People often compare the time it takes to return to normal walking after ACL surgery. Even take pride in returning to normal walking and shopping sooner! Think about it: after your ACL injury, can you still walk, go shopping, and jog normally? Is it okay to resume shopping? Is it normal?!
Therefore, you can’t use the recovery time after the operation to walk and go shopping as an indicator to observe the recovery after the ACL operation, let alone be self-righteous and say how good your recovery from the operation is in the short term after the operation!
You should know that ACL surgery in Singapore uses tendons instead of ligaments. After the tendons are taken out and transplanted, there is no blood circulation, so the tendons in the joint will gradually degenerate and necrosis. The time is generally about 6 weeks; but once the tendons are implanted, they will begin the Metabolic process, new cells continue to grow, and old cells are replaced by necrosis until new cells completely replace the graft;
Tendons are longitudinal fibers, and ligaments are interwoven fibers, so it is difficult to replace the original ACL with the reconstructed tendon completely!
Although the initial strength of the transplanted tendon was several times that of the original ACL, as the grafted tendon gradually degenerated, the strength gradually weakened, and it was the weakest at 6 weeks, or even less than 1/10 of the original!
For the tendon to become a ligament and complete the replacement, several basic and necessary conditions are required:
Good surgical technique
Good surgical technique, good position of the graft, and the graft will not be slowly worn out due to friction with the surrounding tissue during knee joint movement;
Blood circulation
The local blood circulation is not damaged by surgery, and the local blood circulation is the guarantee that the reconstructed tendon obtains sufficient blood and survives at last;
Rehabilitation planning
Good rehabilitation planning so that the graft is not subjected to adverse external stress during the survival and plasticity process so that it cannot survive or has difficulty in plasticity;
Unfavorable factors
No, or there are but can overcome the unfavorable factors of the body itself, such as obesity, insufficient muscle strength, too soft joints that make the joints laterally unstable, alcoholism, smoking, etc. Another point to add is the ACL nerve reinnervation problem mentioned in the literature: ACL itself has proprioceptive nerves, which can sense the knee joint’s position and adjust the surrounding muscles’ tension. After the ACL injury, the nerves are also damaged, and it usually takes about 9 months to recover, and of course, it varies from person to person! Therefore, it may be related to insufficient time for nerve recovery if you feel poor gait, discomfort when going up and down stairs, or other movements after ACL surgery.
Recovery of ACL
The last indicator of stable recovery of ACL is that both clinical and MRI are good! This time is about 2 years after surgery!!! ***So, everyone, don’t belittle yourself and take it lightly!!! Be sure to follow our individualized rehabilitation program for gradual rehabilitation! Until clinical and MRI show good results!
Exercises
No matter what kind of exercise, it must be Based on the muscle recovery status + MRI image status, + review status, please do not act without authorization! After you start exercising, you should also check every 2-4 weeks to see the overall condition of the knee joint and whether it is suitable to continue exercising. In short, step by step, enough is enough; not proud or discouraged!
