Yes Knee Can: ACL Surgery Recovery » ACL scar

Picture: ACL Scar Update

yeskneecan — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 07:15:17 +0000

I haven’t posted a pic–or a post–in a while. Sorry for the delay. I’ve been too busy rehabbin’! I promise to be more active, especially since I am entering six-months post-op and the home stretch for my first post-op ski trip at the end of Jan.

Here’s what my knee looks like these days. It’s slightly bent in the picture, so it’s a little more white than usual. Hopefully it will go “clear” soon.

Six months post-op ACL scar

5th Months and 3 Weeks Post-Op

yeskneecan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:15:41 +0000

A Quick Overview on Life These Days:

-Bending, Extenstion and ROM seem to be very up to par

-My knee only feels stiff when I am sitting at my desk for long periods of time

-Still no running, but I am avid on the bike, rowing machine, eliptical and others

-My knee doesn’t “pop” as much, apparently the knee cap is getting back into it’s groove

-My operated leg is still not as strong as the other leg (only 50 million more squats to go!)

-I am (cautiously) “jumping” on the BOSU ball and shuttle machine

-My scar is pretty much clear, no more purple/red to it

-My scar tissue has faded fast, sometimes I have to search hard to find the little bit of it

-I am actually looking forward to getting back to sports soon (sports, as in playing on a team) I’m also a huge advocate of being cautious with this bionic knee, so no set date yet, but I feel ready. I will be hitting the slopes in Tahoe this January.

I hope all is well with everyone! Where are you at post-op and what is your new knee life like these days?

5 Months Post-Op ACL Surgery

yeskneecan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:01:07 +0000

Today is my five-month anniversary with my newly constructed ligament.

Overall things have been going well. I think my biggest obstacle now is life getting in my way. It’s hard to stick to a 2/day PT schedule when you work long hours, socialize and overall are feeling a little bit more back to normal. Not that normal, though. I still try to make it to PT twice a week, but find myself cancelling a lot of those appointments due to the aforementioned commitments of “life.” Some of it I can control, while others I can’t.

Right now I feel like I’m in a weird holding period of “feeling fine to go about the normal day” but “not up to par with normal physical activities.” I can walk to work just fine, substitute the stairs for the elevator with no problem, but I’m just not back to my old physical regime–soccer two nights a week, the gym every other night, run 3 miles, then play various other sports throughout the week. I’ll get there. I just have to reevaluate the importance of pushing myself to go beyond getting through the normal day and getting back into normal activities. Besides, if I want to be skiing by the end of January, I think I have my work cut of for me.

If it helps any, at least it did for me, go back and look through the pictures of your progress. Maybe you have pictures after surgery, your scar progression or any pictures of you post-op. Now, think about where you are today–how you feel, how your strength is and your mobility. Finally, take your hand and give yourself a big ol’ pat on the back. Congrats, champ! You’re that much closer to your normal life.

I think about the bandages, the CPM machine, the pain killers that made me sick, the crutches, that damn brace in the middle of summer and my humility–none of those things are present in my life anymore. I hope you continue to shed layers of bad ACL experiences every day.

After Surgery–ACL Scar

Knee Brace Tan:Scenes from my Summer

yeskneecan — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 21:00:41 +0000

The headline on today’s Chicago Red Eye, a free supplement to the Chicago Tribune, stated, “Best or Worst Summer Ever?” The reason for this story is because of the sub-par, chilly, less-than-stellar summer weather Chicago has been experiencing in these past two months. I guess if you need to choose a month or two to get your ACL reconstructed, might as well choose to do so during one of the worst weather-wise summers in Chicago. As much as I love summer, I didn’t mind being restricted to my couch for the month of June–a month with more rainfall than sunshine. Although all was not lost with the Chicago summer, my friends still flocked to the beaches (yes! we have “beaches” here) and acheived golden skin tones. Like I said earlier, I was indoors for a good portion of the summer, in which I got slighty jealous that my friends sported nice tans and I was still Midwest-winter white. Before I stepped out to debut my new knee, I felt a spray tan could nicely accompany my fresh scars and bulky brace brace I had to sport thru July. Without further ado, my knee brace tan. (I covered the scars in the tanning booth.) Yeskneecan go to extreme measures to feel like you are still part of normal society post surgery! Whatever makes you happy! And trust me, you’re going to need all the laughs you can get during recovery.

Summer Fridays

yeskneecan — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:25:05 +0000

This is what most Fridays in Junes looked like for me. I didn’t wear pants until about a month after my surgery. Cut-offs sufficed. If you look closely, you can see the scar.

ACL Acupuncture

yeskneecan — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:48:17 +0000

Today I have my first acupuncture appointment. I’m not one to knock the benefits of natural medicine, but something about strategically placing needles in my body is kinda weird to me.
Some brief research, and here’s some helpful info on how acupuncture can help heal an ACL:

-From the Lalli Care Clinic in Canada
Acupuncture can be a usefull tool to increase blood flow into the area of an injury which will improve the healing process. It also acts on pain receptors to decrease pain as a result of injury.

-From ProSportsHealing.com

Dr. Abdullah says accupuncture stimulates the immune system and is a natural pain killer. The doc also says there are three stages to recovery process: inflammation, repair and reconditioning.

Acupuncture has an anti-inflammatory effect–and I can use that about now. I’m still trying to deal with breaking up scar tissue. I figure I would give this a shot, besides, the insurance pays for it.

Healing Your ACL Scars

yeskneecan — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:25:51 +0000

The proof is in the pictures. Can’t say enough about how I’m pleased with using Mederma–I’m just a fan, that’s all, and there’s nothing wrong with hope in a liquid gel that takes the damage away by using onion extract as an active ingredient. (I just checked their site and you can download a $2 coupon.) Either way, scarring is a hot topic with people, women especially. I have heard of people who avoid the surgery b/c the scars. Besides vitamin E, I’ve heard petroleum jelly is just as effective and a lot less expensive. Read more Mederma pros/cons here.

These pics were taken about 2-3 weeks apart.

ACL Scar Update: Day 42

yeskneecan — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:23:58 +0000

This is what it is looking like nowadays. It’s ain’t pretty, but it’s healing. You might not think so, but it’s finally starting to look like a knee to me–slightly. I can start to see my kneecap and my thigh muscles when I flex them–it’s amazing how your muscles can disappear so quickly. I still use Mederma 3x a day on the scars. My big concern now is two 10-minute daily massages to break up scar tissue. And since it’s summer, most of you have pointing out the importance of sunscreen on the scars–thank you

ACL Surgery: 3 Weeks Post-Op

yeskneecan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:53:42 +0000

Three weeks post-op.

I was told by this point, things would be getting back to normal–crutches would disappear, swelling would fade and mobility would miraculously come back, full swing. I feel as though I’m on a slight delay because not only was my ACL repaired, but so was the lateral meniscus. Anyway, my recovery is just taking a little longer than I thought. I’ve planned a successful-recovery trip to New Zealand in September, so I just hope that I’ll be better by then.

At 3 Weeks, here’s the knee stats:

-Bending at 106 degrees

-Still swollen, but starting to see a bit of my old kneecap

-Still scarred, but using Mederma 4x/day for the next 5 weeks (Use for 8 weeks for new scars)

-Still in the locked brace ( I take it off at work and while watching TV so I can “breathe” and stretch the leg out

-PT 2x/week. might start going to the gym to supplement for less than stellar insurance, which only technically covers 10 PT visits…seriously? seriously lame.

-Still on crutches, but I use one crutch around the office and apt.

-Currently swimming in a sea of hosiptal bills, dr. bills and PT bills (Most people have a file, I have a box!)

ACL Scar Update

yeskneecan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:15:41 +0000

Time again for more grusome, yet wonderfully intriging photos of my still-swollen and semi-scarred knee. (Stay tuned for the pictures of the inside of my knee that I just got from the doctor.)

I often get asked the simple question, “Does your knee hurt?” Of course it does. Pain meds can mask most of it, but when I bend it sometimes, I feel like my stitches will pop right out, even though most of them are gone. The remaining stitches in my leg will dissolve. As of now, I still have two small scars with steri-strips over them waiting to heal. One scar (the major one) is over my patella tendon. I’m predicting it will end up being about 2 inches long. The other is on the right side of my knee. This one is about one inch long. This week I hope to rip all of the steri-strips off, but I know there’s still a bit more healing that needs to take place. But for now, I managed to take two out of the five steri-strips off of my patella tendon scar site. Please ignore the cheesy floor tiles. I take all my own pics.