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Re: Come back quicker ?

Posted By: footster
Date: Thursday, 6 March 2008, at 10:35 a.m.

In Response To: Come back quicker ? (mitch)

The auto-patella, with the bone-to-bone attachment, gets a firm thriving attachment faster. It is set by 6 weeks or so. The hamstring, with soft tissue to bone, has a longer time to firmly set.

The "harvest" of the graft, not to mention losing muscle because of the initial injury, tends to degrade your leg's capability. You need to have your strength, coordination, and balance back before returning to something like football or not only do you risk your new ACL, but you really risk you other knee.

By taking from the good knee less stress to an already hurting leg, so the faster recovery.

Most folks don't min-time their recovery, and even the quick returners tend to keep improving up until two years or so.

Because there is a metamorphis of the new graft, modelling into an ACL, many docs put a min time recovery at 6 months, independent of whether you have regain function.

Whatever path you take, rehab is key, not just the surgical proceedure. And that doesn't just mean pushing yourself. Some highly motivated patients can slow their progress by working it too much. For example, for the first couple of weeks getting the swelling down, and regaining extension, and then flex, are key. Yet if you are doing OK there is a temptation to move around because you can, delaying this initial recovery. Odds are if the first two weeks go well, you are golden.

In my case, I was comfortable running at 6 weeks, and cleared for non-contact cutting activities at 4 months. I did a lot of balance and bounding rehab as the basics came quickly. My OSs was against contact activity before 8 months, and asked for a year for graft remodeling issues.

I have a hamstring on one leg, patella on the other. Both have thrived for years.

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