My MPFL Reconstruction

 Overall Feelings I'm feeling really great all things considered! My IT band has not caused me a lot of issues this week. I've continued to walk around my house without the brace on (even though I wasn't technically cleared by the dr yet). I can still tell a big difference in leg strength between both legs when I walk. I'm super careful and protective over my knee, but I'd think that's a good thing right now!  I AM SUPER EXCITED BECAUSE... 3rd Post-Op Appointment I was cleared to take off my brace and drive!!!! YAY!  This visit was super quick. My doctor's assistant was with me this time. She checked my patella stability, ROM, and quad strength. To check my patella stability, she laid my knee over her lap and moved my kneecap around. She asked me if it bothered me, which it didn't (keep in mind that this was a different story pre-surgery). To check my range of motion, she asked me to bend my knee as far as I could. She estimated I was at 100 degrees...I ...

 Overall Feelings I went through several post-op weeks where I had that initial MPFL reconstruction post-op pain. Once I healed from that though, I was so excited. I suppose I was so excited that I didn't really pay attention to the minor aches and pains I experienced. That is why I have failed to mention my soreness/minor pain of my surgical leg's IT band. My IT band feels sore/painful more often than not right now. After a bit of research, I believe this is due to the fact that the muscle in my quad is not strong enough (I experienced muscle atrophy after surgery). My IT band typically bothers me around the outside of my knee. I will want to ice it from time to time or take hot baths.  That's really the only complaint I have; everything else seems to be going smooth! Physical Therapy My physical therapist starts every session with massaging my knee/IT band. This week he had me lay on my side. This is how my old physical therapist (with my first injury) used to end my ther...

 Overall Feelings If you read my previous post, "Post-Op Week 5," you know that my doctor told me he thought I would be doing straight leg raises by the end of the week last week. Well, after we left that appointment I asked The Lord to give my leg the ability to do straight leg raises quickly, and He answered my prayer favorably! I was able to do straight leg raises that night ! It hurt, but I could still do them, and I was so thankful.  I feel like I say this in every blog post, but I am STILL seeing improvements each day! Every day I find that there's something I could do that I couldn't do before. I often say to my friends who ask me how the recovery is going, "It's such a slow process." When in reality, it just feels like it's been a long time since my surgery because of all the milestones I've hit. It really has been a fairly fast recovery considering I went through a super tough procedure.  Physical Therapy  Exercises I began doing new ex...

 Overall Feelings Every day I see improvements! What a blessing! This week I got to put my don-joy brace at 60 degrees, which makes sitting a little bit more comfortable. I still like to extend my leg over an extra chair while sitting. However, sometimes that is just not feasible. When I'm sitting with my legs bent for a long period of time, I have found that my knee can get stiff. Getting up ever so often, or even just using my other leg to extend my knee, helps.  I think my don-joy brace is what really helps me hit my range of motion goals! It almost forces me to bend it to the degree at which it is set. It might hurt for a day or so, but after that, my knee is able to bend easily to that degree.  Physical Therapy We are still doing the same exercises as previously mentioned in "Post-op Week 4." My range of motion seems to increase ahead of schedule, which is spectacular! For example, I wasn't supposed to move my brace to 60 degrees until Thursday, but my PT measure...

 Post-Op Week 4 https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/recovery/low-back-surgery-exercise-guide Overall Feelings I keep feeling better every day! I don't struggle with much pain at this point. However, I will feel some pain from time to time while standing still.  This was the week that I was able to turn my brace to 30 degrees. I felt pain while walking and sitting the first day of being at 30 degrees. After that I felt fine though!  Physical Therapy  This may be a shocker to you, but I love going to physical therapy! I go 2 times a week, and I have a great physical therapist; all thanks to The Lord. My exercises consist of dangling my legs over a table, calf raises, high knee hold, heel slides, ankle pumps, quad flexes, and straight leg raises. I am unable to do straight leg raises on my own. I use a rope to help my leg up. I do these exercises at physical therapy and 3 times a day at home!  NOTE: If you get MPFL reconstruction, you will NEED physical therapy! This isn...

 Post-Op Week 3 This picture was taken pre-surgery!  Notice how my knee cap is way  over  to the right! They centered it  during s urgery. Overall Feelings I was super excited to ditch the crutches! I could finally use my hands to bring myself a glass of water! Yay! I was hoping I could just start walking at a normal speed without much pain. I mean, I got to a point where I didn't have much pain walking on crutches, so why not?! Sadly, that was not the case. At first, it was painful to walk, and I could only really walk at a snail's pace. It took a lot of thought to just take the next step.  I know that my doctor said I could use crutches as needed, but I really wanted to push myself. I think a lot of my pain is coming from the fact that both my knees are having to compensate for my lost muscles in the operated leg while I walk. And walking is a good way to gain muscle! I think it was the right decision to push myself a little bit because by God's grace, ev...