Last Friday I had my final Physical Therapy appointment.  I have to say that this really gives me mixed feelings.  First off I can’t believe it’s been 6 months since my ACL reconstruction surgery.  Second, I can’t believe it’s only been six months since the surgery.  Next, I feel nervous.  Why nervous? Let me explain.

The 6 month Physical Therapy appointment is a special one in that the Physical Therapist had me perform a series of stepping, hopping, jumping tests.  I performed each of these tests first with my unaffected leg, then again with my affected leg.  The idea is to establish a % of capability between the two.  I went into this appointment pretty sure that my affected leg was significantly behind the unaffected one.  I’d had a couple setbacks over the summer; the worst of these was a really long lasting case of bronchitis that kept me off the more aggressive PT routines (jogging) for several weeks.

Long story short, I was correct.  My affected leg is at about 75% of the unaffected one.  My Physical Therapist says that they like to release people to do their prior level of activity (in my case downhill skiing only when the affected leg is around 85-90% of the unaffected one).  What does that mean for me?  Well, it simply means more physical therapy.  Continue running, continue the strengthening exercises, continue the agility exercises.

He also told me that this is completely normal.  All through the process, right from the beginning, everyone has said “As quick as 6 months from your surgery to full capacity”.  As quick as.  But, of course, that’s the optimal case, right?  The case where annoying illness and normal life responsibilities…and let’s face it, laziness at times…don’t interfere with the program to work that leg back into shape!  To be fair, several people at Tria corrected me when I said “6 months” by saying AT LEAST 6 months.  Several of my friends have had ACL reconstruction and each of them said (when I mentioned the 6 month number) “count on a year”.  Yet here I am…thinking to myself that I’ve somehow fallen behind because I’m at 75% after 6 months.

Or, maybe I’m just afraid that without a looming Physical therapy appointment every two weeks I’ll fall further behind?  On the other hand, there’s a brand new ski season in the air…Time to work out!

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Posted by Greg on November 1st, 2011 :: Filed under ACL Files
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