Sam's ACL Journey - RETURN TO RUNNING
'My ACL Journey' written by Samantha Accredited Exercise Physiologist, is an authentic account of the pain, emotion and work involved in having a successful rehabilitation journey after injury. We admire Sam's candour and preparedness to open up to help others preparing for and rehabilitating after surgery.
Up until this point, I have been completing a lower limb strength program, up to five times per week. Integral parts of the rehabilitation process are reviews with your orthopaedic surgeon. During my two week surgical review, I was advised that I would most likely return to running at 3-4 months post operation. As a result I set myself the goal of just that … returning to running at exactly 3 months. I worked through my rehabilitation protocol, focusing on improving my quadricep, hamstring, gluteal and calf strength to achieve over 90% limb symmetry, and to my excitement I achieved my goal!
At exactly three months, I retested my lower limb strength and range of motion. I also used a number of outcome measures including a leg extension test assessing quadricep strength, measured my knee flexion and extension and my overall knee swelling. They were all at an adequate level to return to running and when I tried running again for the first time in four months, I experienced no severe pain.
This stage of rehabilitation involved a progressive three day running program, two days of plyometrics including jumping and landing exercises, and I continued with a two day strength program.
The first full run I went on was a huge mental battle. I was ecstatic that I was cleared to run again, yet I also felt disheartened as an activity that used to be relatively easy for me was so hard. I started off running for one minute, at a fairly slow pace, followed by two minutes of walking which I repeated for 20-30 minutes. That one minute of running felt like it went incredibly slow, however, I was glad to be back out on the football oval.
When looking back to the start of my rehabilitation post-surgery, I can see how hard I have worked to get to this point and the progressions I have made. Over the course of the first three months, I did experience bad days where I was feeling sorry for myself, and I had slightly more discomfort in my knee than the day before, but not every day is like this.
The good days have definitely outweighed the bad, and I am proud of how hard I have worked to achieve my goals.