ACL Recovery diary: Weeks 1-3
This is part of a series
Rather than a long-winded account of emotions and feelings, I thought I would talk about the issues that plagued me during the first weeks… the questions that I asked my friends who had gone through ACL surgery before.
Did you have a lot of pain?
I felt a painful “pulling” sensation whenever I moved my knee. It was like I could feel the graft site being tugged with any knee movement. Or it felt like my entire tibia was hanging only by the graft, lol. That’s the only way I could describe it. It was like 6/10 pain. It was mostly gone by week 3.
Did you shower?
I skipped showering on day 1 and day 3. After that, I showered every day. I think for some people, showering only every other day for the first 2 weeks is totally reasonable — but for me, I love my showers and I’m thankful my husband helped me a lot. For the first month, showering was a big project because my husband had to help me up the stairs, help me undress, protect the surgical site from getting wet, ensure everything I needed (showerhead, shampoos) was within my reach from the chair. Afterwards, he would help towel me dry, and change my dressings.
By the way… Have you ever had to sit naked while someone helps you un/dress? No? Well you will. Lol. You feel vulnerable AF lol. I truly believe this month highlighted how well my husband Jon and I work together in life as partners 🥲
How did you sleep with the brace?
Sleeping with the brace sucks. Your leg already hurts. The brace is heavy and it hurts in its own way lol. Make sure you adjust the brace to extend/shorten to fit the length of your leg, so that the straps aren’t positioned right at your incision site. I made sure to take a Tylenol and Oxycodone before bed, always hoping that it would cover my pain and I would sleep through the night… I never did. I just tolerated it as best I could, and after week 2 when I consistently had 0 degrees extension, I switched to a smaller brace that was easier to sleep in. I talked about the smaller brace in my post about the supplies I used.
What was your normal medication routine?
Mobic (meloxicam) 7.5mg @ 9:30am (Mobic in tablet form takes appx 4 hrs to take effect. Its half life is appx 15-20 hrs. So I took it with breakfast so it could work throughout the day.)
Tylenol 1gm @ 6am, 12pm, 10pm/before bed
Oxycodone 5mg @ 2pm, 7pm, 10pm/before bed
Miralax after dinner
I heard NSAIDs are bad for bone healing, but my surgeon prescribed me Mobic. Why?
I saw this question a lot on Reddit so I thought I’d try to explain in some quick basic terms.
There is an enzyme called cyclooxygenase (COX) that contributes to pain and inflammation. NSAIDs like ibuprofen, naproxen, meloxicam (Mobic) block this enzyme. So taking Mobic will reduce pain, swelling, inflammation.
The problem is, inflammation does have some benefit. It actually plays a role in bone healing. It brings chemical mediators to the site of injury that are part of the healing process.
If you’ve been prescribed Mobic, generally it’s because the benefits outweigh the risks. For example, one of the benefits of reduced pain and swelling is so you can tolerate physical therapy, which is important to maintain range of motion of the knee, especially in the early weeks.
And that’s why the Mobic prescription is for a limited time. Some studies say there are no adverse effects when Mobic is taken fewer than 14 days. I didn’t stress about it, I just got off Mobic when I thought I would be OK with just Tylenol.
You can read more about NSAIDs here: