1 Month, 13 Days

I went to my standard physiotherapist yesterday. He put me through a set of exercises and he was quite pleased with my current condition. He suggested to start putting the left knee under more stress - not enough to feel sharp or burning pain, but enough to feel the load - this is something that I avoided so far, preferring to have a slower recovery rather than pushing too hard and causing new injury. Now that the knee is mostly healed, it's time to get it out of the comfort zone, and train it back to full strength.

We will be having one PT session per week, with exercises to do at home or gym in the mean time. He gave me the following set of exercises to begin with (to be done daily unless marked otherwise):

1. Balancing on the balance board or a BOSU with throw and catch. If I don't have anyone at hand, I throw and catch a throw pillow - the size, weight and shape make it more challenging than a ball from the balancing standpoint.
2. Leg abductions/raises laying on the side with an elastic band or ankle weights (we used 2 kg weights in the session).
3. Single legged supermans.
4. Hip bridges with feet on an exercise ball and an elastic band around the thighs.
5. Single legged bridges with the foot on an exercise ball.
6. Squats, five times a week. When possible, do them at the gym with a 20 kg bar, go for around 6 repetitions.
7. Elliptical trainer as often as I have the time to go to the gym. Build up the time, start with 5-10 minutes.
8. Cycling (normal and/or stationary bike) and swimming fit cardio when I have the time.

All exercises are to be done at a level that's challenging, but not all out painful. Along with the exercises, I am to continue the hamstring and glute stretching routine, plus a lighter hip flexor and TFL stretch, about as hard as I can stand for 20 seconds at a time, a few times during the exercise session.

Today I went for the second follow-up with the doctor. Regarding the hard bump around the incision site, he thinks it may be a combination of residual swelling and some scar tissue growth, but he is not sure about. He prescribed ultrasound to be done in about a month, to give it some more time to settle down and stabilise. In any case, he doesn't think it is something to be overly concerned about.

Other than that, he also recommended starting to push the knee harder, looking for that balance between a bad pain and a good strain. This pretty much settles the course for the following month or more, and I can say I'm looking forward to it.

Finally, this is what the operated area looks like now:

This is the hard bump, there is no swelling of the skin in these pictures

The scar is getting thicker and paler; I don't think it will be very noticeable in the long term