Corey,

I believe you misunderstood my previous post: As stated below, I
wrote, "Sounds like you have tight hamstrings... my tightness is with
the quads."
My quads are tight, with only 110 degrees of flex. I don't have much
problem with anything else, except for a little swelling on the left
and right side of the knee cap and also the same tightness across the
bottom front of my knee. The tightness on the bottom front of the knee
may be from the removal of the center third of the Patellar Tendon at
the tibia. I do believe he stitched the tendon back together, so it's
bound to be irritated as the bone heals up. No problems with the
kneecap itself, though one day after not using crutches, I had a good
deal of pain behind the knee cap, but went away with ice treatment. I
get a twinge of pain from the repaired meniscus from time to time (I'm
not sure how much he removed). I did get my GP to Rx some Flexeril
(cyclobenzaprine)for my tight quads. I don't know if it has helped or
not yet.(10mg @ bedtime)though I am making steady progress in flexing.

Celebrex was Rx for 5 days post-op, and I'm glad that was all he
wanted me to take. The warnings about it scared me. I currently take
800mg Ibuprofen (once a day), 10mg Flexeril (bedtime) and when I do
have that dull ache in my knee, I take Darvocet N-100. I stopped
taking the Vicoden, because I have the left knee meniscus surgery
sometime next month, and I want the Vicoden to work well then.

With the sciatic problem, as you know, hardly any pain meds work. It
is a tough one to get over. I have read in other posts, that
acupuncture (by a Chinese practitioner) gives relief when all else fails.
I am on my own now, with PT... my OS only ordered 4 weeks. I can see
from reading these posts, exercise will be part of my life from now
on. I have a Total Gym and the upper body work outs have also helped
me greatly. The PT's seem to forget about the rest of the body, only
concentrating on the affected part. The whole body suffers along with
our knees...

Stick with your PT's plan and be patient. Being patient about recovery
has been my biggest problem. I want to get back to work so much, it
drives me crazy to sit around the house. I believe now that I am able
to walk unassisted; I will start with maybe 1\4 of a mile walk around
the neighborhood.

Again, Good luck and speedy recovery!
Mystic

--- In kneesurgeryforum@yahoogroups.com, Pam and Corey - PrairieDawn
<prairiedawnc@y...> wrote:
>
> Mystic,
>
> On the contrary, my quads are not tight. I have kept
> my legs strength and conditioning up pretty good
> through this whole deal. I am very tight around my
> knee joint. Joint pain for the most part. I am having
> a bit of pain related to my meniscus repair. Where my
> new ACL was screwed to the Tibia is where I get some
> discomfort. I am mostly tight around my calves and
> across the bottom front of my knee. I have to stretch
> out on the stairs to relief a swollen muscle in my
> hamstring that is pinching my sciatic nerve. in which
> case I have tried anti-inflammatory (Celebrix) and it
> has not helped much. The stretching out on the stairs
> helps with the relief of this pinch a little and at
> the same time works on my flexibility of my knee. I am
> going to see about going onto flexarile (spelling?),
> which is a muscle relaxant. Maybe then the celebrix
> will have a shot at reducing the inflammation.
>
> I'm not at a stage of placing any weight or bands for
> resistance on a leg curl. This is an absolute no,no
> according to my therapist. I am only doing leg lifts
> with muscle stim. A roll is placed behind my knee and
> I straighten it from that point only to tighten the
> contraction of the muscles beside the knee and the
> quad. I feel I can do more but I'm not pushed at all
> like most other physiotherapists do.
>
> Corey
>
> --- Mystic Traveler <mystic643@y...> wrote:
>
> > Thank you for replying to my post... it is a relief
> > to know that the
> > numbness will go away, eventually. Sounds like you
> > have tight hamstrings... my tightness is with the quads.
> > I lay face down and loop a rope over my foot and
> > pull my led toward my
> > head. When I reach the tight point, I push against
> > the rope for 10
> > seconds, then relax and pull my leg down a little
> > further. I repeat
> > this 5 times. I use mental imagining also to "think"
> > my quad to
> > stretch out.
> >
> > Good luck and thanks again for posting a reply... it
> > takes a load off
> > of my mind to know others are "in the same boat".
> >
> > Mystic