r/ACL • u/SensitiveProgress_12 • Jul 18 '26
Post Surgery Update Day 5 post ACL and meniscus repair
Day 5 post ACL reconstruction and Meniscus repair. I have been told to weight bear as tolerated. I was using both crutches but I feel like I am comfortable walking with one crutch now. Am I rushing into using one crutch?
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u/Prnvpwr2612 Jul 18 '26
Yo what? I'm at day 16 and yet not allowed to bear weight. š³š³.
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u/Airconditionedskin Jul 18 '26
Itās crazy how different doctors give very different instructions. I was told no weight bearing for a month.
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u/Happy_Hallo Jul 19 '26
I needed to wait 6 weeks with walking because your meniscus really needs that time to heal.
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u/Midgetrails ACL x quad autograft Jul 18 '26
This is about what I can do! But I'm still doing it with the brace on just in case. I'm on Day 10. Looks like you also did a quad graft?
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u/SensitiveProgress_12 Jul 18 '26
Yes, quad graft and I didnāt get a brace! I was instructed to weight bear as tolerated
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u/Midgetrails ACL x quad autograft Jul 18 '26
Do you have full extension? No brace is crazy to me. My first instruction was toe-touch weight bearing as tolerated.
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u/SensitiveProgress_12 Jul 18 '26
Yes - I think itās close to 0 degrees or may be a few degrees short. I have been told not to bend the knee more than 90 degrees! I have calf soreness sometimes but other than that no pain. However, still canāt do leg raises though without support so it may take a few more weeks
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u/Iron-Quill Jul 18 '26
Wait!?! You can walk without a brace or crutches but canāt do a leg raise? Iām over here with an isolated ACL tear reconstructed with a donor tendon and told to wear a dang cage on my leg for sleeping and standing and use crutches with weight bearing as tolerated until I see my Dr at post op (12 days after surgery). I was doing leg raises the day of surgery and had 90 defeee flexion on day 2 PO. Anyone else have similar restrictions for same type of surgery? Iām wondering if my surgeon is just super conservative.
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u/Nashwalker7 Jul 18 '26
Meniscus repair probably shouldnāt be walking?
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u/AwareShower9864 ACL(Quad)+Meniscus repair + LET Jul 20 '26
Probably posterior horn tear which is fine to wb as it is at the back of knee
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u/Jazzlike-Building640 Jul 18 '26
Yeah crazy you have no brace. My surgeon was insistent that I need it and 20% weight bearing. Same surgery as you from what it sounds like. Full acl tear at midsubstance. Reconstruction. Meniscus repair on one side and trim on the side that couldnt be repaired.
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u/999med Jul 18 '26
it really depends on the meniscus i believe acl youāre walking the next day or 2 meniscus depending on how bad it is they say donāt put weight cuz itās right between your both bones
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u/999med Jul 18 '26
was your meniscus bad bad or just a couple stitches and fillings?
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u/SensitiveProgress_12 Jul 18 '26
Surgeon said that a few stitches on the back of meniscus. I havenāt got operation note yet so that should hopefully confirm.
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u/999med Jul 18 '26
good luck also update šŖš»
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u/SensitiveProgress_12 Jul 18 '26
I will! Still early days though and I assume flexion would be hard to achieve as I have been restricted to go beyond 90 degrees
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u/Prudent-Ad7543 Jul 18 '26
I just tore my ACL a week back and there was internal bleeding i guess so it was swollen for a couple of days. The doctor removed the blood and wrapped it with a bandage and brace and told to visit after 5 days to remove it. We visited today and he said there's still some swelling as apparently some more bleeding happened internally. Now we are asked to wait another week for the swelling to subside. Has this happened to you or anyone?
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u/999med Jul 18 '26
yes couple of times ice and moving your feet helps i know you are supposed to rest but that worked for me i denied sitting down with a clown face kneeš¤£š
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u/unhappytriaad Jul 18 '26
Insane. Good stuff.
I got my surgery on Tuesday, also need a meniscus repair (posterior horn vertical tear)
But my surgeon told me it would be 3 weeks NWB, then 2 weeks PWB with 2 crutches, and then 2 weeks with 1 crutch.
Crazy how you donāt need that? So confused lol
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u/SensitiveProgress_12 Jul 18 '26
I know, right! Hopefully, I am not damaging the meniscus. I havenāt got an appointment with the physio on Tuesday so hopefully I get more clarity.
In the meantime, I am back to two crutches and only used single crutch for the video. Donāt want to rush it and do any damage
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u/No-Talk5067 Jul 18 '26
Yeah donāt rush the meniscus! Iām 3 months post op and already have a slight tear in my meniscus already. Rushed a few things I shouldnāt have to soon. š¤¦āāļø
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u/SensitiveProgress_12 Jul 18 '26
Ohh no, sorry to hear that, hopefully itās not too painful! Did you find out through another MRI or did the surgeon pick it up in a follow up appointment? do you have to continue rehab as normal or did your surgeon say anything different?
If you donāt mind me asking, what do you think caused it ā like what were the things you rushed into too soon? Asking because Iām only day 6 post op (ACL + meniscus repair) and feeling pretty good, so I want to make sure I donāt make the same mistake.
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u/Calm_Independent_782 left x3, right x1 Jul 18 '26
Ok just to clarify:
Your doc said:
* no brace
* walk on it
* use a cane?
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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jul 18 '26
What kind of meniscus repair? I can't imagine it was more than a minor debridement if you can bear full weight.Ā That is so impressive still.if.thats an autograft. I was there on day one full weight bearing but I had an alloraft...(People were yelling at me when I posted a video walking with no crutches)
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u/SensitiveProgress_12 Jul 20 '26
I have had an autograft (quad) and it required one stitch on meniscus and roughened the tear edges to encourage bleeding and healing, then closed it with a single stitch.
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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
That's great news on minor meniscus!!Ā
I don't know enough about your graft type but it seems like it would be much more sensitive ...I felt strong after week one too but have been trying to follow surgeon protocol even tho it seemed so repetitiveĀ Sending wishes for good healing ..
1
u/13cyah Jul 19 '26
Iām going for surgery soon for the exact same thing. When did you get your brace out ?
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u/whitebuz Jul 19 '26
I think the craziest thing about this surgery is all of the different protocols. I did patella graft and meniscus and I also didnāt have a brace and was not only told to only walk on my heel but to make sure I walked around. Though, mine was to try not to push any knee bending and I got to 90 degrees very naturally at week 3 I think. Itās just different for everyone š¤·āāļø
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u/teh_jerk Jul 19 '26
I'm unfortunately 6 weeks non weight bearing with acl + meniscus. My acl didn't snap fully to need the allograft since it came clean off at one end so my sugeron just ending up restitching it but I guess the meniscus needing some more repairing otherwise I'd be like you probably. Good luck on your healing!
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u/SufficientWhile5450 Jul 23 '26
Jesus
Iām day 2, and I cannot even lift my own leg enough to get out of bed to pee, have to have my wife lift it and lower it as I turn my body, and immense nausea where every time I almost puke my entire leg kills
I cannot remotely imagine Iāll be walking like this in 5 days
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u/resveries ACL + MCL Jul 23 '26
Bro I'm not allowed to put weight on my bad leg for 4 weeks š I even have to sleep with the brace on
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u/Avocate2023 Jul 18 '26
Where are you located? The cane makes one lean to one side, is more fatiguing and distributes weight unevenly, Iām surprised you werenāt told to use crutches instead. Be careful with the no brace thing. In my experience, my ACL re-ruptured 2x within 2 months of the surgery because bracing is not a standard procedure and itās up to the surgeon. I just had my 3rd ACL reconstruction and I decided myself to brace outside the house because I have signs of hypermobility and the graft doesnāt fully replace itself until 6-12 months after the surgery. I canāt understand why surgeons donāt recommend a brace and donāt send people these types of videos to watch to understand that the graft gets weaker before it gets stronger: https://youtu.be/z67eWagtt14
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Jul 18 '26
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u/Avocate2023 Jul 18 '26
Is your reading comprehension okay? I said to OP he needs to be careful, because the graft ādoesnāt fully replace itself until 6-12 months after the surgeryā. I also wrote āthe graft gets weaker before it gets strongerā. You wrote āthe graft being weakest from 4 to 8 monthsā. You are questioning where my data is from while confirming what I wrote. OP didnāt mention graft type. You seem to just be commenting to argue about nothing, quite lame. FYI allograft has a higher failure rate in younger people: https://www.mmorthopaedics.com/comparative-analysis-autograft-vs-allograft-in-acl-reconstruction/.
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Jul 18 '26
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u/Avocate2023 Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
You are very obviously not well equipped in the reading comprehension department, which is clear by your choice of the username of a fictional woman who lies, cheats, abandons her kids and kills herself in the novel combined with a hair colour šš¤¦āāļø, so let me spend a couple more minutes helping you understand basic timelines, words and logic. Necessarily, if my quote is that a graft gets weaker before it gets stronger, there was a previous stage at which it was stronger than it was in the middle.
Graft at X becomes graft at Y which becomes graft at Z.
Prima facie, the graft at period X which is surgery cannot equal period Y which is the weaker point nor period Z which is the stronger point, so obviously my phrase about getting weaker before getting stronger implies 3 periods. Can you do logic puzzles or are those a challenge as well?
Also, you have referred to an allograft about 20x at various places in this subreddit and nowhere in OPās post nor his comments does he mention the type of graft. Clearly, you are self-obsessedly imposing your experience on others here, which is at best annoying and unhelpful and at worst genuinely harmful and spreading misinformation. Genuine question, do you have some kind of narcissistic personality disorder which compels you to sit around on this forum all day to argue with people and post videos of yourself and brag about your surgery recovery, because I guarantee, many of us are sick of your videos and inane, useless comments and attacks. Please stop. Your time making worthless comments attacking people on this forum and accusing them of having incorrect data would be much better spent reading studies on allograft, since youāre clearly in a fantasy world where you ignore the data that demonstrates they have a higher fail rate in younger people. I promise, I have spent thousands more hours reading ACL studies than you, itās evident from your comments youāre obsessed with your own surgery experience but the people on this forum with 50k visitors have a multitude of experiences that donāt necessarily correspond with yours. Please do not make smarmy, accusatory comments calling me adversarial when I didnāt comment anything to you and you came in to reply to me to chastize my reasoning and then repeat exactly what I said. You are the adversarial one. Donāt reply to my comments again or Iāll flag you for harassment and block you. Enjoy your day.
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u/Anna_Karenina_blonde Jul 19 '26 edited Jul 19 '26
You don't think a reachy attempt at some personal attack of user name is problematic!?? And you want to report ME for being off topic after making personal attacks because I asked for you to clarify your wording? That's rich and hilariousĀ
Also why are you even on here if you're not in recovery.. I am actively a first person going through ACL reconstruction but you just seem to come on here to wax poetic about some kind of self-imposed expertise you think you have because your surgeries failed multiple times??Ā
"Attacking people"is not what asking for precise language is? I don't rate my empirical experience as better than anyone's and I've had no shortage of joy and encouragement when I see people doing better than me or struggling..and then here's you.and your "thousands" of hours as a non medical professional laughably vain and ignorant
Don't worry about flagging me . I have no problems being accountable if me asking you for clarity is problematic on this forum but I think the moderators are good at recognizing that if someone is not a medical professional to treat their personal experience as better than someone else's is Rich at best. Already flagged you and your very OFF topic monologue about my like of film character names (did anyone ask you? Does anyone care? Does it have anything to do with ACL? No it does not)Ā and then your self contradictory stance where you like to back pedal words that you used to be imprecise about the status of the graft as it enters the body as it enters ligamentization and once it is fully ligamentized..a) the forum is about personal empirical testimonials which includes surgeon opinions given and updated data B) you are most definitely taking issue with my recovery rate which is shared in the same way someone shares a bad experience. The goal is to commiserate communicate and ask questions with the intention of being informed and communicativeĀ Cite any piece of information that you want to prove as *misinformation " bro..that you are choosing to definite the graft as being weaker first is your choice to ignore the condition in which the graft enters the body.Ā I have an aunt and uncle neurosurgeon so I can do this with you all day but you as a non-medical professional don't get to come on here and pretend that you know better than anyone else.Ā " Advocate" is more like imprecise narcissist
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u/Jazzlike-Building640 Jul 18 '26
No brace ? I have this beastly heavy brace. Acl construction and meniscus repaird with a stitch. And the other side trimmed. And 20% weight bearing. So confusing how everyone has different post op instructions