ACL Reconstruction
 

Hey, anyone know about how long I can expect to be down from an ACL repair and what the FAA requires to come back?

Recent experience appreciated:)

I can tell you that the rehab sucks. Use a cadaver graft for a quicker recovery time. If you can, strengthen your legs as much as possible prior to surgery, this will help speed recovery. I used my own graft and it was probably 4-6 weeks before I could spin the crank all the way around on an exercise bike. It was closer to 8-9 months before I had full strength and range of motion restored. I had an excellent surgeon who specialized in athletes and my knee was better than it was prior to injury. Do your homework. My best friend had the same procedure done by a different dr and they had nothing but problems. Even had to have a 2nd surgery to fix stuff from the first surgery.

I had the surgery a few years ago. Went with the patella graft. I was out for two months. Had to show I had the the leg strength for a V1 cut Dc10 at the time.

Had my ACL surgery at the beginning of Feb. Went with the hamstring rather than the synthetic option as my surgeon's opinion is that not enough studies have been done on whether there are any long term issues with the synthetic option.

It is a b!tch of an operation and extremely painful, immediately post-op. Mine was complicated due to a surface infection of the skin. In fact, until the 4th week I still had times when I would have been quite happy for someone to cut the damn thing off

Now at week six and the increase in range of motion over the last two weeks has been staggering. It's still a bit sore in the mornings but I now have almost full range. A good physiotherapist and strengthening the knee prior to surgery make a huge difference.

I see the AME in a week and she's said that as long as I have full or close to full range and strength, I'm good to go on my class 1.

PM me if you want an update or have any questions.

and no meds that are on the 'no med list' :p