ACL Surgery Recovery Time

How long the recovery time is from acl surgery until returning to activity depends on what you are wanting to return to. If you are looking to return to work and you sit at an office desk than as soon as you are able to walk you can begin returning for part time work. You will be able to walk before you are able to drive therefore you will need to get a ride into work.

If your job involves standing and moving around than most surgeons will recommend 4-6 weeks before you return.

Finally if your job involves physical activity such as lifting or climbing than depending on the intensity of the work it may take you 2-6 months to return. There are certain activities that in particular are very painful after acl reconstruction and will take extra long to recover from. One of the hardest things to do after surgery is kneel on your injured knee so if you are in home improvement and do a lot of work on your knees it will take closer to 6 months to recover.

How soon can you return to sported after acl surgery?
Most acl tears occur because of sports and therefore most people are interested in coming back from acl surgery and returning to sports. The typical time for return to spots after acl sugary is 6-9 months. There are cases where this time is much longer in particular if the initial injury was traumatic and caused significant cartilage and meniscus damage.

Psychological effect of acl injury and how it affects returning to sport or work
A not often discussed problem with acl injuries(all injuries for that matter) is that it has the potential to affect the patients confidence of performing the activity they were doing when they initially tore their acl. Sometimes the physical damage has been overcome, however the patient can still struggle with returning to the activity. This can cause several problems most significantly is that when someone is scared about being injured in an activity they are doing there chances of being injured in that activity don't decrease they actually become more likely to be injured.

Importance of effective ACL surgery rehabilitation
It is for all the reasons above that completing ACL recovery physiotherapy following a proper recovery timelines is important if you want a healthy pain free knee.