I didn’t post any update to my two previous ACL entries (find #1 here and #2 here) as not much happened. Mainly just been doing my knee exercises and limp around on the crutches. But this week I went for my 6-week checkup at the hospital and that sure changed a lot :-)

Generally I felt I was progressing nicely and the physiotherapist was also very happy with the results, so I was excited to hear what the doctor (Same that operated me). So after getting 3 x-rays done I had a good talk with him. He explained what he saw on the x-rays and he was very happy with what he saw, all looked good ;-) One clear thing was the 2-3 cm screw that is attached to my lower leg. We then went through around 12 pictures that was done during the operation, all from inside the knee. Very impressive to learn about what they can see and what can be done.

I mentioned to him that I was tired of the crutches, fine he said, you don’t need them anymore. I was just sitting there with big eyes asking “Really? Sure about that?” So he told me to get up and take some steps. Well, I stood and nothing happened, I just couldn’t walk. Was all mental he told me, the meniscus was healed enough and I still had enough strength so I should be able to. I’m also allowed to put full weight on the leg again. Later I was able to do a few steps but I felt very unsecure.

After examining the knee he told me he was happy with the progress, all seemed fine. I have to work more on bending the knee, until that day I was only allowed to bend it 90 degrees and when I got to that point it hurt. So the goal for my next check up (6 weeks time) is to reach 110-120 degrees! That will require a lot of work for me and I still need to go to physiotherapy once to twice per week.

Now a few days later I already been to physiotherapy twice and I’m progressing surprisingly quickly. Here at home I only use one crutch sometimes when walking around, mainly after sitting or laying for some time it is needed, otherwise I can (and I may) walk around without crutches also. I do limp a bit but it also happens that I walk without any real limp. For longer walk I still use both crutches but way different from before where I was only rolling on one foot, now it is with full weight, so no more been tired in the arms.

Also bit change going from been very careful/nervous about not putting weight on the leg to be able to use it fully. Going from 10kg to up to 80 kg weight is a big difference and since my knee/leg is rather weak I need to train the muscles a lot, crazy how much of a month un-use means.

But one of the nicest things is that I can walk around with coffee, dinner and such. No more putting pizza on a plate and place it on the floor, and then push it around with the crutches…. Yes, I did that a few times :-)

Also been able to go shopping on my own is nice, put the crutches up in the shopping cart and off I go. I just need to keep in mind that I can’t carry any extra bags, all needs to fit into my back-bag.

So next step is to increase muscle, stability, increase bending, so I will continue doing my daily exercises 3-5 times per day. I have been very good at that for the last 6 weeks, not skipping a single day. In 6-8 weeks I should be able to start jogging again and do more exercises, so I still have hope for the April Spartan Race :-)