Five Week Followup

So I had my five week followup at OCR today and have confirmed that I can go back to the pool now (YAY). So, I'll get to go to swim practice at lunch tomorrow!  I'm so excited, I can't even describe how happy I am!  Yay swimming!!!

So I was way off on my range of motion numbers from the other day.  It turns out that 142º is my GOOD knee in flexion, not my repaired knee.  That one's at 124º (normal range of motion is between 135º and 150º of flexion).  My knee's actually been bugging me today for some reason, but I'm not really swollen, and Erica didn't seem overly concerned about my degree of flexion or extension, so I must be on track there.

I had my strength tests repeated today (I did a set of these before surgery in December). The first test is that you get strapped into something similar to a leg extension machine, but it doesn't have weights; rather it has a computer system attached that records how much power you have by moving your leg against its resistance.  Because of the way it works, you have to fight against it in extension and flexion, so they can measure the strength of both your quadriceps and your hamstrings.  The readings are matched against your healthy leg.

As of this morning, my left quadricep is at 96% of the strength of my right one, and my left hamstring is at 73% of my right.

The second strength test is a leg press, but again you don't push any weight.  You do as you normally would (though this is single leg, not both legs) and push against the foot plate with as much force as you can for about ten seconds.  The results from that test show my left leg is at 64% the overall strength of my right leg, which I was told is "about normal" for five weeks post-op.

The tests I did today are also going to serve as my baseline going into my right ACL surgery in February.

Speaking of which, since I'm going to have to start my rehab all over in three weeks, I'm just supposed to continue with my current PT regiment with the addition of getting to add swimming and road cycling (spoiler: it's snowing today, so I don't see the road bike coming out before my next surgery).

Lastly, I did ask about the pain in my spine, and she took a look at it and said if something bad was going on I'd have swelling or redness or would be getting spinal headaches.  But she also said that lingering pain is something most people don't experience, and to talk to the anesthesiologist before my next surgery to see what they have to say about it.  As it is, the pain is getting less frequent, but I do still get it from time to time, and I'd like to know if it's something that needs to be checked out.