18 Weeks After ACL Surgery: Started jogging, slowly

You read that correctly...

...I jogged today!

Compared to what I have read on the internet and heard from other athletes with the same injury, I should have started jogging almost a few weeks ago but I guess everyone heals differently.

I stepped on the treadmill today afraid of what to expect and I kept a slow pace for 4 minutes. To call it running, or even jogging, is quite sad but it is what it is. I was trying to hop from one foot to the other so lets just say it was jogging :)

I felt in the front of my knee but the longer I went the more I got used to it. I got off the treadmill and everything was ok. Yet, after getting iced and standing up again to walk by knee was hurting. Nothing major but I felt pain unlike after other session. 

Less than a week left of PT, so I guess I'll be on my own after that. Gina has been great and I am excited to get check out next week and see how far I have come along since the first time I stepped into her office.

17 Weeks After ACL Surgery: Doc says I can begin to jog, soon...

I saw my doctor today and he was happy with my progress. He told me that my ROM is getting better but to keep working on it and that my leg is actually straighter than my non-operated one...wierd. I obviously asked him a bunch of question about sports, stretching, pain, etc. and heres some things he told me:

- keep doing squats to build the quads
- hamstring muscle is looking great, but quad is still small and too weak
- begin resistance for quad (we don't have any machines like that in PT)
- keep riding my bike; its the safest and best thing to do to help ROM (and to build up the quad, again)
- start slowly jogging for short time frames and see how it feels; don't push it right away
- avoid the brace because then your leg will rely on the brace to hold your knee together and not your muscles
- start rollerblading in a month to work on different muscles

Finally, I asked him about snowboarding this winter because my friends are planning a week-long trip to PA in the beginning of January. He just kind of smiled at me and said "Olympic athletes have had ACL surgeries in the summer and returned to compete in the winter. Some blew out their knees and others were perfectly fine. My advice to you is that your not getting paid to snowboard, so just give it time and don't risk it. Maybe by February you can start hitting the slopes".

How about soccer, Doc?

"You shouldn't be thinking about soccer until the spring time."

Next update will be when I start jogging...hopefully soon.