Thread: wife stuck at 50* of flexation after ACL surgery(Help)

Its been about 4 weeks of PT to rehab a tibial avulsion/ACL tear and my wife is stuck at 50* of flexation in her knee. Doctor wanted her to try to get to 90* by the next apointment which is tuesday. Everything was going great when she started out at 25* and went to 35* then 50* but for the last 2 weeks she's stuck. She's getting really frustrated, and somewhat worried since she still has a lot of soreness/pain in her leg. I keep putting a possitive face on it but deep down I'm a little nervous myself, should I be or is this normal? I know this is an odd injury so there isn't much out there in the Gimp forums.

Okay.., good to ask, but talk to the PT & MD too

1st: this is a very common ortho injury
2nd: some folks do just "get stuck"
3rd there are options your doc/therapist can offer
4th : talk to the PT ; you can help w/ the streching & even some simple mobs
5th: keep that positive outlook
6th: your PT should have her doing some exercises & home programmming ; do these as directed & religously.
Like 2-3 times per day

This is a really very common thing to happen, MD/PT will be able to re-direct ya in terms of care. Good luck & speedy recover y

thats whats so frustrating, she's been absolutly fanatical about stretching/exercising her knee and it doesn't seem to do much Definately need to stay positive

Is this pre-op or post op? I'm confused.

Originally Posted by laseranimal

Its been about 4 weeks of PT to rehab a tibial avulsion/ACL tear and my wife is stuck at 50* of flexation in her knee. Doctor wanted her to try to get to 90* by the next apointment which is tuesday. Everything was going great when she started out at 25* and went to 35* then 50* but for the last 2 weeks she's stuck. She's getting really frustrated, and somewhat worried since she still has a lot of soreness/pain in her leg. I keep putting a possitive face on it but deep down I'm a little nervous myself, should I be or is this normal? I know this is an odd injury so there isn't much out there in the Gimp forums.

Don't know anything about the tibial avulsion, but my first thought would be -

- how is her swelling? If it's really swollen, that blocks ROM progress like nothing else. If it's swelling that's inhibiting her progress, she should be icing and elevating NONSTOP. And elevating well above her heart - like lay on your back on the sofa with your legs up over the sofa arm/back.

And if she's not doing it already, make sure she takes painkillers before going to PT. That can help too.

best to elevate & ice for only 15 min per hour, you can repeat this every hr, yet more than 15 min & your own body gets fooled into thinking the tissue is too cold (tissue death) & reflexively sends more blood to the area & therefore increasing the swelling. this can be really painful & not a great thing

best in your wife's case to determine what is limiting the rom: pain, swelling, tightness, adhesions, weakness.... each has it's own presentation & very dif. approach to treating
good luck & be honest about your concerns when you see the MD /PT