1 Month, 20 Days

PT session was Tuesday. Since I'm able to do short distances in a full run without pain or significant discomfort, we decided to start including some light jogging into the daily exercises. The program for this week is once a day, ten intervals of light jogging with normal walking in between; start with around ten meters for each interval, increase by feel. Other than that, he corrected my stretching technique to target rectus femoris muscles more, and introduced a quad stretch to add to the daily routine. He also gave me a new exercise for the gym, a composite squat plus shoulder press with dumbbells.

Since the exercises are getting harder, the muscles are needing more recovery now. I will be going to the gym three times a week to do exercises on the elliptical trainer, stationary bike, squats (two days normal barbell squats, one day the dumbbell shoulder press combination) and bridges on the exercise ball. In between I'll be doing the balance board and leg abduction exercises. Only stretches and jogging will be done daily.

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

Day 24

Yesterday at physiotherapy:

1. Knee press, 2 x 10.
2. Heel pulls, 1 x 12.
3. Leg raises, 2 x 15.
4. Balance on the foam pad.
5. Shallow one-legged squats on the foam pad, 1 x 12.
6. Balance on the foam pad, extend the other leg forward, side, back, 2 x 5.
7. Leg abductions with the elastic band, 2 x 15.

The same as last time for homework, plus balancing with leg extensions (number 6 above) - no foam pad so it will be easier to do, but that's OK. Next week we are starting exercises on the stationary bike - first time on pedals after the operation, very excited to see how it will feel.

Today, the DOMS is subsiding, I can finally feel how the knee is doing (the signal was sort of getting lost in all the noise from the aching muscles). Nothing exciting to report, still the slow march of progress goes on. Standing in one spot for too long is still not very pleasant - after an hour in the kitchen the knee feels swollen and stiff. I was hoping this wouldn't be such a problem by now, but not too worried taking into account the overall improvement that's happening. I haven't gone swimming yet, we had some guests over for a few days so I didn't have too much time in the evenings.

Day 22 (3 Weeks)

Yesterday's physiotherapy session (starts and ends with massage):

1. Knee press 1 x 10 repetitions.
2. Leg raises, 1 x 15 + 1 x 10.
3. Squats with vertical lower legs, using wall bars for balance, focused on using mainly with the left leg, 2 x 15.
4. Balancing on the left leg on a foam pad, not sure for how long.
5. Shallow single-legged squats on the foam pad (not even close to 90 degrees of flexion), 2 x 10.
6. Leg abductions with an elastic band, 2 x 15.

Homework for today: exercises 1, 3 and 6, plus a stretch done by laying flat on the back with laterally extended arms, bring extended leg flat down to the opposite side at 90 degrees to the body (e.g. bring left leg flat to the right side of the body) - all exercises 3 x 10 repetitions.

The knee felt very good right afterward, but became a bit sore and sensitive once it cooled down. I've noticed a change: it used to be least sensitive in the morning or after a rest, and it would get more tender and sore the longer I'd spend on my feet. Now it feels worse when I first get up, and then gets a better as it warms up.

Today is DOMS galore. Muscles throughout the thigh are sore and it's been getting worse as the day goes on. We'll see how capable I'll be to push it at therapy tomorrow.

The hematoma feels like it's starting to break apart and flush out. The swelling doesn't look much different, but it is softer to the touch, with less clearly defined borders. I hope it will be gone completely by the end of the week.

Day 10

The stitches are finally out! That feels a bit better. I can't really tell what the scar looks like yet as I have a new adhesive bandage over it, not to be removed for two more days; luckily, I can shower with this one on.

In other news, the swelling around the incision is actually the hematoma doctor told me to expect - I thought a hematoma would include more visible bruising for some reason. I told the doctor I wasn't really icing it so far since the thick adhesive bandage on it make it really hard for the cold to actually reach the site. He urged me to start using ice regularly now. Other things to look forward to are:

• Start physiotherapy next week to rebuild the quads.
• Free to start swimming next Wednesday.
• Free to start cycling and/or running in six weeks, so beginning of September. I can do very short runs or rides before, but nothing longer than 20 minutes.

Otherwise, the knee is improving slowly. I'm walking up stairs almost normally now, though it still hurts a little. I'm also going down stairs facing forward (no longer sideways), but with a sort of a hop-skip on the left leg to avoid the painful eccentric contraction. Still doing glute and hamstring stretches daily, but I've given up on hip flexors and TFL, it seems to hurt more than it helps at this time.

Day 8

I will be doing two day updates now, not enough is changing daily I think.

I had the bloated, swollen feeling in the knee again yesterday, but feeling just fine nothing today.
The knee is feeling better all around, the little pains during various movements are disappearing (for example, putting my feet up or down when sitting on the sofa). I'm going up stairs almost normally, though not all stabilisation and quad muscles are firing yet. Going downstairs is almost painless when going sort of sideways.

I've started going to the office for work this week. It feels better to change the environment a little during the day, plus the little extra walking should help with the recovery I hope.

The sutures are getting annoying, I'm hoping they will be removed at the follow-up - it will be ten days then since the operation.

I started carefully stretching hams, glutes and TFLs. Trying to do anything to make getting back into shape as quick and easy as possible.