right leg (operated knee) looks different from the left. It looks not as toned and somewhat smaller than the left leg. My quads after acl surgery has definitely became smaller. In this picture I’m using as much muscles on both legs.

Also for the first time, I’m noticing the swelling on the right leg above the knee getting smaller. Even though I still walk slowly and my leg still hurts when climbing the stairs, it’s progress as compared to the day before.

Day 21 – Physiotherapy day (Week 3)

Pain – 0.5/10

Mobility – 6.8/10

So I went in for physio today. The exercises are mostly the same, but the intensity increases. Some of the exercises I now have to do together with weights. You can find out more about week 4 physio exercises.

The physiotherapist measured, and my knee can now bend to 125 degrees, as compared to 105 degrees last week.

I started off with the bike. I was to cycle for 10 minutes, resistance 1 and RPM at least 80. I thought it was going to be a problem for my knee, but the seat was high enough such that at no point was my knee bent more than 90 degrees.

ACL rehab bike exercise

Leg raise with 10lbs weight

As I was already walking without crutches, I didn’t feel as much of an improvement as the 2nd and 3rd physio session, where after each session I came off 1 crutch. However, with the increased intensity of the physiotherapy sessions, I hope my leg recovers faster.