ACL Recovery: From Day 3 to Week 3

From day 3 to week 3 of ACL recovery

In the days before my surgery, I did my homework. I spoke to four people who had gone through similar surgeries and asked them what the recovery process was like.

Looking back at those conversations, nobody prepared me for what it’s actually been like.

People didn’t mislead me intentionally. I think the problem is that once things get better, it’s just way too easy to forget how crumby you really feel in the first few days and weeks.

Now at the end of week 3, I’ve made some definite progress. I can bend my knee enough to sit on a chair for 30-45 minutes at a time, I can walk with just one crutch and I just slept for 5 hours straight for the first time since having the surgery.

The difference between how I feel now and how I felt in weeks 1 and 2 is really night and day- but the difference from one day to the next is usually barely noticeable.

I’ve realised that the road to recovery is really very incremental.

Before I make the same mistake of being so far removed from the first few weeks of recovery to remember what it was like, this post is a summary of some things I’ve learned and key tips that definitely would have helped me.

These are things I would have liked to have been told- and I hope they can help others going through ACL surgery and recovery.

The Effects of General Aneasthetic

The aneasthetic affected me in three ways, all of them very common.

Physical fatigue

In the first few days, I’d fall asleep very often. Every two hours or so I’d find myself nodding off. There was no point in fighting it as the body just needed it.

Even though I was working from home already, it was more important than ever to space out my schedule so I could get some rest in between calls and meetings.

I didn’t do that one day and I felt terrible- and I was very grumpy by the evening.

Mental fatigue

I love reading, and being sofa-bound for a few weeks I thought I would spend a lot of my time reading.

However, for the first 7-10 days following the surgery I couldn’t imagine reading a book. It just felt too mentally taxing.

I spent a lot of time watching movies and TV instead. The basketball-related 30 for 30 ESPN documentaries that are available on Disney+ were all excellent- and they helped me through a lot of the first two weeks.

Lack of sleep

On the day of the surgery, I remember spending 3 hours trying to fall asleep at night in the clinic and thinking it must be a challenge just because the surgery was only a few hours ago. How naive I was!

I am now 21 days post-surgery and I have slept for 5 hours straight for the first time since then. For the first two weeks, I’d fall asleep but wake up after 1.5-2 hours and then stay awake for 2-3 hours before sleeping for 2 hours again.

It wasn’t that the pain was unbearable, it was just a constant feeling of being uncomfortable. I’d rest my leg in one position and after 5 minutes I’d have to change it up.

I’d move pillows in and out under my leg throughout the night and stay awake for hours.

Stronger painkillers and Melatonin didn’t help, so after the first few nights I stopped trying to fight it. I’d watch some TV and just wait for 2 hours to go by before trying to fall asleep again.

Tossing and turning is an expression that’s often used to describe someone trying to fall asleep, but it would be very inaccurate in this case as I could literally only lie on my back.

Eventually, I did fall asleep again but all in all I got only 4-5 hours of sleep a night for the first 3 weeks after the surgery.

The lack of sleep is definitely something I would have liked to have been aware of beforehand. As the effects of the GA and swelling in my knee have subsided, I can now lie on my side a bit so sleeping has become more comfortable again. This has helped me sleep longer.

Physiotherapy

Everybody told me to get started with physiotherapy as soon as I could to avoid scarring.

Scarring occurs when there’s build-up of excessive scar-tissue around the area of the surgery, and the way to avoid it is through regular motion as early and as often as possible after the surgery.

I was given a list of exercises to do at home before I was discharged from the clinic and it was recommended that I do them 4 times a day.

On the one hand, 4 times a day is quite a lot, as it means you’re going through the same routine every 4 hours or so.

On the other hand, it means you might be lying still for 3-4 hours at a time, especially in the first two weeks when you can barely bend your knee and so you can’t sit on a chair. That’s still quite a long time to stay still. 

I was doing the prescribed physiotherapy religiously from day 1, trying to bend my knee and barely managing to lift it at all.

It wasn’t until day 6, when I met my regular physiotherapist, that I felt like I got more out of the same exercises. Instead of just relying on my ability to lift my knee off the ground, he encouraged me to use my hands to pull the knee up as well and I got a few more centimetres of lift and bend that way.

I hadn’t been doing that at first, but once I started doing it the bend became easier, much faster. It was a great example of how doing a lot of the wrong thing is useless and how helpful it is to get coaching to do things the right way.

It reminded me again that it’s not that “practice makes perfect”, it’s actually “perfect practice makes perfect”.

I see my physiotherapist once a week now (my only trips out of the house so far) and every time he helps me push my recovery slightly further.

I’d definitely recommend finding a physiotherapist you trust before getting the surgery and then seeing them early and often (once a week) after the surgery.

Getting Help

I am very lucky that at this time of the year, my wife could spend most of the first two weeks at home with me.

Between the physical fatigue, mental fatigue, swelling and pain of the first week, I can’t understate how helpful she’s been.

If you get this surgery and live alone, enlist a friend to help, move in with your parents for a few weeks or find another solution.

I have spoken to people who went through it alone and it’s possible, but for best results- get help.

Getting help meant I could stay much healthier. I could get water more frequently, replenish the ice more frequently, eat healthier, rest more and just focus on my recovery.

It’s also a time when you feel generally unproductive and useless, so having company makes a world of a difference to your mental health too.

My friends also came to visit, which was very helpful just to lift my spirits up. However, it’s useful to limit these visits to 2-3 hours at a time just so you can get some rest in between.

The Tipping Point

The first two weeks post-surgery were much tougher than I expected. Between the swelling and the fatigue, it was hard feeling so unproductive.

Many people did warn me it would take a few days to recover, but I didn’t really understand what that meant and I was disappointed when I wasn’t back to my usual self (albeit without walking) after just 2-3 days.

Some days, I felt slightly better and then the next day I would feel like I’d taken a step back, which was despairing when what I really wanted was to feel that I was making progress every day.

I remember even day 14 was quite a tough day, and I was very tired for most of it. 

But then through what feels like endless repetition of 4-hour cycles (physio, icing, food, rest) I have actually made progress.

I can bend my knee a lot more now. Getting up to get some water or switch the lights on is easy. Sitting on a chair has become possible again. And I can even spend a few hours a day reading a book! 

When I compare week 3 to the first 2 weeks, the feeling of being useless and unproductive has improved dramatically and I can now understand how the small actions I take every few hours- another physio session, pushing myself to make a few more steps, moving my leg more regularly- are all gradually contributing to getting me back into shape.

The progress is slow but it’s undoubtedly there- and it’s inspiring me to keep at it. Following this pattern, little by little over a longer time, I can see myself getting back into shape in a few months!

And lastly, a special thanks to Chloe Kelly- scoring the winning goal in the Euro final after coming back from ACL surgery this year was exactly the inspiration I needed!