Timeline Expectation for ACL Rehab & Recovery

As one of the four major ligaments in the knee that provides stability to the knee joint, ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgery involves replacing the torn ligament with a piece of tendon known as a graft. While it’s generally a safe procedure, there are risks associated with the surgery and recovery can be extensive.

The surgery is generally performed by an orthopaedic surgeon in an outpatient surgical centre or hospital under general or regional anaesthesia. It’s usually completed within two hours.

Most ACL surgeries are performed using arthroscopy, which allows the surgeon to make small incisions on the knee and insert a small camera and other surgical instruments into the knee to repair the ACL.

That said, this surgery is performed to restore the knee’s full range of motion. Once the ACL is torn or beyond repair, it can cause pain and knee instability. This is usually a sensation of buckling or the knee “giving out”.

Additionally, ACL surgery is generally recommended to patients who are young, active in sports, athletes looking to continue in their sports, have other knee injuries, or experience significant knee instability.

If you fit any of these categories, you’ll likely want to know how long it’ll take to recover from the surgery. Here’s a timeline as your reference for post-surgical expectations.

ACL Rehabilitation: Rehabilitation Planning

The first three weeks after surgery are the most important to ensure that the graft heals properly. Aside from taking proper care of your wound, you’ll need to be committed to your rehabilitation plan to control the pain and promote an ideal healing environment.

This includes eating a balanced diet and performing exercises taught by your physical therapist to regain control of your leg muscles. Improving knee mobility is also necessary to improve function and serves a secondary purpose for healing.

Week 1-3

The first three weeks after surgery are the most important to ensure that the graft heals properly. Aside from taking proper care of your wound, you’ll need to be committed to your rehabilitation plan to control the pain and promote an ideal healing environment.

This includes eating a balanced diet and performing exercises taught by your physical therapist to regain control of your leg muscles. Improving knee mobility is also necessary to improve function and serves a secondary purpose for healing.

Week 4-6

During these few weeks, you may regain strength in your knee and be able to perform some simple movement without having to rely on crutches or other things to balance yourself.

Once the swelling subsides, you may also gain satisfactory mobility to perform activities like bending the knee to put on pants.

Week 6-12

During this phase, your knee is capable of accepting greater loads and you may experience significant gain in functional strength. You can begin to work on activity-specific strengthening and weight-bearing exercises such as squats, climbing the stairs, and balancing.

Since this phase involves plenty of repetitious activities, paying due diligence is critical as you focus on building lower extremity strength, endurance, and control to enable your knee to progress to impact exercises as you prepare to return to work or sporting activities. It’s also important to remain motivated and committed to ensure a full recovery.

3-6 Months

By this time, your graft have started healing and the ACL has gained sufficient strength to allow you to return to running or higher-impact activities. Recovery in muscle control and stability is also typically achieved.

However, continuous rehabilitative exercise is necessary to improve muscle strength and restore the knee’s range of motion. Training the leg to control excessive motion is also necessary to minimise the risk of further damage to the ACL.

6-12 Months

Once you demonstrate good functional strength and stability, your doctor may give you the clearance to return to activities such as work and sports. But, this will depend on your recovery objective and long-term goal.

The 6 months’ time frame is typically the earliest that you can return to sports, but graft healing and recovery can take up to 12 months or longer for a full recovery. Hence, you should be mindful of your body’s limit during the recovery phase.

Rehabilitation Guidelines for ACL

With the above timeline, the earliest you can return to your active lifestyle is between 6 and 12 months. To make your ACL recovery easier, here are some exercises that can help with your rehabilitation. Note that these are aimed at strengthening the muscles surrounding your knee, especially the quadriceps and hamstrings, while gradually extending the knee’s range of motion.

Passive knee extensions
This exercise will require you to place two chairs of equal height facing each other at a distance shorter than the length of your leg. You’ll sit in one chair and place your heel on the other chair. Relax your leg and allow your knee to straighten for a few minutes. Doing this several times a day will gradually stretch out your hamstrings.

Heel raises
You’ll perform this exercise while standing as you place one hand on the back of a chair for balance. Slowly lift the heel of your injured leg, standing on your tiptoes. Maintain this position for 5 to 10 seconds and then slowly lower your heels. Repeat this exercise 10 times to strengthen your knee.

Half squats
Half squats are performed standing while you hold a sturdy table with both hands. You’ll be placing your feet at shoulder’s width apart and slowly bend your knees and lower your hips into a half squat. Hold in position for 10 seconds and slowly return to your standing position. Repeat this exercise 10 times.

Standing on one leg
This exercise focuses mainly on building and evaluating your strength and balance. You’ll need to stand on both feet and then lift your uninjured leg. Try to stand unassisted on the injured leg for 10 seconds. This exercise may not be easy at first but you’ll be able to stand on one leg after some time.

Conclusion

With these guidelines, you’ll have an easier time recovering during your ACL rehabilitation. That said, it’s important to maintain ligament health to avoid knee surgery as not every case of torn ligament requires surgery.

At Spire Orthopaedic Centre, everyone should be cared for and healed holistically in comfort without having to travel to different locations to seek medical and surgical help and rehabilitation support.

With a combined facility for collaboration between physicians, physiotherapists, and surgeons, you will experience a seamless service from diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation, that’s tailored just for you at our clinic.