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Nothing special there. These days - depending on the surgeon, graft and concomitant injuries - some people don’t even use crutches postop. Just walk. Squats can be started from day 1 postop (it’s actually a closed kinetic chain excercise that serves to protect the graft, so long as they’re not deep).
Depends on graft. The States have used and “accelerated rehab programs” since the 90s (plenty of scientific papers on it) where the return to sport has been 4-6 months (specific guidelines apply)
With a left leg and an automatic car, some surgeons allow driving after a few days (only limited by the anaesthetic effects). Right leg, 2 weeks to driving isn’t uncommon at all. It depends on whether reaction time has been restored.
Times have changed significantly from the 80s.
I’ve had 2 of them (1995,1996). First time I was in a brace for a few weeks as I had an MCL injury and a significant meniscal tear. Second one off crutches in a day.
I’ve not seen a plastered one in the nearly 2 decades I’ve been treating them.
The rehab is determined by concomitant injuries, surgeon preference, graft type and a bunch of other things (& these are often interrelated)
Return to training dependant on surgeon (& how conservative they are), physio, type of sport, patient compliance.
But the bottom line is, no matter what, the autologous biological graft pretty much heals at the same rate. It will take some stress, but there is a limit and this changes with time. Go too hard too early and you risk injury
eg
1995: David Schwarz (11 weeks)
Suffered his first ACL tear early in 1995 and returned inside three months only to re-injure the knee in his second game back. The following season he suffered yet another tear. The Melbourne forward's struggles are the main reason clubs adopted a conservative approach. (I recall a TV interview where on his return, Schwarz said his reconstructed knee was “stronger than his good knee” - likely the muscle strength of the quads and hams were, but at 3 months, the graft is still pitifully weak and not really up to the physical rigours of AFL football)
1998: Tony Liberatore (18 weeks)
The Brownlow medallist holds the AFL record for the fastest successful return from a knee reconstruction, returning from his second operation in just four-and-a-half months. (he was possibly lucky that he came back at the end of the season and didn’t play enough games to stuff up his knee)
Depends on graft. The States have used and “accelerated rehab programs” since the 90s (plenty of scientific papers on it) where the return to sport has been 4-6 months (specific guidelines apply)
With a left leg and an automatic car, some surgeons allow driving after a few days (only limited by the anaesthetic effects). Right leg, 2 weeks to driving isn’t uncommon at all. It depends on whether reaction time has been restored.
Times have changed significantly from the 80s.
I’ve had 2 of them (1995,1996). First time I was in a brace for a few weeks as I had an MCL injury and a significant meniscal tear. Second one off crutches in a day.
I’ve not seen a plastered one in the nearly 2 decades I’ve been treating them.
The rehab is determined by concomitant injuries, surgeon preference, graft type and a bunch of other things (& these are often interrelated)
Return to training dependant on surgeon (& how conservative they are), physio, type of sport, patient compliance.
But the bottom line is, no matter what, the autologous biological graft pretty much heals at the same rate. It will take some stress, but there is a limit and this changes with time. Go too hard too early and you risk injury
eg
1995: David Schwarz (11 weeks)
Suffered his first ACL tear early in 1995 and returned inside three months only to re-injure the knee in his second game back. The following season he suffered yet another tear. The Melbourne forward's struggles are the main reason clubs adopted a conservative approach. (I recall a TV interview where on his return, Schwarz said his reconstructed knee was “stronger than his good knee” - likely the muscle strength of the quads and hams were, but at 3 months, the graft is still pitifully weak and not really up to the physical rigours of AFL football)
1998: Tony Liberatore (18 weeks)
The Brownlow medallist holds the AFL record for the fastest successful return from a knee reconstruction, returning from his second operation in just four-and-a-half months. (he was possibly lucky that he came back at the end of the season and didn’t play enough games to stuff up his knee)
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