Post surgery: Three weeks on...

It's been three weeks since the surgery and I feel that things are going well. I have graduated to a single crutch to help with walking and weight-bearing but I could pretty much limp about around the house.

To give a bit of background about what brought about the injury and subsequent surgery, my knee popped during a takedown session in class around late January from a botched outside trip that I tried doing. I have re-injured the same knee when I tried to come back two weeks after from a poorly executed single leg takedown from my training partner. MRI findings showed a torn ACL, MCL and meniscus. Several months of physiotherapy failed to address the pain and knee instability (knee gives way 1-4x a day) and I was referred for arthroscopic knee surgery.

As perverted it might seem, I was actually hoping to go under the knife, sooner rather than later. I have read several literature regarding ACL injuries and most have said that these type of injuries tend to develop more complex and chronic knee problems further down the line if no surgical intervention was made. Physiotherapy can help with strengthening the muscles around the knee but will not heal a torn ligament. Furthermore, having a partly-working ligament means that the other structures around it works harder to compensate for the loss/decrease in function, and could lead to other injuries.
Going for surgery means longer time off the mats but at least I will come back healed and stronger and less worried about the state of my knee, like a ticking time bomb. In any case, during the surgery, the surgeon found out that my patella has a full chondral lesion (grade 5 tear), as well, which could account for the pain in front of my knee that I've been suffering, too.

The doctor gave me a month off for rest, recuperation, and initial rehabilitation. Rehab exercises started the night after the surgery and have been doing them 4x a day. I must say, these exercises are a  b*tch. I never thought that raising a straight leg off the floor can make you cry out in pain. Good thing is I have made friends in the first two weeks of rehab. They are called Codydramol and Ibuprofen. They have been very supportive during these trying times.

Next time, I'll write about how I've been keeping myself busy.