fire6811

Been there, Done that. I had to test the sticker on the top step of a ladder that said do not step here, this is not a step. I had a hamstring graft last November. I would say that my affected leg is at 99% now, my other leg is at about 98%. That is because I think we concentrated too much on the affected leg. Do as much PT as possible before the surgery. The stronger your leg is before the surgery, the faster the recovery will be after the surgery. I had a month between the injury and the surgery and in that time, I lost 2 cm circumference on my calf and 4cm on my thigh. This was working with my physical therapist 3x week and 2x on my own at home. I don't know how agressive your Dr and PT is going to be, but I got out of surgery at 8pm and at 9am the next morning, they had me up and walking down the hallway without a brace, cast, crutches, or a walker. I started out with therapy 3x per week and after 2 weeks dropped to 2x / week and exercises at home everyday. LISTEN TO YOUR PHYSICAL THERAPIST. ASK QUESTIONS, DO NOT ASSUME. I had a substitute PT for a couple of days who had me try a couple of exercises that the Dr and my regular PT did not have scheduled yet (know the difference between closed chain exercises; your foot is always in contact with the flat stable surface i.e. leg press, bike, or squats vs. open chain exercises where your foot is free floating i.e hamstring curls, quad / leg extensions). The Dr said after the first week, I could do limited duty, My chief told me I was a big boy and could determine what that meant on call response (mainly, minimal staffing for ALS and several new ALS providers needing mentoring meant I needed to do some mentoring in the back of the ambulance). WIth doing some unauthorized exercises and that night running command on a 3 hour structure fire 10 days out, my knee started swelling and basically took 3 weeks of intense ice therapy and electrical therapy to reduce the swelling and get me back on track. The swelling got so bad, my PT thought I was going to have to have my knee aspirated. At 4 months out, I was cleared for everything except ladders, wildland fire and heavy carrying as long as I wore my brace. These were the only times I wore my brace after the surgery. Since 6 months out, I have been on wildland fires in some fairly rugged terrain, participated in high angle rescues, and just about everything else. At 2 months out, there was no problem going up hill all day long. It was about 7 months before it was comfortable going downhill. At 5 months post surgery, I had full range of motion back in my leg (5 degrees extension and 150 degrees flexion). I have several friends who have had surgery who each state that they got back to 0 degrees extension and quit and have regretted it ever since. The patellar graft is the strongest of the grafts, but the one theme I have heard is there is a fine line between agressive PT getting the knee back in shape and being over agressive and developing patellar tendonitis. I live near Aspen and know about 20 - 30 people who have had one or more of the different surgeries (patellar, hamstring, cadevar). Each have their pluses and minuses. While doing my therapy, the one thing I noticed on days when I took a Vicodin or Percocet 45 minutes before PT, I could still feel pain and you can tell when you are over doing it, but it was managable and I was able to bear more stretching and bending and was able to progress faster than days when I did not. My PT also said that the clients who worked actively with her and the Dr on pain management typically progressed faster. I threatened to get a sign for over my PT's office that said "Welcome to Erin's House of Pain; Abandon hope all ye who enter". She was a sadist at times. If I can answer any more questions, please let me know.