SPOTLIGHT ON – Allyssa Lolesio-Pua Pt.2
Hi guys,
This is Part 2 of Allyssa’s knee rehabilitation. Check out Part 1 – HERE.
Allyssa is now 2 months (8 weeks) post R ACL reconstruction and is doing very well.
Today I would like to introduce the idea of a ‘noisy’ knee versus a ‘quiet’ knee.
Let me take a step back and give you some background.
Imagine you were playing your sport of interest and you suffered a serious knee injury today.
It was swollen, painful and very hard to walk around on.
After seeing a doctor you were told to rest with crutches and go to take some knee scans i nthe next couple of days after the swelling settles down.
It’s now a week after you injured yourself – you’re still limping and the scans say you’ve completely torn your ACL which is important for your knee stability.
2 weeks later you then see a surgeon who then books you in for surgery on your knee in another 4 weeks due to the waiting list.
It’s often 4-6 weeks AFTER you injury your knee that you finally have surgery.
Then after you have the surgery you’re told that recovery to get back to sport can take 6-12 MONTHS!
I don’t know about you but that sort of news plus all the effort leading up to have the surgery can really play around with your mind!
It is here that I’d like to reintroduce the noisy vs calm knee.
As you are guided through your knee rehab you can constantly worry about what you’re doing and how it might affect your knee.
It’s like your knee has a voice which is screaming at you for every little thing you do.
“Oh be careful with that you might stuff your knee up again” or “don’t push too hard it might cause some pain” or “don’t do that it’s too hard”… you get the idea.
Your mind is telling you something that just isn’t true.
Instead, try and encourage a calm knee.
A calm knee is told to “trust itself” and “allow your knee to do the work it’s ok it’s safe” when you’re provided exercises.
If you’re performing a loaded squat, single leg balance exercises, hip control work or specific hamstring strengthening you want the calm knee talking to you rather then the noisy knee.
This handy technique will help you turn off the volume coming from the noisy knee and turn up the volume on the calm knee.
Listen to the talk coming from the calm knee – that’s the message today.
I always get in the habit of empowering people to use their body within the guidelines of medical evidence.
Sometimes some mild discomfort is ok to assist your rehab. Pain is a guide.
So we are heading to the next phase of Allyssa’s rehab protocol – things will get exciting as around 3 months (12 weeks) post op we can consider some straight line running. Fun times ahead!
Stage 1: 0 to Month 3 post operation
- Reduce pain and swelling
- Achieve full knee bending and straightening
- Start some gentle lower leg strengthening work
Stage 2: Month 2-6
- Start some straight line running
- Increase the strengthening load on the knee
- Start some agility/jump work
Stage3: Month 6-9+
- Return to sport specific conditioning work
- Return to monitored sports training
- Return to sport
I hope you’ve found this post helpful and we’ll keep you updated of Allyssa’s well being journey!
#MakingHealthySimple
Big shoutout to Nick Longhurst Head S&C at ACE Performance for helping Alyssa with her ACL rehabilitation!
– Leki