9 months post ACL, but still have knee flexion and jumping discomfort.

I had ACL/meniscus surgery on December 10, 2010 and was just cleared by my PT and Doc to return to sports. However, I am not for one reason. I have this soreness in my knee upon forcefully bending it or when I jump hard off of the surgically repaired leg (e.g. a lay-in during basketball).

For example, if I try and sit back on my heels, as if my heels would be touching the underside of my butt, it causes a sore sensation that forces me to stop out of fear of doing something wrong. However, my non-surgically repaired knee can do it fine. My PT said that there was a little bit of swelling left in my knee and that may be preventing the final 5 degrees of flexion. Should I continue doing this exercise and just tolerate the discomfort or what? She said just to ice it and see what happens.

As for the jumping issue, I had this prior to tearing my ACL, so that makes me a little nervous. What it is is if I jump hard off the repaired leg, I will get a sore sensation in the upper part of the calf and the lower part of my hamstring, basically above and below the backside of my knee. Because of this actual soreness and my anticipation of it hitting, it severely limits my vertical jumping ability. My guess and the PT’s is that my calf and hamstring (and possibly quad) is not yet back up to full strength. I know for a fact that prior to my tear that my quad was weaker than the other by a substantial amount, but I am not sure about the ham/calf. Is it just a matter of getting my strength back? Are these two issues, the stretching discomfort and the jumping discomfort related?

Other than that, my repaired knee does not bother me at all in any situation or circumstance (knock on wood). My good knee/leg has never had any issues to speak of. If you need any more information, please do not hesitate to ask.

Joe.

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hey Joe!

The stretching and the jumping discomfort are likely to be related due to de-toning of the muscles as a result of lack of activities post injury/ surgery. One is expected to have some amount of discomfort initially while returning to aggressive activity. You may try some warm up exercises before starting the activity and also avoid excessively stressful activities, till the muscles get toned up. If you still continue to have discomfort, you may consider consulting your orthopedician for an evaluation to look for secondary causes.
Hope this helps.

Take care!