pre-op PT

So much for auspicious introductions, but this JONG had his first knee injury ever while in UT last month after 35+years of skiing (popped acl/sheared meniscus - the dr called "internal derangement", which I kindof liked). Guess it was about time. I've read the threads and really appreciate the time taken by folks to share their experiences (Truth, Altagirl esp.) It's helped to de-mystify the process and relieve my fears somewhat. And it's nice to have a realistic notion of what to expect. My surgery is scheduled for one month out, and because my insurance isn't real good with PT, they want to save that for post-op. I don't have much swelling, and actually it feels better to limp around a bit than to sit still. Any thoughts on whether or what type of strength training or stretching will help my surgery and post-op recovery?

On the bright side, maybe this will finally get me to realize that the 20's don't last forever and to be better conditioned for the next season, and as a present to myself and as some incentive for rigorous PT I'm going to buy a season pass at the local hill. Also, damn happy didn't suffer a dislocation (On the less bright side, the years of practice I've had developing a monster tolerance for PK's is going to bite me in the ass big time.)

No direct experience, but I can tell you that my mom did major pre-op PT prior to replacing her hips and recovered in record time -- she skied with us less than a year later.

I'm 11.5 months from blowing my ACL, MCL, etc. etc.. I had the same problem with my insurance and ending up paying for a lot of my PT.

You don't have much swelling - thats good. How's your ROM?

Anyway to answer your question I was in the gym 2 days after the injury. I rode a stationary bike initially for about 30 minutes and got it up to 60 minutes per day prior to surgery. Past that I did leg presses and hammie curls. My knee was much to messed up to get serious prior to surgery - 11 months later my leg days are 2-3 hours.

Your smart to save sessions, PT is more important post-surgery. After surgery you get to reduce the swelling and improve your ROM all over again and that stretch (no pun intended) of PT is important.

In retrospect my PT was all about getting my ROM back post-surgery. After that I could have done more of it on my own. Though there is a misery loves company aspect to PT and it helps to have a guide while you're doing some of the early humbling stuff.

Good luck and remember the bicycle is your friend.

I blew my ACL in Jan 04, and after consulting my doc, put off surgery until that November. My reasoning was that I would rather have a regular bike season that summer than a ski season right off of rehab.

The entire summer I rode like normal. The decision paid off. After the surgery my ROM came back very quickly and I didn't atrophy as much as my PT thought I should have. The 04-05 season here in the PNW also turned out to be atrocious so I didn't even miss anything.

The bike is your friend right now. (and will be afterward too)

As long as leg presses and hamstring curls don't hurt your knee, I'd add those in with a ton of biking/elliptical, etc. If that hurts, maybe just a bunch of straight leg raises (sit on the floor, straighten leg, lift maybe a foot off the ground, repeat to infinity). The more muscle you have before surgery the better. Without PT supervision, I'd just do gentle quad and hamstring stretches (whatever you can do without pain - I wouldn't push into anything that feels painful at all without supervision). As in touch your toes and pull your foot in towards your butt. If you don't have much flexibility, start with wall slides - lay on your back, legs up on the wall, and wear a sock so your heel slides down towards your butt. It's also a good one becuase you can try to relax and let gravity do the work.

Thanks for the advice all. I really didn't know if the best thing to do was to favor the knee or try and build up strength and flexibility. But damn, this is going to queer the great deal I currently got going on of laying around sipping Mimosa's and asking my kids to fetch me my paper, beer me, etc., and telling Ms. Smack she has to be on top.... choices, choices

I am currently in Pre-op PT as part of a study group at a local University. As of today, my right leg (the injured one) is 62% as strong as my left/uninjured leg.

This is what they have me doing:
Warm up on stationary bike 5 mins
Leg Press with right leg only - 3x6
Leg Extensions with right leg only - 3x6
Squats on an 8" riser with right leg only while holding my left leg forward - 3x10 (today I did 3x12)
Iso Kinetic kicking exercises
Electric Stim

Ice & Elevate for 15 mins afterwards

In between sets and on my own I am to work on getting full flex on my knee as well as full & 5 degrees hyper-extension....