Knee arthoscopic recovery

[warrior]

I'll start by saying that I'm an active 48 year old granpa (started young) who was told about 7 years ago when I went through my first scope that I had to slow down with my sporting activities. At that time the sports therapist rated all my activities and put them in a category of intensity. Unfortunately they all settled in the higher injury or strenuous category: I was told to chose:confused4:

I chose to continue Ocean Kayak fishing, Mountain biking but added Golf which I didn't do then and tried Jogging. Jogging is where all my recent problems started.

Last October 08; my daughter was training for another half marathon and she convinced me to train and run it with her. The day after a 4 mile run, I couldn't move my knee and was in severe pain.

Today: I'm 5 days out from my most recent scope where they cleaned up my MCL, ACL, and meniscus repair. I didn't know anything could be done with an ACL, I'm only repeating what the surgeon told my daughter after the surgery. I will find out next week when I talk to him myself.

Finally to my question: He told my daughter that I needed to consider adding knee exercises to my program and recommended an elliptical. I have a life cycle, bowflex, and free weights already; is an elliptical that much better and if so, any recommendations in one?

Sorry for the rant but I'm bored out of my mind.

 

[dswithers]

I had my knee 'scoped 25 years ago after a sports injury. After the operation I did leg extensions and leg curls, at first with the smallest weight and 100 reps per leg. Over a period of 10 years I gradually increases the weight and decreased the reps. I still start every leg workout with 2 sets of 12 reps of leg extensions and leg curls to "warm up" my knees. I also do a lot of stretching: hams, quads, hips, etc.

As for running, before my 'scope I ran cross country in high school and was in the Marines where all we did was run, 3-12 miles per day. It was almost 10 years after my operation before i was comfortable running. I started with 5 minutes 2-3 times a week. Now I typically do 20 minutes (5K) 2-3 times a week. If I feel pain I reduce the distance or do HIIT instead of long slow distance running. If I feel good, I might do a longer run 1 time a week (40 minutes/10K).

So, my advice is take it slow. Life is a marathon not a sprint. Do what you can do and do NOT overdo it. More is not always better. Don't try to keep up with the young'ins.