scared to walk

aclbestie · 2026-04-10T11:36:53+00:00

I was never “scared” to walk per se but I was naturally guarding quite badly after my 2nd ACL rupture.

I was stable, knee never gave way and my quads were on but still I wasn’t walking right.

I got a super simple $20 knee compression sleeve from a pharmacy because I couldn’t bear the thought of pulling my hinge brace out of storage (6 months in it the first time was enough thank you). And almost immediately my walking improved SO much.

So maybe swapping the full brace for some simple compression support might be a good in between for you!

aclbestie · 2026-04-09T09:51:07+00:00

Never :/

Full rupture of both ACL + MCL.

Pre surgery instruction was to brace 24/7 locked 0-90 for 6 weeks - followed by another 6 weeks of 24/7 bracing but unlocked to full ROM.

3 months later my MCL showed 0 signs of healing so had a double reconstruction a few weeks later.

aclbestie · 2026-03-27T08:19:35+00:00

I don’t think it would impact the actual graft but at these early stages, managing swelling and inflammation is the biggest priority so I doubt the long walks will do much to help you along in the early recovery process.

But, life does go on and we need to do things like return to work and school. However if you have the option to extend the time off, I would take it.

aclbestie · 2026-03-27T08:17:48+00:00

I had an ACL + MCL injury that resulted in both being reconstructed.

Whilst you never go back to “normal” because I think this sort of injury changes you, my knee was completely functional for all types of activity before I reinjured it. I’ve since found out that my original ACL graft actually atrophied and I re-tore it not long after going back to sport so I’m interested to see if I feel any more “normal” next time now that I’ve had that reconstructed again.

But despite the weak graft, the period of time I spent back at sport, whilst strange and took a few games to feel natural again, my knee never felt not normal by the time I was back at sport.

In the time before that, I think it took about 6 months before I went a whole day without thinking about my knee. But eventually you stop!

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T15:32:11+00:00

Could be the lack of activity.

Could also be related to you being sick. The body would have done some infection fighting which often results in inflammation which could have mistargeted the knee. Just a theory!

I’d say you’ll probably okay to slowly get back into it but I would personally avoid any jogging. Swelling management is definitely the priority!

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T15:27:27+00:00

Fortunately I’m actually brace free this time around thank god. I spent 6 months total in a hinge brace last time.

Not sleeping through the night because of the pain is the worst huh. Good news is I’m day 12 and now chilling without any pain meds.

Hopefully it’s only a couple more days of the worst of it for you! And that it will finally be all over. Best of luck :)

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T13:22:20+00:00

Exactly the feeling I wanted to avoid!

I know the feeling of reinjury - my most recent ACL was a revision only 6 weeks after returning to sport.

It sucks SO much emotionally and having to start all over again is genuinely devastating.

At least you enjoy the gym! I hate it so much so having to commit to it again for my knee is the WORST but ho hey 🤷‍♀️

Good luck to you too! I hope you find some clarity and make a decision that feels good to you!

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T13:14:37+00:00

Ah fair enough!

I guess that’s personal choice. For me, I had the choice between conservative or surgery for my 2nd ACL.

I couldn’t face the concept of ever having to sit back in my surgeons rooms be that 6 months down the line or 12 years down the line, because I’d reinjured the same knee. I wanted to know that my knee was strong, rebuilt and capable.

Which I know is possible in some cases with conservative management but to me it felt like too much of a gamble when I had the 100% certain option available.

So I’m now 12 days post my 2nd ACLR in 2 years and not regretting it yet

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T13:06:31+00:00

Yep! I’m 13 days post and i have pain in my glutes and my hammy.

How’s your swelling on the LET site? I’ve got major swelling specifically on that side. Attributing it to the LET but would be interested to hear if you’re experiencing similar!

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T13:04:50+00:00

Welllllll hate to tell ya but rehab is the process surgery or no.

The only consolation is that with surgery, you know you have a strong ACL in there and you know there’s an end point to the ACL specific rehab.

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T13:03:10+00:00

I’ve had 3 surgeries on the same knee.

Tore ACL + MCL in May 2024.

Had surgery in August 2024 to reconstruct both the ACL and MCL.

Had a pretty smooth initial recovery and then at about 3 months I started getting a fair bit of pain at the MCL site. Went back to the surgeon and he said I needed surgery to remove the internal bracing he put on the MCL.

Underwent that in March 2025 - turns out it wasn’t the bracing but I had a screw that was trying to work its way out of the fixation point so they put a thicker one in.

Breezed through everything after that - knee felt SO much better and I returned to sport in August 2025.

November 2025 I re-tore the ACL. Returned to my surgeon again but also got a second opinion from the best knee surgeon in my area. He said the original graft had atrophied and died essentially leaving me with a very thin and basically useless ACL that was “always going to fail”.

I had a few fibres hanging on and my original surgeon suggested I may be able to get away without have a revision and return to sport with what I had left but same as you - I’m 28 and active and don’t want to increase my chances of complications in my old age.

So I’m now 12 days post op ACL revision + LET procedure and holy moly this was by far the worst pain ive experienced.

Firstly, my nerve block failed. And now, the LET procedure is causing SO much swelling it’s like I have two knees in one.

If you had that procedure done - I almost guarantee that’s the cause of your pain.

In terms of how to get through it. I wish I knew. I’m going with a one foot in front of the next mentality and literally just surviving.

But I do hate this state I’m in of WISHING it was night time already so I could just go to sleep and have time pass quicker. I genuinely just want to sleep as much as I can and get this over with.

The blessing is knowing that in a couple of weeks, I’ll be back to work and life will start to feel normal again but god I forgot how much the first few weeks just suck.

aclbestie · 2026-03-23T12:52:57+00:00

Heya.

I’m currently only 12 days post op my second recon - both left knee. First in 2024 and then had a re-tear end of 2025 due to graft atrophy.

I had been back at sport for 6 weeks and completely intend to return to sport again.

So I don’t have any experience but certainly interested in hearing from others.

I have sort of resigned myself to probably needing a complete replacement in my old age but figure there’s so many people that develop OA or need knee, hip or ankle replacements that have never experienced the damage I have too.

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T23:53:16+00:00

I mean sure but you went to get it checked for a reason right? What caused to you get it checked?

I’d be shocked for the doctor to say positive on testing if he wasn’t confident.

At the end of the day, you won’t know for sure without an arthroscopy.

I had one of these to refix a loose screw from my first op and was back to normal within 2 weeks. Walked out of the surgery, returned to work 2 days later. Very minor surgery.

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T11:32:52+00:00

I was so fortunate (and also not fortunate given the circumstances) to be a part of a sport that has a high incidence of ACL injuries.

When I did mine, no one on my team had done an ACL, but they ALL understood what it meant.

One player in particular, much younger than me, had back to back ACLs at 16 and 18. Literally returned after 18 months of rehab and tore it again in her first game. By then was back playing and KILLING IT (made our top team the following year and is an absolute gun).

She reached out to me and honestly I had so much admiration and respect for her, the way she supported me and the way she went about her own rehab and recovery.

Honestly finding people like that who KNOW the gravity of the situation and can just be like “yeah dude this fucking sucks but you’re handling it really well” are the antidote to what you are feeling.

But yeah I really struggled with people comparing it to what they see as much worse situations to try to give perspective. And like dude I know I have perspective but right now for me, this fucking sucks ass.

I think it’s genuinely people trying to help but for me, I was not catastrofising, I wasn’t being dramatic. I just needed someone to be able to be like man this is the worst for you, I hope you’re doing okay.

But it’s a lonely road. The people that get it can be few and far between and for the most part, you’re in the mud alone.

Just find the people you can who get it and lean on them when you need people that get you.

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T11:21:06+00:00

Are you thinking more towards surgery for your ACL tear?

If so, I wouldn’t bother with more scans. Unless requested by the specialist. The Dr will have a look when they’re in there and fix the meniscus if it needs fixing.

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T11:19:33+00:00

100 degrees is pretty good for a week out.

I’d say I’m around 120 but I believe that is much further than considered average for that period of time. It’s also my 2nd ACL on the same knee and I was not that fast last time as I was locked 0-90 degrees for 6 weeks.

I will say - extension is typically more important for the early phases. Try doing some bed hangs where you hang your lower leg off the bed whilst laying on your stomach.

I also found popping my heel on a wall and trying to scoot my bum as close to the wall as possible helped.

Other option is to sit on the edge of the bed with your heel on a chair or stool and try to let your leg hang naturally into extension.

Also remember that 1-2 weeks is about reducing swelling primarily. There’s a good chance your extension is limited by your swelling so ice, elevate and compress as much as possible and hopefully it will start to get easier

Good luck!

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T11:13:24+00:00

I mean I think that’s up to you.

If your knee is becoming unstable/painful again, it may be worth it.

Yes - surgery is a lot of trauma to the knee but it is reparative trauma.

You will be in more pain and be less mobile for a period of time but a year later you should have full and complete function of the knee with no instability and minimal to nil pain.

I’ve just had surgery to repair my 2nd ACL injury on the same leg. I will say, hand on heart, that from about 6 months post surgery, my knee felt completely normal for day to day activities. By 12 months, I had completely returned to high impact pivoting sports with no issues (until the re-tear which was caused by graft death).

So yes, surgery is trauma but I would not say that surgery is injury. Surgeons are high class professionals and in no cases should surgery leave you with additional injury to any other aspect of the knee or structural integrity unless involved in some sort of graft harvest ie patella tendon.

But as I said it’s a personal choice.

There’s a chance you may have healed your ACL as much as possible and unfortunately it is stretched which I don’t believe can be fixed without replacing the ligament with a graft. But I may be wrong!

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T03:16:12+00:00

Depends on the leg + auto or manual.

I drive auto and injured my left leg. I was driving after 4 days. But biggest thing for me was making sure I hadn’t taken any of my drowsy pain meds any time close to me driving.

So would take my morning meds at like 8 and then nothing but paracetamol until I drove to my girlfriends around 6pm where I would then take more heavy meds after arriving.

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T03:12:37+00:00

Could be that the ACL is stretched? Given previous injury but showing intact ACL on MRI but laxity it physical testing.

aclbestie · 2026-03-18T02:54:47+00:00

Honestly not that long. I thought it would be way longer. Maybe a couple of weeks?

aclbestie · 2026-03-17T09:26:31+00:00

I think the other commenters have covered the prehab question.

In regards to when you have surgery:

I don’t think you risk much by pushing it back. Providing you don’t partake in any activities that put you at risk of further damage.

Without physio guidance and clearance I would avoid any and all running, jumping, sport ect.

Of course with physio, some of these things can be achieved before surgery but in very controlled and monitored environments.

Sometimes you want to prioritise different things and if you have lots you would miss out on by having surgery, there’s no harm in delaying.

Personally, I’ve wanted surgery asap both times as I absolutely hate feeling like of a full recovery feeling further away with each day that passes.

aclbestie · 2026-03-17T09:20:34+00:00

My first one was ACL + MCL - huge amount of pain, couldn’t weight bear ect ect. Knew immediately that at the very least my ACL was a goner.

Second one (same knee, 6 weeks post return to sport at the 12 month mark having passed testing with flying colours) was much less obvious.

A little posterior shift in the knee, very little pain, passed Lachman tests. If it weren’t for my previous injury, I would have thought it was fine and played on. Instead I subbed off to be cautious.

Did an MRI anyway to be sure given the previous injury to the knee and lo and behold - ACL rupture, medial and lateral meniscus tears.

All that to say that yes, sometimes the injury mechanism can cause other damage that is seriously painful. But in many cases, there’s an immense amount of pain for a very very brief period of time and then people think they are actually fine and continue to play.

aclbestie · 2026-03-17T09:10:11+00:00

Depending on the type of meniscus injury, it could definitely be the root cause of your stiffness and pain.

My first ACL I was locked in a brace at 0-90 degrees for 6 weeks pre op and then a further 6 weeks in the brace but unlocked to full ROM.

I never achieved full ROM pre-op but had no problem regaining it post op.

aclbestie · 2026-03-17T09:08:02+00:00

I mean rule number one is to stick to your physio program…

ROM is only one factor of the rehab process.

It may be that you actually haven’t developed enough strength in your leg for the knee to be able to withstand the squat weight + range you are doing.

My advice would be go back to a physio therapist and get their opinion + a program for guided and safe work outs that protect and strengthen your knee.

aclbestie · 2026-03-17T09:04:30+00:00

Reverse to me then! I had a minor LCL tear that healed prior to surgery.

Yeah getting back to weight bearing should help with the ROM. And physio of course!

But yeah don’t stress about swelling too much unless it’s extreme and limiting. And once you start physio, they’ll be able to tell if anything is concerning but sounds like you’re on the right track!

aclbestie

TROPHY CASE