I have no advice. Just want to wish your daughter a complete and speedy recovery.

Happy2b - thank you. The surgery was successful but I have never really seen or had to take care of someone I loved in so much pain. I think I underestimated the pain. Fortunately, we turned the corner and she is feeling better everyday. Thanks again!

Not for dancers, but for college basketball players - 3 months non-competitive. Gotta keep at the PT. Learn the moves and do them at home. You have to persist with the PT in order to get back to baseline.

Contact the surgeon about the pain. If the surgeon doesn't know about the continuing pain, then nothing can be done about it. Call the office and speak with the nurse. You should get a return phone within a reasonable time (as long as no surgery is happening).

Prayers for a good and safe recovery!

I had ACL surgery many moons ago, when it was a relatively major ordeal. I vividly recall a dramatic improvement in the pain level after just a few days, stopped needing anything for pain except prior to PT sessions.

Physical therapy is crucial to recovery.

DD had the surgery when she was in college, though she's not a dancer. She opted for the cadaver tendon so did not need to recover from the hamstring wound, which I understand is quite painful. She was very good about pt, much of which was bicycling, and fully recovered in a little more than six, nine months, I believe. Therapist was very pleased with her range of motion, Right after surgery the cold ice machine for the knee was WONDERFUL for her. Quick recovery wishes for your daughter.

My niece had it done and found the ice machine to help so much. She had a full recovery and works as an e.r. nurse. No complaints so far and it's been two years.

I've never heard of an ice machine - this?

https://www.amazon.com/Ossur-Cold-Therapy-System-B-232000010B-232000016/dp/B006VWSWSI/ref=sr_1_2_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1475509136&sr=8-2&keywords=ice+therapy+machine

I'm glad to hear that surgeons are using the hamstring(s) again. This was quite common when I started practicing (PT) and we had great success with our protocols and patients.

The hamstrings actually recover quickly, but the quads can take awhile to come back. The biggest complication is joint swelling, so getting ahead of that and keeping it under control with be crucial to recovering knee and patellofemoral mobility, as well as quadriceps strength (they tend to atrophy quickly).

Given you daughter's age and obvious fitness, she should expect to fully recover extension and even hyperextension. The graft, like the normal ACL, is placed isometrically, and will be under tension throughout knee movement (which is a good thing).

I'm sure you will get much information from her PT, which she should be receiving by now. You should also have been given the rehabilitation protocol from her surgeon, outlining the progression of care and return to activity.

"She is a competitive dancer and will need complete and even hyper extension of her leg again"

Do you really mean hyper-extension? That's when the leg bends in the wrong direction at the knee and that's what often causes breakage of ligaments.

Ditto for the cold machine, used by a family member following an ACL procedure after a sports injury. There was also another machine used about 8 hours a day that kept bending then straightening the leg at the knee, it was like a medieval torture machine. But the cold apparatus kept away most of the pain.

Best wishes for a quick recovery.

Mimipadv - thank you. PT starts this week. I believe she had a 10 degree hyperextension so I am hoping she can get back to that or close anyway. I know using the hamstring can cause flexibility and strength issues so she will have to put in the work to get it back. It's nice to hear that you think she will get all of that back. We saw a PT for 2 weeks prior to surgery to get some ROM back before surgery and will see the same PT after. I plan on buying an exercise bike for her use here at home. Yes, I did receive the protocol from the surgeon.

Thanks everyone for all of the responses. She has been acting more and more like a 13 year old girl each day, so I know she is starting to feel better :)

Yes, that's the machine and they're easy to rent, I believe. We borrowed one from a friend. She heavily depended on it for pain relief that first week, especially.

It's been a month since my daughter's surgery. The first week was tough. Very painful. Second week we started PT also very very painful. However, she is now at a 120 degree bend in her knee ( it was at 60 degrees the first day of PT and that was with many tears) and best of all no more crutches! She also started on the bike and is using a bike here at home too. It hasn't been easy but the progress is remarkable, and I am happy to see my girl getting around on her own.

my granddaughter had the same surgery as your daughter almost 3 years ago at age 11 yes the recovery was long but only extremely painful the first week or so after that she did well with the pain, worked through physical therapy and this year she's back to playing catcher on the high school softball time it took over a year to get back to playing catcher at all and she's just now at full strength and agility the hardest part the first year was persuading her to be careful and at the same time getting really good workouts in the catcher positions is very hard on the body especially the legs and requires a lot of strength and agility but it did take a really long time to get to this point....

Wow, 11 ! It's such a serious injury with such a long recovery. Being a catcher is especially hard on the knees. Glad to hear she was able to get back to doing what she loves. I don't expect my daughter to be back to her level of dance until September of next year.

Lily...If you happen to check back in, how long was your daughter out of school? My daughters MRI just confirmed a complete tear of her ACL and we have an appt with a surgeon on Tuesday. One of my main concerns is how much school time she'll miss. Hopefully it can be scheduled during xmas break.

Always1step, I am really sorry to hear about your daughter's ACL tear. My DD was out of school Tuesday - Friday. Then we had the weekend and a school holiday on monday. I would have sent her back on Monday otherwise. I got her school work ahead of time and believe it or not after 2 days she asked to do the work. She did not fall behind at all. How old is your daughter?

She only made it through half a day her first day back. We are 6 weeks post op and things are much better than they were. Please let me know if I can answer any other questions.

Lily, my daughter is 15, 10th grade. That makes me feel a little better knowing hopefully it could be "days" and not weeks of school missed. The only info I have right now is that the tear was a complete tear and there is some bruising of the bone. Because my daughter wasn't in a lot of pain or didn't have any swelling or bruising I was hoping it was a partial tear or something not so serious that could heal on it's own. I'll know more Tuesday afternoon after our appt. with a surgeon. Thanks for the info. I'll update after our appt. next week.

The sugeon will give you tons of info. I had to take my daughter to a peds orthopedic because her growth plates are still open. My DD also had hardly any swelling and not a ton of pain either. I was so surprised when the doc told me it was a complete tear.

Our sugeon used her own hamstring to replace the ACL. The other options are the patella tendon or a cadaver ACL.

Good luck at the sugeons!

Always1step, what did your sugeon say about the ACL? Did you go forward with surgery yet?

we just had our 3 month post op. Finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. My DD can do very light dancing and some stretching in January. She is so excited.

Yes, she had her surgery 12/16. Thanks for asking. We just had her post-op appointment on Tuesday. She is SOOOO glad to be able to take a shower LOL I had taken her twice to have her hair washed a salon prior. She is doing really well. She's only taking 1 prescription pain med at nighttime. She is using the CPM machine for about another week. She can start putting pressure on her leg and bend her leg etc. She'll start physical therapy next week. I heard that can be tough though. So far she's handled everything really well. She did have one mini-melt down about a week in. I think she was just really frustrated that she couldn't do stuff herself and was overly tired.

How did they repair her ACL? Hamstring? Patella? Showering on their own is a big deal! I don't miss those days of helping her shower and I am sure she doesn't either. The first week of PT will be the toughest. From what I understand the toughest of the tough cry when that knee is first bent. Make sure she does the exercises everyday, and soon enough she will be back to her old self! Good luck with the rehab.

We went for my daughter's 6 month post op yesterday and the sugeon gave her the all clear! No brace and no restrictions! He was very happy with her range of motion. She only has 3-4% hyper extension in her injured knee, so she will have to keep working to get it to 10% like it was prior to the tear.

Seven months of PT and a lot of emotional ups and downs, but we made it!

I am so sorry I didn't see this post back when. I didn't really join KT at that time maybe. I am so happy your daughter has progressed well. I hope she will continue with her exercises to get the extension & flexion she wants. Anyway, I had this type of ACL surgery in 1991 by a very talented surgeon in Jackson WY. He had been a US Ski Team doctor and I had every confidence in him doing the surgery rather than going home to an unknown surgeon. I was 43 at the time. I was back to running 6 months later and have had no problems since. Tore my other ACL 5 years ago and had a cadaver replacement. That knee also had some arthritis. Hasn't been quite as smooth regarding flexion; extension is fine. And I still am running (3 half marathons last year).

Thank you! If she wants to get back to competitive dance she's gonna have to keep pushing herself. That's great that you had such success with your ACL replacements. From what I have read people ending up tearing the other ACL. What a pain if you are active.

If she tears her other ACL it better be AFTER she moves out :)

Best of luck with your own recovery and all of those marathons!

At her age, preserving the growth plates is critical. I'm glad they are paying close attention to those.