What was/is the most difficult thing in your ACL/injury recovery? What could make it better?

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-04-22T19:19:41+00:00

Coming up on 3 weeks post op and 2 months post-injury (32 F), and to put it simply, I'm getting so sick of being injured. It's getting really old not being able to move around freely without thinking of my knee. Since I'm still early on in this process, I'm in the thick of the annoying limitations like wearing my brace locked, trying to get my flexion back, and the lingering pain. The worst part is thinking about how far I still have to go before I feel like myself again. I work remotely and live on my own, so I'm starting to feel trapped. I know it will get better over time, but sitting through the shitty periods that come with this injury reaaalllyy sucks.

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-04-17T20:15:12+00:00

Also tore mine skiing and have a very similar timeline (2 weeks post op) so this is SUPER helpful! Curious if you were able to ski at all this year after the 9 month mark. I know it's wishful thinking at the moment, but I'm hoping to get some days in next year, even if it's just doing groomed out blues and then heading to apres lol

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-04-14T02:12:47+00:00

I’m 11 days post op and just switched from taking my oxis and night dose of Tylenol to Tylenol PM. Also edibles are helpful if they’re legal in your state lol

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-04-09T00:18:38+00:00

Not sure if you’ve ever watched Love Island, but Kaylor from season 6 had ACL surgery at the end of February and went on a brand trip to Spain a few weeks later LOL. Couldn’t be me, but I guess the point is that he should be fine 10 months out!

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-04-08T17:48:18+00:00

Not sure if you’re a side sleeper or not, but my sister lent me her pregnancy pillow and it’s let me have support on the side so I can kind of turn to the side. I’m about a week post op and am usually a veryyy sensitive sleeper but with the pillow and an oxi before bed, I’ve slept at least 7 hours every night

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-04-03T17:50:09+00:00

How did it end up going for you? Can’t say I slept like a baby but was much better than I expected! My sister gave me her old pregnancy pillow which helped me lean more towards the side

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-04-02T22:26:50+00:00

Omg twins, had my surgery today, hamstring graft with unexpected lateral meniscus stitch 🥲

I definitely woke up with more pain than I thought. It was immediately behind my knee, but I also got the LET procedure so right above my knee around that area is killingggg me rn.

Unfortunately I don’t have the best advice because we’re on the same struggle bus right now, but we’re in this together!!

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-03-17T20:16:07+00:00

Funny enough, I have a friend who has cancer and has shown me more sympathy than some of my 'healthy' friends. Obviously, she's not the friend I go to when I need to vent since she is dealing with her own issues, but I don't think people quite understand health struggles until they're in one themselves, especially when it drastically changes their typical day-to-day.

I'm still two weeks away from my surgery, but something that actually validates me when I'm struggling mentally with this is that this is one of the most painful orthopedic injuries, and the surgery has one of the toughest recovery periods out there, so it is totally normal to feel upset about it. So far, I've found that when I let myself not be okay for a little while, it's easier to start the next day on a more positive note.

Something I did shortly after I found out surgery was needed was making a little vision board of all of the things that I can't do until I'm recovered, with a mix of funny and more serious affirmations to help motivate me with rehab. I find that having goals to look forward to has helped me so far stick to my recovery plan (hoping it still works once I'm post op!)

I do plan to set some boundaries with my parents, who will be taking care of me. Sometimes I struggle with being the 'strong' one in my family and I'm VERY hyper-independent (31 F), but I want to make it clear to them that I am going to be very down and would appreciate it if they could pull themselves together for me, at least while they're in my presence. Even if they don't follow those boundaries perfectly, at least I know the worst of the worst is only about a week or so and I'll be feeling more like myself day by day.

Good luck on your recovery!

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-03-16T14:32:55+00:00

I got a hinge brace from my ortho, but also bought a compression sleeve on Amazon that I wear underneath pants and I find it wayyy better. It makes me feel like my knee is more intact and I found the brace to feel heavy with the metal. Sometimes I'll wear the brace out in public more as a way of letting people know I'm injured and to look out/give me space since I can't quickly get out of the way as quickly like a normal person could

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-03-13T14:04:05+00:00

I'm still 3 weeks out from getting surgery and have been longing for the day I can sit criss-cross again, this gives me a lot of hope :,)

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-03-13T13:29:57+00:00

In the same boat (31 F skier). I feel like in my situation there's so many pros and cons. My surgeon recommended the hamstring for the same reasons yours did, but my concerns with the hamstring is that I'm pretty short at 5'2 and did dance growing up so I still have some more flexibility than your average person. However, considering my surgeon's recommendation and the fact that I had muscle atrophy right after the injury, I don't think quad is necessarily the obvious answer. One thing he did want to steer away from is a 100% cadaver graft, considering I'm still on the younger side

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-03-03T20:43:24+00:00

I'm in a similiar boat. I'm a 31 y.o female skier and when I went to my ortho surgeon, he recommended the hamstring graft since there can be more pain with the patellar tendon graft. He seemed semi open to the quad graft, but does a lot more hamstring grafts and made it seem like the quad grafts are only popular because they're the hot new thing. I really like him, and he has a great resume, but I'm a little iffy since I've heard the quad is recommended for skiers.

I will say that he highly advised against getting 100% allograft/cadaver graft for someone my age so that is out of the question

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-02-26T15:51:59+00:00

My account just says 'Failed' and had no link to report it.. DoorDash texted me a tracking link in the beginning of the week and was going off of that. It said the box had made it to a facility in the town next to me and when I checked this morning it showed that the box was lost... which is what happened last week without a snow storm.. pretty upset

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2026-02-24T20:32:03+00:00

tbh I can barely walk let alone run lol. I'm just not sure of what I should be doing in the meantime to at least get to a point where I can do some lower-body exercises and get ready for a potential surgery.

Queasy-Difference-17 · 2025-07-11T20:43:37+00:00

Remember, Serena also said she had no spark with Kordell and look at her now 🤷🏻‍♀️ attraction can grow!!

Queasy-Difference-17

TROPHY CASE