# ACL reconstruction rehab



## peppergirl69 (Aug 20, 2003)

While doing double roundhouse kicks to a bag, I torn my ACL.  I have had it reconstructed and am in rehab until Feb 04.  I know that I will be a bit scared to come back.  Any advice?  Has this happened to anyone?


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## Shodan (Aug 20, 2003)

Yes- I tore my ACL (actually severed it completely) back in 1995 in the middle of my 2nd brown test!!  I stepped in to block a punch and pop.......all stability gone.  

  My best advice is to get the Donjoy Defiance Knee brace if you can- or something similar (de-rotational) and wear it in class at all times (you might want to notify others that you have it on cuz I constantly have people forgetting about it and running into it and bruising themselves!!).  Stability is an issue at first as you continue to get stronger- you may feel a bit off-balance for awhile.  Oh- one more thing on the brace- if you are able to get one, set the max. degree to 15 degrees minimum- this way you will avoid snapping your leg fully straight when kicking and risking damaging the leg again.

  Ice works great for the tendonitis if you have any.  Just keep at the rehab and exercises they give you and you will have your strength back in no time.  Don't overdue it like I did and set yourself back a few months.......take it easy, do what is comfortable and try not to baby the damaged leg too much.  Swimming helps a lot if you swim or have access to a pool.  Consciously try to make the effort to put equal weight on both legs when you are standing around to avoid putting too much stress on the good leg.

  Hope all this helps and I hope your leg feels stronger soon!!

  :asian:  :karate:


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## peppergirl69 (Aug 20, 2003)

Do you still compete and do you know if WTF or USTF allows people to wear braces during competition - both poomse and sparring?  Thanks for the reply -- it helps to know I can, in fact, go back to the sport of my dreams!


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## Shodan (Aug 20, 2003)

No- I don't do tournaments anymore- but I do spar in the studio.  Sorry, I am not familiar with the terms "WTF" or "USTF"- maybe someone else on here knows more about that than I do.  I wouldn't think that many tourneys would allow braces with hard/metal or plastic parts to them just because of the possible injury to your opponent- not sure though- have you tried an internet search on this topic?  Perhaps you could wear a soft brace for support if you really wanted to compete.  I wouldn't think there would be a problem with doing katas though and wearing the regular brace.

    Best of luck to you!  :asian:  :karate:


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## Old Tiger (Aug 20, 2003)

> _Originally posted by peppergirl69 _
> *While doing double roundhouse kicks to a bag, I torn my ACL.  I have had it reconstructed and am in rehab until Feb 04.  I know that I will be a bit scared to come back.  Any advice?  Has this happened to anyone? *



How old are you darlin'?  That makes a huge difference in your recovery time and also what type of reconstruction you have had done. In 1996 while teaching leg locks to Sombo students I completely tore my ACL. My Dr. was a knee specialist having done 100's of this type of surgery. He harvested the center of my Patellar ligament and used it to reconstruct the ACL. He also had to remove most of my miniscus on both sides and took a chunk of arthritic growth off my Femur. Bottom line..... three years of rehab. But I was 42 years old at the time. I saw high school and college kids bouncing back at incredible rates. I have two screws in my knee holding the ACL in place with which I accurately forcast the weather. I started with a heavy brace once i got back into training and now just use a foam brace. 
Rehab is painful. Remember that your body is capable of much more than your mind will think it can accomplish. When pain and panic start in your rehab relax, and empty your mind. Focus on something and try to go blank. It will help. Thank god for Ibuprofen. It has an anti inflammatory agent that helps a lot. It took a lot of work but now I train regularly, do pliometics, run, grapple (of course) thai box etc. I have found that regular exercise and exertion actually make it feel better. good luck. You can handle it. Feel fee to e-mail if you have ?'s.  Oh, P.S. .... lots of ice.   lots     of    ice.


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## Brenwulv (Aug 20, 2003)

Tore my ACL wrestling in 11th grade. Same thing as catchevangelist, had a chunk of my knee used to replace it, screws and everything to keep it in place.

Like they said, Ice, Ice and more Ice.  I had this cool little contraption, it was a thermos type thing with a little pump and tubes connected to a hollow ice pack. Basically put ice and water in the thermos let it get cold and then with the pack on the knee you just pump the cold water from the thermos. It starts to get warm you pump more and fresh cold water is there, the warm goes back to the ice to chill again. Lot better than ice packs.

Doctor told me that the best case would be 4 months recovery, more than likely, up to 9. 

Now, I'm no case study by any means, but I'd always do more reps than they told me to do, more sets, etc.  I was at wrestling camp around four months later wrestling, and beating the hell out of everyone.

I say this because it's up to you to push yourself and to set your goals. I wanted to wrestle again as soon as possible. I did that and did better than I'd ever done previously. Not to say that my knee didn't wobble sometimes, even with the brace I had, but I managed.

Since then, I've done judo (to 3rd brown) and have done kenpo for almost three years now. Both without any brace whatsoever. So, injured in 97 and 3 years or so later doing judo and kenpo with no brace. Again, occasionally the stability goes on me, and occasionally it twists and feels awkward for a few minutes (I had frayed cartilage, so that's probably more a personal concern for me and not the average case).

Basically all in all, it's up to you to make it happen. Push yourself and set certain goals and the rest will come. You might like to continue with a brace, but there's no saying you will need one forever. Again just up to you.

Hope it comes out okay and good luck with it all.

Joel


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## Old Tiger (Aug 20, 2003)

Yeah, i had the thermos gadget too. That thing was worth its weight in gold.


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