Below are a few exercises given to me by my physical therapist, as well as a few others given to me by a local personal trainer:
- stability work for VMO knee strengthening
- 30 second balances on a bosu ball, each leg 2x
- Leg extension machine, with feet turned slightly outward – squeeze quad at top of extension for 1 second – you should feel this on the inner thigh – 3 sets 6-8x
- Hip aBductor machine – 4 sets 6-8x
- Leg press machine – put a band around legs to make sure knees are not buckling in – 2 sets 15
- Leg press machine – one leg, making sure knee is not bucking in – both legs – 2 sets 15
- Standing hip strengthening exercises with bands
- Single leg deadlifts (with or without weights) – both legs – 2 sets 10
- Donkey Kicks, both legs – 4 sets 10
- Step-Ups with a 10 lb weight – go slow, making sure knee is in line with toes – both legs – 2 sets 10
- Lots. of. Stretching.
- Icing after every run
- Using a rumble roller or lacross ball to work out any knots after every run
Unfortunately, I had to bump my half marathon I was signed up to run in May down to a quarter marathon since I haven’t been able to train like i need to. I’ve run both distances for this race before, so I am going to try and PR the quarter distance this time around 🙂
I have been going stir-crazy not being able to run as much as I would like, so lots of yoga and workout classes are keeping me busy. Has anyone else had issues with runners knee? If so, what have you done to recover?
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I’m so sorry it’s been a struggle. Sending good vibes!
thanks, love! I am doing a lot better and ran 5 miles the other day, no pain! Just needed to add in some cross-training 🙂
Hi! I started following your blog after I found it while researching for my own ACL surgery (I’m 3 weeks post-op today, used patellar tendon graft) and have found it to be a huge source of inspiration and motivation. I’m not a runner but a passionate lover of yoga and am so relieved and happy to see you doing impressive inversions and asanas after your surgery. I was wondering, when did you stop wearing your brace to sleep? Were you sleeping with it locked or unlocked? Do you wear a more compact sports-appropriate brace now for when you run and workout? How long did you wait before traveling via plane? Thank you so much for creating and continuing this blog. It’s been my main source of comfort these past few weeks!
Hi liz!! I am so glad my posts have been helpful 🙂 It really depends on your surgeon/physical therapist on when you can take your brace off/lock or unlock in your sleep… With that being said, I was able to unlock my brace while sleeping after 4 days, and a little bit more each week. I stopped sleeping with my brace on maybe around week 6 – but only because I was nervous I was going to twist it in my sleep. My PT said I could have stopped sleeping with it around week 3/4. I completely stopped wearing my brace around week 5 – I kept it on longer because of the snow/rain, and my surgeon wanted to be extra cautious because it was so slippery outside! I don’t wear a sports brace now – my surgeon recommended to get a custom one if I was going to be playing sports like tennis/soccer/basketball etc when I was 9-16 months post op. However, I was only running, which is mainly just front moving and not a lot of pivoting/cutting movement. As for traveling – I flew about 2-3 months post-op, no issues. I did ice on a layover, but I didn’t really notice any pain or swelling. I hope your recovery is going well – if you have any other questions, let me know!
Hi Nina, I just had my own autograft ACL surgery 2 weeks ago and have been reading through a lot of your posts to get an idea of what to expect! It’s been so helpful that I’ve been inspired to start my own blog, and now that’s keeping me busy! I find it interesting that our doctors differ in post-op instruction. For instance, mine didn’t have me wear a brace at any point, and I’ve been using a CPM machine 8 hours a day to get my flexion back faster. Anyhow, I’m sorry that you’re having trouble with your knee – that must be frustrating! Do you have any advice of what you would have done differently to prevent it? My biggest fear is that I will have problems with my knee for the rest of my life, and running will become too difficult to continue. Thanks again for all your posts, and I hope you’re able to strengthen that knee again!
– Melissa
Hi Melissa! That is so awesome, I love the layout of your blog! it sounds like we have a lot in common with reading, traveling and ACL surgery 🙂 From all of my research, i found that it really depends on where you get your surgery done. A lot of people outside of the US never had to wear a brace – but my surgeon based his decision on wearing a brace from a lot of research and his own studies/experiences in the US & Canada. I don’t think there is really a one-size-fits-all solution – I would trust your surgeon, he is the expert and will take good care of you! his only goal out of your surgery is a full recovery 🙂 As far as issues with my knee – I developed runners knee about a year after my surgery due to a few things – new shoes that were NOT good (I tried a different brand than my normal running shoe, not the best idea) + running 3-7 miles on the treadmill at a time + not doing any cross-training. the biggest mistake I think was the lack of cross training – i do yoga to complement my running, but my hips/quads/hamstrings were pretty imbalanced. This all happened because I wasn’t doing anything besides running, so I lost strength. In my recovery last year, I played tennis, boxed, ran, did TRX, etc. Since its been cold, I’ve only been working out inside and not working all of my muscle groups. If you keep up with cross training, you shouldn’t have any problems! I went back to physical therapy for about a month to build up my muscles – and I ran 5 miles outside the other day, no pain. It’s not too big of a deal, just a miss on my part as far as training goes. My knee is ok now! I wouldn’t worry too much about having problems the rest of your life – as long as you are diligent with your physical therapy and don’t rush your recovery, you will be fine in the long run. I now consider my torn ACL knee my stronger knee 🙂 I hope this helped – if you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to email me – neens06 @ gmail . com. I hope you are starting to feel better!
Hi, Nina! Thank you for the compliment! I am also very much in love with your blog design – so simple and pretty! We do have some things in common, which is great! I’m looking forward to continuing through your posts as I move forward in the ACL recovery process. Also, I am so happy to hear that you’re feeling back on track! And it’s encouraging that you consider your repaired knee your stronger one 🙂 I have been a runner for about 6 years now, and I am TERRIBLE about cross-training. I’m beginning to see how important it is, especially with an injury. Before my ACL tear, I was talking to a friend about starting yoga classes once or twice a week after work. Now I’m even more convinced that it’s a good idea. I should probably learn to decrease the running mileage once recovery allows me to be active again. I was going about 30 miles per week before the injury, but it was challenging, and now I have a repaired knee to think about. I do trust my surgeon – he has been FANTASTIC – and I certainly wasn’t thinking that one way (brace or no brace) was any better than the other. It can be scary though – I always wear a bandage wrapped around my knee when I’m not icing so that I feel more stable. And crutches are a must! My next step is physical therapy this week, and attempting to drive myself there. My leg still feels like a giant piece of lead, so it’s going to be interesting! If I have any more questions, I’ll definitely reach out via email. Continue the updates, and thanks again for sharing and answering my questions 🙂
Melissa – yoga was definitely huge in my recovery, personally. I know it is not for everyone, but I do know that the heated yoga helped loosen up my muscles and increase circulation in my knee. Once you start running again, it will be so hard to not just go all out and want to keep running! I think i ran for 10 minutes the first time because I was being super cautious. Your physical therapist will be able to instruct you on a good plan to slowly increase your mileage back up! Good luck driving to your first appt – its a little intimidating, as you have to be super careful not to knock your leg against anything when traveling. But it ‘s actually a lot easier than you think! I look forward to reading about your progress 🙂