PCL Recovery Exercises

This posting is my answer to Hamlet’s question in my previous entry. Since it’s longer than I’d expected (with pictures as well) and I’m now hoping that it could benefit other people as well, so I decided to put it as an entry on its own. Here it goes:

Hamlet said: .........do you mind sharing with me at least type of exercises u did during ur PT session? What did u do? Did u go to the gym? etc.

Hamlet (and other PCL survivors),

From your posting in Pam’s blog, I assume it’s been 6 months since your surgery. I hope you are progressing well. At this stage I was already mixing the Physiotherapy at the hospital with my own exercises at the rugby field.

Have you regained you full range of movement yet? Keep pushing, and ice it regularly especially after an exercise. I always knew my knee would not heal completely to its previous state prior to the incident, but one thing I really wanted was to regain full range of movement in my knee. I can’t imagine performing my prayers sitting down for the rest of my life. So despite the pain I kept pushing through till I finally regained full ROM, can’t remember when but after about 6 months I think I got enough bending in the knee to be able to perform my prayers sitting down (though not at full ROM but close enough, and with the associated pain that came while doing it).

As for doing the exercises, I was quite lazy to do it at home (with twins running around….very challenging). My therapy was mainly at the hospital twice a week and at the rugby field three to four times a week.

Exercises at the hospital (at about 5 month point) include:

~ Cycling. I gradually increased the resistance to develop my thigh and leg muscles which had shrunk significantly after the surgery. I normally cycled for about 30-45 minutes for each session.

~Steps. “Up & down” steps were very useful. How to describe this? It only has two levels of steps; let say you step up with your left, then up with you right and you are already on top of the stairs. Then you continue to step down. Repeat this for let say 5-10 minutes varying the way you step. It promotes bending of the knee and develops strength.

Steps similar to the ones I used

~Trampoline. I used to bounce on it with one leg on and the other leg off the trampoline.  I vary the bouncing going forward, side-ways and backward. I liked this exercise as it also made me sweat.

~Standing on a Half-ball. Standing on a flat surface suspended on top of a half ball helps especially to improve flexibility and balance.

~Standing on inclined surface. This is the easiest thing to do and you can vary the inclination based on your progress and tolerance to pain.

~Terra band. This rubber band may be used in various ways to provide resistance. I used it a lot. And they are colour-coded depending on their strength and elasticity. The strongest one is black, and I was taught to perform various exercises using them. You can do this at home as well, but unfortunately in my case, I didn’t do quite as often as I should (we are talking hundreds of reps for each type of exercise daily). I also bought a set of weights that can be wrapped around my ankle and I used it in similar manner as I would with terra bend.

The elastic terra rubber bands

~Water exercise. The hospital has a water therapy pool that generates waves at varying speed to provide resistance during the exercise. It was fun but I only managed to do it like 3 to 4 times.

~Gym sessions. I did a little bit of weight training, mostly doing “leg extension” (front and rear extension). Increase the weight gradually as your leg becomes stronger. I did this only for a short while (maybe up to 10 sessions) towards the end of my 9-month therapy at the hospital. Due to my work commitment, after 9 months I only did exercises at the rugby field while coaching my team. For exercises using weights, you’d better consult your PT staff as it involves a little risk depending on what exercise you perform. I think a gym rat like Pam may also give you some really good pointers on this one.

Leg extension machine

Exercise at the rugby field:

~Running. I ran circuits, varying the distance. Something like this: run 50m, walk 50m, run 50m and walk 50m. Increase the distance, the speed and the repetitions when you become more comfortable (never do sprint at this stage!! I have not done any sprint even today). I also ran sideways, zig-zag, backward, striding etc. I used to be a sprinter in secondary school and the knowledge did help me to be a bit more creative with the running exercises. I also used weights around my ankle and walk with them as I conducted rugby practice.  I eventually did hill exercises, climb a 1000ft+ hill and ran 5km with my players.

These exercises worked for me, but they are not the only ones.  Do consult the experts before attempting any of the exercises I mentioned.  You must know your body, your limit and your threshold for pain.

All the best to you Hamlet, and all you guys PCL survivors out there.