This is Part 6 of a series outlining my recovery. There’s an impressive set of information online about how best to recover from an ACL tear, but I wanted to share my own story for a few reasons. There are a few critical resources online that made an outsized difference to me that I’d like to share. I also wanted to actualize the story I wanted to tell when I got to the other side. Finally, for me it was comforting to read the journeys of others going through the same process. I hope you find this helpful and do reach out with any questions you have.
Part 4 - The Early Rehab (weeks 2-7)
Part 5 - The Middle of Rehab (months 2-6)
Part 6 - Late Rehab (months 7-10) [this page]
This section of “late rehab” covers the beginning of month 7 until the beginning of month 10 post-op. There was a ramp-up in the intensity of my training, and a gradual reintroduction of my normal activities. I ultimately was cleared from physical therapy and now feel stronger than I would have been at this time had I not torn my ACL!
At the start of month 7, I didn’t get a lot of time with my PT because of urgent travel to the east coast. I wasn’t thinking at all about my knee, and instead focusing on family. I often lacked the motivation and energy to do even a single cycle of lunges and squats. After a few weeks, I returned home.
At the start of month 8, I was still ahead of the rehab curve, but I had an itch to “make up for lost time” and increased my PT visits from 2x a week to 3-4x a week. Given how intense the plyometric sessions were at that stage, my PT didn’t think it was a good idea but I did it anyway. In addition to cranking up the PT visits, I also was also running 3x a week, supplementing that with 2-3x a week on the spin bike, and mountain biking whenever I liked. I was having a lot of fun, but I was also starting to feel weakness in ways that I wasn’t expecting. My uninjured leg developed plantar fasciitis pain that stubbornly lingered for months. My operated knee also started to feel more sore than normal from patellar tendinopathy.
At the start of month 9, I stopped running and at PT we focused two weeks almost exclusively on eccentric loading on my knee. These were the slow and boring workouts that were a contrast to the cutting and jumping training I was starting to get used to. The effort paid off and I was able to do my third and final return to sport testing at the 9 month mark. The RTS testing was never something I focused on, since I had already gone skiing, mountain biking, and climbing, but it was always fulfilling to see progress.
Concluding thoughts & looking ahead
Tearing my ACL and preparing myself mentally for surgery were traumatic for me. However, pnce I had committed to taking the journey, I began to think of this process as an opportunity to grow into something more. I wanted to look back on this period of my life and have more than just purely negative memories about what I couldn’t do. Rehab pushed me to better myself in ways that I have no doubt will shape the rest of my life.
If you tore your ACL, I that hope reading everything I’ve documented gives you some hope. It’s a dark place to be when you find out the news. Focus on what you can control. Rehabbing like a pro athlete may be out of reach, but there is a “best version of yourself” that is attainable. Have a a vision of who you want to be on the other side of this experience. This is going to suck, but with the right mindset it doesn’t have to be all bad.