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Melinda's ACL Surgery
October 31, 2008 |
After a second ACL injury, Melinda Isley opted for reconstructive
surgery on her knee.
She was surprised to learn that she needed to begin physical therapy weeks before the actual procedure. “My surgeon wanted me to come in ahead of time and do some
rehab ahead of time to
get my hamstring as strong as possible.”
Even though Melinda was scheduled to have reconstructive surgery on her knee, her
hamstring tendons were going to play a major role in her recovery. “The type of
reconstruction that Melinda had was a hamstring reconstruction where we harvest
the patient’s own hamstrings which you can feel behind your knee the inside part of your knee. You have several bands in there that are strong bands,” says orthopedic
surgeon, Dr. John Mehalik.
Hamstring tendons are often used to rebuild injured ligaments like the ACL. It takes
the average patient about a year to re-grow the harvested tendons and physical therapy
helps the body adjust to the changes. “I did a lot of knee bends, leg lifts, different
things with weights or without weights, standing on one leg and getting a lot of
balance back. They got us into rehab right away but I started to see the results
right away,” Melinda says.
It’s been less than a year since Melinda’s ACL reconstruction and she is happy to
be almost fully active again. “Now I’m back running and I’ve been released to pretty
much do anything I want to do.”
Research shows that in recent decades ACL injuries have become much
more common
among active females. |
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