As I created this website I wanted to ensure I included information from someone who works with ACL patients daily. I interviewed my physical therapist to hear his insight on the rehab process, common mistakes, and what is necessary to recover.
Throughout my ACL recovery I have worked with a licensed physical therapist, specializing in orthopedics, sports training, and injury rehabilitation, who guided me through the rehab process. I interviewed my therapist to gain a professional perspective on ACL injuries, recovery, and a safe return to sport.
"Most athletes assume everything is going to go exactly how their surgeon laid out before surgery, when in reality each recovery is unique and minor setbacks are the norm. Surgeons often lay out an idealistic timeline."
"We encourage our athletes to continue with a maintenance program after they are cleared for return to sport. In addition, ensuring the athlete is properly cleared and ready before returning to sport and not coming back too early."
"Comparing their rehab course to another athletes' can be challenging. Each surgery is different and athletes recover at slightly different rates so it is imporant to view their recovery individually and not get discouraged by what other athletes are doing if it idffers from their timeline at all."
"In general, focusing on core and hip strength is really important, and also spending time on balance/propriocetion exercises. in non-sports setting, staying as active as you can and setting aside time each day to focus on your body and being active is important."
"Be patient and stay the course, focusing on rehab in week by week blocks. In such a long recovery it can be difficult to focus on the entire 9-12 month timeline of recovery and it helps to control what you can control, taking it a little bit at a time."
"There are going to be ups and downs throughout recovery. Rehab is never linear - there will be great weeks and then some hard weeks."
"In our clinic we have a return to sport protocal, which is a series of tests that the athlete does including running, jumping, cutting, and single leg tasks that give us an objective measurement of their surgical side to their non-surgical side. The athletes need to be within 5% of the non-injured leg in each test in order for us to clear them for return to sport. In addition, we evaluate their strength measurements and compare them to the uninvolved side.
"Most athletes think they will be able to return to sport on the earliest possible date. While this does happen with our athletes, it is much more normal to have an average return to sport timeline and that's totally okay. The biggest thing is a successful return to sport without any limitations or risk for reinjury. Long term health is most important to us an clinicians than clearing someone for sport a few weeks early, and it's often important to understand that therapists see hhundreds of ACL patients and have a perspective that is taking into account the athlete's current situation and also long term knee health."
"Incomplete or improper rehabilitation and returning to sport too early."
Key Takeaways:
After interviewing my physical therapist, a few themes stood out to me:
Recovery is not based on how much time has based, but by the progress made
Throughout rehab perfection is not as important as consistency and determination
Returning to sports is both about mental and physical readiness
Strength, movement control, and balance are all very important in order to reduce reinjury risk