My MPFL Reconstruction

  Post-Op Week 2 Overall Feelings This week I finally felt more with it. I felt a lot better than I did last week; I hardly had any knee pain while sitting with my leg elevated! Improvement! I was okay with going places (as long as I could sit). My husband still had to get everything for me because I was on crutches and couldn't use my hands. It's also important for me to note that I have experienced some pretty severe muscle atrophy. I can't lift my leg by myself no matter how hard I try.  Sleeping I finally decided to commit to sleeping in my bed. I had tried doing that within my first week of recovery, but I just couldn't handle it. I'm supposed to keep my knee brace on while sleeping, and I felt like I needed to ice my knee a lot during the night. I heard some tips to help me with my goal of sleeping in my bed: 1. Go to bed at the same time every night 2. Ice your knee before bed every night 3. Take your pain medication an hour before going to bed.  I tried all ...

Recovery Timeline Weeks 1 and 2 : Half weight bearing on crutches with leg straight in brace.  Week 3 : Full weight bearing with leg straight in brace. Use crutches as needed. Start Physical Therapy.  Week 4 : Leg can bend 30 degrees in brace while walking.  Week 5 : Leg can bend 60 degrees in brace while walking.  Week 6 : Leg can bend 90 degrees in brace while walking.  Those were the directions my doctor gave me at my post-op visit one week after my surgery. My physical therapy is supposed to last for at least 8 weeks. I go in for my second post-op visit at the end of week 5, so I assume I will get more directions then!  Having read several MPFL reconstruction blogs, I have seen various directions that doctor's have given their patients. I've read about some patients being told to keep their leg straight for 6 weeks. Some have been told to begin bending their leg immediately after surgery using a ROM machine (I was told I wouldn't need one). Some have be...

  Directions  1. Take pain medicine as needed 2. Use crutches to partially weight-bear on my operated knee for the next 2 weeks 3. Keep leg straight in brace for 3 weeks 4. Ice and elevate Post-Op Day 1 My surgery was at 6am, so I consider the rest of the day to be the first day after surgery. The doctor said the surgery went well. However, he was concerned about my cartilage. A chunk of it had broken off, and some of my bone is exposed. This is an early sign of arthritis. I wasn't too shocked considering my cartilage was severely cracked after my first patellar dislocation 9 years ago.  They gave me a nerve block, so I didn't experience much pain. My leg felt numb though, and I was okay with that! They gave me some hard core pain meds and an antibiotic. I wasn't religious about taking the pain medication because I wasn't in that much pain (which I will later regret). I slept a lot that day having been on anesthesia. I also iced and elevated my kn...

Sports Related Injury at Age 16 To be honest, I was not your typical high school athlete. I wasn't on any type of team. I did dance classes here and there, but nothing serious. That's why this story is some what sad. My first patellar dislocation (when the knee cap comes out of place) happened in PE class of all places. It was also "free day" in gym. My friend and I decided to hit the volley ball back and forth just to pass time. On this one particular pass, I ran towards the ball. I decided to be cool and do a pivot move where my knees were supposed to go one way and my body the other.  As I tried to execute my movement, something strange happened. I remember a pop, my knee coming out from under me, and then landing on the floor. All the PE students rushed over to me, and the coach called the nurse.  My mom and I spent the rest of the day in the ER. Evidently, my knee cap dislocated, and a bone chipped off from my knee cap. My orthopedic was concerned about the chip...