ACL Surgery - 2-6 Weeks

The main focus of this phase is to start to walk normally and begin your strength training.

What should I be doing with my crutches now?

After the first two weeks, you should now be able to put as much weight through your operated leg as you want to. This should hopefully allow you to start to reduce your use of the crutches and then stop them all together when you feel confident.

My knee is still a bit swollen, is that normal?

Yes, it most certainly is and really isn’t anything you should be worried about. If however, you are feeling unwell, have a fever and the knee itself looks red, swollen and/or the wounds are leaking, you should contact the hospital ward (that you had your operation on) straight away to make sure that you don’t have an infection. The hospital advise you contact them, not your GP.

Can I do any other type of exercise now?

Yes, you can walk or use an exercise bike, but with no resistance.

OK, do I need to be doing any different exercises?

Yes, indeed. Now that you can take as much weight through your leg as you like, it opens up lots more exercise options.

Below you will find a library of exercise ideas that will be really useful in helping you to get your knee going.

Exercise tip:

You should aim to complete the exercises (as many or as few as you want to) about 3 to 4 times a week.
Each exercise should be completed between 8-12 times (or repetitions) for 3 to 4 sets. Make sure you have about 1 minute's rest in between each set.

In order to change your muscles, you need to challenge them. In other words, you should really feel the effort with each set of exercises and should really not be able to do more than 12 each time around.

Useful information: For the first 4 weeks after your operation, only bend your knee to 60° whilst doing these exercises. After the first four weeks, you can bend your knee without any limits.